Has anyone tried to lay down the law and say no Christmas Gifts between the adults?
Our extended family does not like each other but for Grandma we get together four times a year. I always tell them please no Christmas gifts between the adults this year. So I do not buy anything and they give us all kinds of things we do not want or need and then give us a hard time that we did not purchase anything. I say, don’t you remember our conversation saying we are not exchanging gifts this year. They say they had never agreed to it and expect us to give gifts next year, no matter what.
How to proceed?
November 11th, 2010 at 8:39 am
Just remain as bull-headed as they are and continue not buying gifts for them.
November 11th, 2010 at 9:33 am
If you already told them No gifts then I wouldn’t buy anything for them this year either. Besides they should buy you a gift because they want to and not expect anything in return. If they are rude to you again just tell them that they can return what they bought and get their money back.
November 11th, 2010 at 10:04 am
In our family, christmas gift swapping stops at 18 when you become an adult. If we have the money we get small tokens for close adult family members but gift giving remains primarily for the little ones. If you get something then it is all good but we never “expect” anything since people spend alot of money on gifts for our 2 little ones and we all know how stressful this time of year can be.
November 11th, 2010 at 10:04 am
It’s easier to have a gift exchange. People have a tendency to do what they’re gonna do, but if you put out a thing where people sign up, list 3 things they would like for X-mas or interests within a certain dollar amount, then you only have to buy for 1 person and there is no guilt placed on others. Couple’s are treated as 1 person.
My family just started doing this because it’s a big family and no one can afford gifts for everyone, but you don’t want anyone to feel left out. We only buy one gift for $25 because of this. The person who gets us knows 3 things we would like, when we get our assigned person/couple we’ll have our list of 3 things that would be a good choice for them.
We know the person gets something they like, we get something we like, no one spends more than $25. No one bothers us about not buying them a gift.
Hubby’s family does similar, you buy for one person/couple with a $40 limit. The difference is they do not give an indication of interests/gifts within the price range. That makes it WAY harder.
Hubby’s family fesses up about who bought for who. My family does not. It’s a mystery.
November 11th, 2010 at 10:11 am
We have a large family and we have been buying gifts for the little ones and the adults would draw names. Also, we do a prank gift, the gift can not be over $5.00 you can make it, buy it, it can be anything, everyone brings one of these gifts. We all draw a number. After number 1 chooses what gift they want, then 2 chooses, they can either open the one they chose or take number 1’s gift and then 1 has to open that gift and so on. After everyone has done their turn, then number one can steal anyone’s gift. Everyone wants to be number 1. We have been doing this for years and this is so fun.
November 11th, 2010 at 10:20 am
Tell them straight, that’s what my brother in law did to us and we respected him for it.