Comments on: Frugal Gift Giving: Who Do You Buy Gifts For?

By: parag

parag — Tue, 18 May 2010 06:25:38 +0000

I would like to buy a gift for my sister. My budget is around $50. .-= parag´s last blog ..Will Credit Card Debt Consolidation Ruin My Credit Score? =-.

By: Andy @ Retire at 40

Andy @ Retire at 40 — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 08:23:47 +0000

I usually just buy for a select few people. It used to be my close family but now it's just my nieces and nephew. I also buy for just two of my friends since we've always done it. Andy @ Retire at 40´s last blog post..Personal Finance is Not a Destination, it's a Journey

By: Kai

Kai — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 15:27:37 +0000

A while back we decided to send my wife back to school to work on an AA which turned into a BA and then became graduate work. Knowing that cutting our income in half was going to be hard, we made a pact to not buy ANY gifts for each other for birthdays, anniversary or Christmas. We also asked our friends and family not to exchange any gifts with us (except for sending money to kids of family and friends.) Surprisingly, they all understood and (mostly) abided by this. (We’re pretty tough to buy for anyway so they might have been relieved.) Quite a few years later, we now are out of the habit of automatically buying gifts just because it’s a “special occasion”. Instead of spending time hunting for gifts, we use the time handwriting a special note in a card and enjoying time together.

By: Mama Koala

Mama Koala — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 13:24:21 +0000

I'm looking forward to your thoughts on frugal gifts! This will be our first ever no credit card Christmas, and I need help! Mama Koala's last blog post..Wordless Wednesday

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:57:05 +0000

@Shannon,

Have you thought about My Points? I earned enough points this year for four $10 gift cards, by clicking on the emails that they sent. You probably don’t have enough time to accumulate enough points for this year, but you could for next year! I’m happy to send you a referral invitation if you want.

By: Kelly

Kelly — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 05:50:04 +0000

@ Shevy, re: Comment Luv. I don’t know why it does that. It sometimes does that to me at other sites like Simple Mom. It will come back!

By: Shevy

Shevy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:38:45 +0000

BTW, all of a sudden CommentLuv doesn’t seem to be able to find my posts. Any idea why that would be?

By: Shevy

Shevy — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:37:04 +0000

We give birthday presents to each other, 4 kids, 2 spouses, 3 granddaughters, and my in-laws. That’s 13 people! And Hanukkah presents, although we only do a present a night for the 4 little girls. Big people can survive with one gift each!

One year I bought most of my youngest daughter’s and my granddaughters’ Hanukkah gifts months ahead of time at The Disney Store when they had a gigantic sale prior to closing for remodelling! I got things like washcloths for $1, toy cell phones, cups, pjs for everybody 50% off, socks, Jasmine dolls, it was great! Since I always give chocolate gelt and dreidels one night, that was almost everything they got that year.

Another year I used an arts and crafts theme. One night was a pack of crayons, another a pair of blunt nosed scissors, yet another night packs of stickers or a colouring book.

I should put money away every month but for the birthdays I usually just freak out and come up with the money from somewhere. I’m better about Hanukkah but I have to have good hiding places. SOMEBODY found a couple of gifts shortly before Hanukkah last year and I think she was actively hunting!

By: Shannon

Shannon — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 02:31:43 +0000

As a single mother who is currently a full time student, and working only 20 hrs a week I announced to my family that this year I would be buying gifts for my daughter and everyone else is getting a $20 gift card each and asked them to give me a list of 3-5 places they would enjoy getting a gift card from.

This will allow me to

1. spend less (I usually spend $40-$75 a person)

2. save gas by not running all over town (most stores they listed are either places I reguarly shop at like walmart, or they can be ordered online with no shipping chg)

3. save on gift wrap, (I usually go all out with special gift wrapping and wired ribbon)and

4.be less stressed by running all over town trying to find "the perfect gift" and still being stressed that I did't chose the right thing.

By: Angela V-C

Angela V-C — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 00:38:49 +0000

Kelly — We’ve tried to encourage our family to get us magazines, food, and other “consumable” items. We then get to have something fun that we wouldn’t normally buy for ourselves, but it goes away and we don’t have to permanently store it.

Angela V-C’s last blog post..Costs of car ownership, part I