Do you have a gift budget in mind for the holidays? Is it an overall budget that you just don't allow yourself to exceed for everyone put together, or do you have a per person budget? I kind of assumed most people had a budget of some kind, but after discussing it with a few friends it seems like most of them have no budget in mind at all...not even just among children. How about you guys?
I do create a budget to be sure I don't over-spend. I am only celebrating Christmas with my boyfriend this year, so I really don't have much of a budget this time. But when I am shopping for many people, I do create a budget. It also depends on how many people I am shopping for. I never want to spend more than $800 on Christmas presents a year. Even that is a lot. But I put money back allll year long after paying bills to be able to buy Christmas presents. So, if I am shopping for 8 people, I have a budget of $100 per person, but I prefer to not spend more than $50 on each person because it gets very expensive. Which is why, in a way, I'm sort of glad that it's just my boyfriend and I this year.
Over the Christmas period I aim to spend £30-40 to direct family members and then varying amounts for friends/girlfriend. I always make sure I have saved enough money for Christmas because I like buying nice gifts for people.
I do, which I would probably won't spend more than 100 dollars because I only buy gifts for my wife and my parents. I don't usually buy gifts for holidays because it's not part of the tradition in my family. I only buy something like post cards and gift cards, which I just let my parents to decide what they want to buy for the holiday.
My husband and I usually discuss our budget for gifts for each other every year. Very often, we actually figure out one combined gift we both want (something for the house or the entire family) and decide if we can afford it. My kids' gifts are almost always the easiest and cheapest. They are still pretty young and I make pretty good use of Craigslist and consignment shopping all year so Christmas often feels cheap in that regard. Then, our extended family each only has one name they get for a gift, so we figure out our budget for that gift. Again, I almost always come under our plans because of Cyber Monday or Black Friday deals. When I'm under budget, I feel like I can splurge a little on a surprise for my husband.
I do have a gift budget when I shop for someone, because if you don't budget what you spend, then you might end up being broke due to overspending. But if the gift that I intend to give is expensive, like a gadget for example, then for sure I plan to save up for it bit by bit so that I won't end up being broke.
