Good Old Christmas... Stress? (How Many People Do You Give Gifts To & How Much Do You Plan to Spend?)

Oh, yes. The family drama begins at Thanksgiving when my dating, or non-dating, life becomes one of the topics of conversation. Get a life people. 😑😂

I absolutely love to give thoughtful, unique, personal gifts, so gift giving around Christmas time can be stressful due to the pressure I put on myself.

I used to be close with a family who gave upwards to 10-15 gifts per family member including one large/very expensive gift. Granted this family was well off, but I always dreaded the process of finding, giving, and receiving gifts in the family. Gives me hives just thinking about it. I’ve simplified my process since then to mostly online shopping. Haha.

I find spending Christmas alone solves most of this stress haha

I find spending Christmas alone solves most of this stress haha

Having come from a large family, we dispensed with the giving of gifts to all early on and began choosing names, so we were responsible only for buying a single gift. However, as I live quite far from most of my family members, I am not included in the name draws, which suits me fine, though I still like buying gifts for my closer siblings. One year I sent gifts for everyone who was going to be at my sister's house for Christmas dinner (more than thirty people; lots of home-recorded CDs), and the one time I have been back for Christmas since leaving my home province over forty years ago I did the same thing (lots of essential oils). Aside from that, I buy gifts for my daughter mostly, and her family, which includes a number of dogs and cats. I have already bought their gifts (except for the animals )

I still need to get some special items for Bob

Hey Everyone,

I recently read an article that said the average American will likely spend about $1100 on Christmas this year, and that many people are even taking out personal loans to pay for it.

And so, I was just curious:

* How many people will you give gifts to?

* How much do you plan to spend? (As a total amount for everyone?)

I realize this is a bit of a personal question, so I've included a poll in case you'd rather answer anonymously. I am certainly NOT trying to condone or push for materialism AT ALL, I'm just curious as to how stressful the holiday season is for other singles. (And of course I realize it can be stressful for many other reasons, such as having to deal with family drama, but maybe we'll save that for another thread.)

I have to admit that I feel pretty blessed during the holidays because the only gifts I have to worry about buying/giving are for the little ones in my family, and it's a reasonable number. Once upon a time, I used to have a fairly large list of people I bought for and spent probably about 2 week's worth of paychecks just on Christmas.

These days, I am VERY appreciative of the fact that my family finds spending time together to be more than enough and I would honestly feel overwhelmed if I dated someone and/or married into a family that expected or had a tradition of giving several and/or expensive gifts.

How about the rest of you? (Our married friends are welcome to answer as well -- does having two families to buy for double your stress during the holidays?)

Disclaimer: In the old CC system format, I could create polls with different headings (thereby asking several questions in one poll) -- this new format doesn't really allow for that (or else I haven't figured out a way around it yet), so that's why the answers in the poll will go straight from numbers of people right on to the amount spent.

Thank you for sharing!

P.S. I just finished the poll and used up every option box allowed. You should be able to choose as many answers as you want, and all answers should be anonymous.

Of course, not all possibilities are covered in the poll, so please don't let it stop you from answering or telling what you voted and/or why in a regular post.

I was watching a Christian talk show and one of the ladies said the best Thanksgiving she and her daughter ever had, was giving out food to the needy. They helped out at a food bank and said it was such a blessing.
A neighbor friend sent me down 2 turkey dinners in containers. I had already cooked a 21 lb turkey but thought how nice it would be to give them to the homeless. Taking my daughter home, we saw a man walking with a long robe w/a hood and was probably wet from the rain. He was frail and took the dinners, I just wished there was more I could have done, but I did pray for him.
So, your question prompted me to think that I could make 5$ gifts, plus a trak in an envelope and give out maybe 10-15. Everyone I know has just about everything they NEED so I'm thinking about doing that. Maybe put a candy cane or two in. There is certainly many homeless around the city.
What do you think?

However, I do like giving gift cards and getting gift cards. People like certain foods. I used to get my dad gourmet stuffed olives and someone else homemade beef jerky from Joy's Mkt. My son got his wife a giant gummy bear last year and her family in the Philippines similar goodies. That always brings a smile and not too expensive.

I was watching a Christian talk show and one of the ladies said the best Thanksgiving she and her daughter ever had, was giving out food to the needy. They helped out at a food bank and said it was such a blessing.
A neighbor friend sent me down 2 turkey dinners in containers. I had already cooked a 21 lb turkey but thought how nice it would be to give them to the homeless. Taking my daughter home, we saw a man walking with a long robe w/a hood and was probably wet from the rain. He was frail and took the dinners, I just wished there was more I could have done, but I did pray for him.
So, your question prompted me to think that I could make 5$ gifts, plus a trak in an envelope and give out maybe 10-15. Everyone I know has just about everything they NEED so I'm thinking about doing that. Maybe put a candy cane or two in. There is certainly many homeless around the city.
What do you think?