Do you exchange gifts with your parents?
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Anonymous
Do you still exchange gifts with your parents? We are in our early 40s, have two young children, and a bunch of nieces and nephews. I love Christmas, and I enjoy buying gifts for my kids, nieces and nephews, but I find it silly that we still exchange gifts with the in-laws. I am at a loss of what to get them, so it ends up with them giving us a list of very specific items (e.g., not a book, but a particular book), or us guessing in the dark. And the reverse is true too; we don't need anything. (Well, I'd love a new dining set, but I don't think my in-laws are buying us one  ). When asked for suggestions, I've asked that they make a donation to a charity, or, if they really want to give us something, renew our zoo or similar membership, but that is not appealing to them.
Anyway, if they want to buy gifts, I'm not going to stand in their way but I feel like they do it out of obligation. What do others so? |
Anonymous
| Yes. My dad mentioned meeting more wine stoppers so I got him that, and my mom mentioned liking Rachel ray products so I got her a few. We exchange hanukkah presents every year. |
Anonymous
| Yes |
Anonymous
| Yes. |
Anonymous
| I send a little something to my mom. She usually gives me a $20 gift card to someplace. She's older and on a fixed income and my stepdad died last year so I try to get something thoughtful. She's into quilting and i found a cute pincushion made of reclaimed wool at a bazaar and got that and found some cute specialty quilting pins on etsy and ordered those. For less thamln $40 i found something related to her interests. I see where you're coming from OP where people give something out of obligation and give you a specific list. That's weird and annoying. |
Anonymous
| Yes. But we have a very small family, so maybe it's different. |
Anonymous
| My parents are dead, |
Anonymous
| My in laws yes (parents deceased). Seems totally weird not to. |
Anonymous
| We give in-laws something, often very expensive, but sometimes not, but they stopped giving us a token gift years ago. |
Anonymous
| Yes, of course. |
Anonymous
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On my side of the family, we pick names. There are six adults, so each adult buys for one with a money limit. They like having something to open, so that's what we do. The kids get the majority of the presents.
On my DH's side of the family, they never want us to buy presents, but then his parents always end up getting us something. I solved that problem by creating photo calendars because they are out of town and we have the only grandkids. I take pics all year of times we are together and make up calendars for them to have for the year. I also put down the birthdays of everyone/anniversaries, etc. This is my 3rd time doing it and they love it (as far as I know!). I've already had a few comments that they hope I am doing it again this year. My kids and I also make ornaments every year for everyone. Not expensive, but something from their heart. I think it's better than an impersonal gift where I am just guessing in the dark, and it is also relatively inexpensive. |
Anonymous
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Yes...this year my mom is getting an ipad (from my brother and me) and a necklace I bought while abroad. My dad is getting a new TV (from my brother and me) and a bottle of an expensive version of his favorite Scotch. 1 year old DS is giving them a photo book and some candy.
No idea what we are doing for inlaws yet. |
Anonymous
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Yes.
But I don't understand why you are buying your in-laws presents. Why isn't your DH buying gifts for his parents/siblings? He doesn't even have to go to the store, just online. Don't even make it an option, just let him know you'll take on your family and he buys for his. |
Anonymous
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Every year my parents say not to get them anything, they don't need anything. I feel weird not doing anything, so I buy token, consumable gifts. (Nice candy, wine, an annual family photo calendar). They are financially secure and really do buy themselves anything they need/want so something in the $25 range works.
My in laws have a lot less money than we do, and they go all out for holidays so we tend to buy them more significant gifts. Still not extravagant--usually the combined total for the two of them will be around $250. |
Anonymous
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