How to Cut Down Your Christmas Gift List
September 28, 2009 by Karen Weideman
Filed under Christmas, Holiday Thrift, Seasonal Savings, gifts, holidays, money saving idea, saving money
Earlier this week, I posted about some ways to cut out some of your Christmas expenses. One of the ways listed was to cut down your Christmas gift list. It’s simply not necessary to buy for every aunt, uncle, and cousin. That’s not what Christmas is about anyway.
Tiffany from Stuff Parents Need commented with a great question.
Do you have any tips for how to tactfully remove people from your list? We have a few aunts and uncles that I’d like to stop buying presents for, not because I don’t love them, but because I think us continuing to exchange presents is really unnecessary at this point. But I don’t know how to stop because they always get us something, too!
I just went through this issue a few year’s ago, so here are some tips to make it through the Christmas list cuts.
1) Suggest a gift exchange. You could say something like, “I know that many of our budgets are tighter this year. Rather than us spending money that we don’t have, could we have a gift exchange?” Suggest making a want list for each person and drawing names.
2) Suggest a gift game. Some of you may have heard of Dirty Santa. This is where you decide who goes first. That person picks a gift. Then the next person picks a gift. They can keep their gift or take another person’s gift. A gift can only be taken twice.
3) Make a charitable donation instead of gift giving. Tell your family that everyone is so blessed and you think it would be great to give to a needy child or charity instead. Perhaps everyone could go in together and purchase some goats, chickens, or something similar through World Vision for an impoverished country.
4) If you still feel like you can’t completely cut someone out of your Christmas list, cut on the amount you spend. Purchase each person a gift that costs $3-5 rather than a $10-15 gift. These could be homemade gifts or something simple like a mug or basket with candy. I’d certainly be happy if someone gave me a mug of Dove or Ghiradelli chocolates. It wouldn’t matter if it only cost a few dollars. 
What do you think of these ideas? Will you be cutting back this year?
image sxc.hu
A good gift for family groups is a gift of sharing a good story. Send each family a good book to share and have something in common they can discuss with other family members.
Christmas is coming fast and for those who are looking for a great gift for friends and family, go to Amazon.com or Barnes&Nobles.com and pick up a copy of my new fantasy novel, “Gateway to DreamWorld.”
They will curl up to a warm fire and enter a fantasy world filled with excitement and suspense.
We buy for alot of family members, but it’s maybe spending $20 per person, for sisters, or parents, and then in our own house, it’s a bit more- such as for the kids, or spouse. We save money in a Christmas fund all year, so it’s easier than if we hadn’t saved at all.
Thanks for answering my question. I like the idea of making something homemade for them. It’s from the heart, but it doesn’t hurt the pocketbook as much (I’m thinking of making something edible!).