Gifts this year- Bad economy

Gifts this year- Bad economy

With the economy being the way it is, how is your holiday shopping affected?


I know for me I am definitely looking for more deals then I did in the past. Going to more outlets etc.


ETS: Ooops spelled spending wrong**

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

we are cutting down a lot this year! We are only buying for the children in our family. And we framed our wedding pics for parents and grandparents as gifts. We are not giving gifts to eachother. Although I ordered a book and DH took it to wrap it for me and he ordered a shirt a couple months ago and I stle it to wrap for him. LOL. We need something under the tree...

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

Def. cut back on who we bought for. Shopped with coupons or looked for sales.

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

We are just being a little more careful. And by that I mean I have a tendancy to do over do it on the gifts -- like forgetting that I picked up some little things for people and then getting them something else.

But overall we are spending pretty much the same. I wanted to not do gifts for each other (just one small thing under the tree) but DH had other plans and now I am trying to find him a gift

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

in terms of mine & DH's family - we are def cutting back... i'm not buying for ALL my first cousins and we're doing couple gifts this year (like one for aunts and uncles and cousins who are married) while last year, we got individual gifts.

as for presents for each other, we didnt go CRAZY but we def didnt say 'ok lets not spend a lot' we just bought something that we think the other person will like - i'm SURE i the amount of the gift was really out of control, DH would have picked something else

i bought him yankee/met tickets @ yankee stadium so i better be getting something GOOD lol

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

Yeah with us we pretty much cut back on everyone. The people that we would get $100 gifts now are getting $50 gifts. Times are tough.
When it comes to DH that is really the only person that I am spending a good deal on. His gift is going to come out to more then what I had planned but he deserves it and I have been saving for it.

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

We're doing OK, and so far are not affected by the economy. But we have been cutting way back because you never know! We've cut back on gifts and going out.

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

I bought for less people, and spent less on each person too. Well, most people. I got some restaurant.com gift cards to save a lot of money, and I am not buying for friends, just family. I discussed with a few people - 'let's not buy gifts, ok?' and we all agreed. We usually do a family name swap with all my cousins, aunts, etc - but this year, they even changed that to be a grab bag - buy a $10 gift for a male and female, etc. I think $10 was a little too low, but I was able to get two nice things (a note card/pen set for the female, and a valet for change, wallet, etc for the man).

DH and I are cutting back with each other too - I have to get his gift still and am a little nervous I don't have enough money .. so it will be charged and paid off in January ... I'm good with doing that though, paying it off fast, so I'm not too worried. I already have HM and other items still on there (I am sending a few hundred bucks a month to get it settled asap) so it does make me a bit nervous. But he wants an ipod and it's his only gift (and it's refurbished, so it's a deal).

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

I wanted to cut down on gifts this year but DH's family is small so they didnt want to. My family is huge so we do a secret santa. I wanted to do that with his but it was a no go. We are spending the same

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

We are def. cutting down. We bought the kids in my family the Wii with my brother so that is the big gift and than smaller gifts for the family members, although I would have cut that out all together because of everything we have going on. We aren't going to exchange this year either..I think we are giving each other the best gift we can give but I can't reveal it yet!

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

spending ALOT LESS! its unfortunate..we can't really afford anything right now

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

We set a budget and actually stuck to it for the first time. So even though we are spending less in that way, and we are following the 'kids only' rule like we did last year, we still had 16 kids and 6 adults (parents & grandma) to shop for, plus each other.

So even though we set a budget, it still adds up to A LOT of $.

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

We're definitely cutting back, but I think it's more about buying a house than the economy. We're pretty much doing almost no gifts - everyone is getting lovely ornament with our wedding picture in it though :)

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

We are very fortunate that the economy hasn't affected us or our families, so as a newly-married couple we went all out! lol We have been shopping until stores close and still want to go get more. It is fun to buy things as a married couple and to give our families gifts from us!

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

In general I'm trying to scale back...I usually go overboard and it just isnt neccesary and I want to save money..so yeah I have cut back

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

For family we did a kris kringle b/c DH has a very large family. I'll get something smaller than usual for my parents and I'm baking for all my office gifts. I really have successfully cut back this year.

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy

Re: Gifts this year- Bad economy