How Many Family Members Do You Buy For?
@ladylonewolf2008 (298)
United States
April 14, 2008 8:05pm CST
During The Holidays? I Have A Big Family, 3 Sisters And 2 Brothers And Kids Everywhere! My Dilemma Is That This Year When Christmas Comes Around I Feel That I May Not Be Able To Buy For All Of My Family And Thier Kids. With Prices Going Up All The Time It Just Gets Harder And Last Year I Bought For My Neices And Nephews All Thier Stuff From The Dollar Store. I Think That This Year I May Have To Get Crafty, Then Again, That Could End Up Costing Me More Because I'm Just Not A Crafty Kinda Person.
1 person likes this
5 responses
@nowment (1756)
• United States
15 Apr 08
I used to buy for everyone, and yes it got costly but then I started my christmas shopping in January, so I spaced it out over the year with a big box in the back of the closet that I kept things in, and a list of names and what was purchased.
The problem with that is, that sometimes some things get bought during the year and now I have something in my closet that I can't gift. [which made good gifts for the toys for tots program]
My in laws have a large family there are 4 siblings, and they each have kids, so his family came to the decision to just buy for the kids.
Which we do, we also set a price limit. Though over all it is easier since the kids are now older we can just give each of them cash which they prefer so they can buy for themselves,
So it depends on the ages of the kids, and what type of thing you are looking to get them, younger kids, in many ways are easier, yes the dollar store can help there are usually in most areas discount stores, depending on the are you live in, in NJ there are different areas with different levels of discount stores, and for that reason I would suggest that you check the downtown areas, see if there are wharehouse type stores
in the NJ area there are places like D.E Jones and NS stores,
Also check out some of the less popular games after the holidays when the after holiday sales start.
It is still expensive even if you budget and put limits on amounts per kids, however if you space it out a bit, it helps, if you don't know that you can space it out, then do an old fashioned christmas club, so that the money is put aside each week, even if you only put aside ten dollars a week you would have almost 500 I say that cause likely you won't start saving til Jan/ Feb, and obviously will want the money to spend in Nov, Dec if you do it with 5 dollars a week you may have an extra 200, which is what I now do, I put aside the five a week then get the 200 and divide by the five kids gives me 40 per kid.
Even if you start now, and then start now looking for bargain stores and making lists then in Oct or so start watching for sales for things that may be of interest to those who want the gift, then it could still help out.
@nowment (1756)
• United States
15 Apr 08
Forgot,
get a notebook at the dollar store the one I bought for 79 cents lasted me for years cause I would use the same one over again so I could reference previous years and not duplicate gifts.
In the notebook make a page or half a page for each person you would want to get a gift for,
put their name at the top, then make a list of gift ideas under each name,
then I would keep look out for some of those ideas during the year, pay attention to the conversation
if I learned that the person lost interst in the item I would erase it from the list or draw a line through it,
If I learned that they had gotten something that was on the list then I would draw line make not they alreayd have it.
If it is something that maybe they could get other things to go with it, ie kid is intersted in art supplies, easel was on the list, then crossed off, however paints, brushes etc were things that would go with that interst.
or gift certificat to art store.
If it was something I purchased for the person I would then put the letter H next the item if I Have it [as in bought it already], in the days of lay-away programs at stores I would put a L if it was on layaway, and a just to keep track W for those things that are Wrapped,
So I might have on page one say
Tom
Flannel shirt, H W
Car Book
Meatloaf CD
Chris
PJ's
Top / pink H
Coloring Books H
Crayons
Color Markers
I would then do this for everyone one page per person, as I purchased something or learned of interest I would add it to the list.
Dewalt drill [from tools]
@bowtieguy (5915)
• United States
15 Apr 08
I mostly shop for my two sons, I also shop for my mother, brother and sister and sometimes I get my self a little something when al my shopping is over with.
@luvstochat (6907)
• United States
15 Apr 08
I buy for my husband, my two kids, my mother, my mother in law and an aunt that is really close to my family. Christmas time is really hard on the credit cards and it does get expensive trying to buy things for everyone.
@selby70 (283)
•
15 Apr 08
When the children were young neices and nephews we stopped getting for the adults sisters and brothers just got for the children but as they have grown that has stopped now as it was getting so expensive. Now I just spend the most on the grandchildren, mind you I have 4 all ages and that is expensive on its own.
