how would u handle buying for 27 people for christmas?

[res030ei]

for your opinions/ideas/comments i will send a potluck of coupons. i will try to go off of your wishlist too. winners will be randomly picked

i have a split family. Dh has a big family. not counting the 4 of us we have to buy christmas gifts for 27 people. Not counting if we go to other christmas parties. No one is willing to draw names as we have asked several times. its not that we are grinches or stingy but i think it is ridiculous! anyways what i have been doing for the adult women is making up a gift bag from my stockpile. For the adult men we try to find deals on gifts for them but it still creates a big expense. i really get tired of the stress it creates. What's bad too is dh's family can not afford to buy for everyone either but yet one or two of them insist we keep buying for everyone. so how would you handle it? what kind of gifts would you get for everyone?

as for our own kids we do a christmas club so they definetely come first and are well taken care of on christmas. i guess i should mention i am a stay at home mom so we are living on one income.

[everprincess]

Clearance deals. I've already found several things to put up for this Christmas. Like this past week I found a John Wayne cup for DH's grandpa that was 50% off at Hobby Lobby. Sorry you have so many people to buy for.

[wookin]

Sounds like you have the women under control. The men can be the same. There's always deals on razors, shave cream, deodorant, & body wash. The kids depending on the ages can use new school supplies along about Christmas. Shop now for those. There are and will be deals at the office supply stores, Walmart, drug stores etc. You can even throw in some candy bars with the deals going on if you have any left over from Halloween.

[Gnorga]

homemade ones!

last year, I made everyone a little gift bag of homemade cookies.
I had in each bag about 6 different types of cookies and 2 of each.
Everyone loved it and I didn't feel bad about not buying anything b/c a lot of hard work and energy went out making those cookies.

These cookies were included in the bag and they were THE BEST

Cream Cheese Pecan Cookies Recipe | Simply Recipes

[Mama Stu]

Do you cook or can at all? We also buy for a large extended family. We do things from my stockpile, clearance items, ect... This year for the men, I am doing homemade jam. Those cookie or brownies in a jar are really cute too, and are fairly inexpensive to make. (the ones with the dry ingredients layered with the recipe)

Don't forget about Targets big toy clearance which should be July 28 this year. That is a good way to stock up on kids gifts.

[amylynne01]

What about just bowing out gracefully? Say "This year we've decided to really cut back on Christmas expenses and will not buying gifts for this year's exchange." Or maybe suggest pooling your resources to make a donation to a charity or donating gifts for other families in need. My family is doing that this year because we literally need nothing. We are still doing a small gift exchange between the 4 grandkids, but we're just getting together and celebrating being a family.

[thickbluebug]

I do it every year.


I host dirty santa for up to 33 people and I provide the gifts.

I use jcp 10/10 to buy the gifts. Most on here will trade them for 1.50 and they hit the auction threads at hcw too. Just don't wait until Dec to trade for them - they are too hot then.
I pick up the gifts all year long. They put these coupons out new years, valentines, moms day, fathers day, back to school - end of july, thanksgiving and christmas.
Lots of time to beg and borrow the families and friends coupons.

We get towels, jewelry, socks, purses and wallets, scarves, umbrellas, mens memory foam house shoes, gadgets, sunglasses, towels, xmas ornaments and decorations.

I hunt the stuff that's 9.99 to 14.99 and add in a shopping tote at 1.49 and pay cents to $3 an order.

It's fun.

[AndreaCA]

This is a tough one. I face the same issue every year and it drives me up the wall. I have tried countless times to limit gift giving to children only - only to hear the same people vote that down year after year.

So, I usually resort to family gifts and they are usually homemade. One year, I found pectin on clearance and I'm ashamed to say I cleared the shelf! So, for 3 years running (it was a lot of pectin!) everyone got a six-pack of assorted jams/jellies and some homemade biscotti.

Some years, I will make an enormous bag of caramel popcorn (super cheap) and then put in individual "cracker jack" style prizes individually wrapped and labeled with each family member's name on it. For the adults, lottery tickets are fun, for the kids I used to use McDonald's gift certificates, now it's just cash.

One year, I spent two days making family sized casseroles for everyone that could be popped in the oven and baked. I froze them, printed up cute little cards about giving them the "gift of time" and I accompanied the casserole with a bagged salad kit and a quickie dessert - I think it was brownies baked in an aluminum throw away pan! This gift was a huge hit but a lot of work! Of course, you can make the casseroles months in advance!

Do all of your family live close by? If not, do you have a local brewery? Why not give each of the guys a 6 pack of local microbrew? Give the ladies those stupid air freshener kits (99cents at Wags this week with q's!) and assorted odds and ends from your stash, and the kids (depending on their age) some cash and/or homemade goodies? In fact, one year I made each of the kids a giant cookies decorated with holiday m&m's - they loved them!

Oh, and there was the year I was laid up after surgery for a few months so everyone got a handknitted hat with some candy tucked inside. (I'll never have that kind of time again - THANK GOODNESS!)

Or, you could just bow out gracefully! Christmas is always so much stress, especially when you're expected to provide gifts for that many people. And let's face it, the season wasn't meant to revolve around presents. But somehow, it always seems like it does . . . . sigh.

[pam0815]

One year I had to buy for a lil more than that so for all of the women I bought a cookie jar mix book and a lil bit of fabric and jars and made all of the women cookie jar mixes! They loved it...Some still have them cuz they said they were too cute to open lol....The guys I went to the dollar store and found lil things or I did clearance deals cuz there were more women than men so It wasnt that bad!! Good luck!!

[scrapper2]

Bake for the family

And indiviual Small individual stockpile personal items for the kids -- or no more than $3 goodie bag from the $ store