Thanksgiving Recipes; Holiday Shopping Budgets

I made the Chocolate-Crusted Pumpkin Cheesecake today. I make it every year. I made it this year even though my parents said not to bring dessert because they were making a cherry pie. I won’t bring it, but I still made it. Now the whole PAN can be leftovers!

Tomorrow I’ll make the cranberry-raspberry Jell-O salad. Mmmmmmm.

Hey, listen. Linda and I are going to be doing gift-idea posts over at Milk and Cookies, and I also plan to pass along good deals here on this blog. But what I need to know is, what price range are we talking about? I don’t want to give you a bunch of $10 deals if you think of those as stocking stuffers, but I don’t want to discourage people by talking too much about $100 deals. What are you planning to spend this year for your sweetheart? for each kid? for your parents? for your in-laws? for your friends? $10? $20? $50? $100? As little as possible? If you feel shy talking about money (I always feel shy talking about money), you can go anonymous.

22 thoughts on “Thanksgiving Recipes; Holiday Shopping Budgets

  1. Anonymous

    I’d like to see things in the $25 and $50 ranges.

    Its always nice to have the option of purchasing more than one $25 item, adding a corresponding gift (like a bike with a helmet, or a matching piece of jewelry) if I can/want to spend more.

    Thanks for considering cost and not just looking and finding cool stuff none of us can afford!

    – loyal reader

    Reply
  2. Karen

    Oh this is a great idea. Can’t wait to read all the good finds.
    We are cutting way back this year. (2months of no job can do that to ya) Looking for $20 for family, well under $30 at the most. And probably $50 to $100 for the kiddos.
    I don’t do for friends and my kids make ornaments for their friends. This was established the year we moved into this neighborhood and it was the best decision EVAH!

    Reply
  3. clueless but hopeful mama

    I’d be so grateful for awesome gifts under $20. We are supposed to keep it low key this year (with a big extended family donation to the Heifer Project) and have chosen to buy only things that can fit in stockings and are under $25. I’m having a hard time. I don’t want to buy crappy junk but I have NO ideas! HELP ME.

    Reply
  4. Jen

    I have a similar version of that jell-o recipe, except instead of raspberries mine says to use crushed pineapple (juice included) and a cup of sour cream. Mmmm.

    Children’s gifts: stocking stuffers ($1? $5?) to under-the-tree presents (approx. $25-75). I think for me it just depends on what deals are out there. My kids are young enough that they will be thrilled with wrapped underwear. Oh, except for Kate (3) who wants three ride-in jeeps for Christmas. WHAT?! I do see that Walmart has them on sale for $88. Not that that means she will get 3, but she may get 1…

    Reply
  5. Becky

    I would be interested in the $15-25 range too. I need to get some “family” gifts for my neices and nephews (most ages 2-6, but one family also has a 9 and a 14 year old). I don’t have kids (yet) and picking out something the kids will all like is a huge struggle for me every year. I am VERY MUCH looking forward to your suggestions! :) Thank you!

    Reply
  6. Little-Bit

    I am thinking anywhere from $10 (for the teacher/postman/school gift exchange) to the $50 (kiddos) to the $100 (Mom and Dad combined, Sis & BIL combined). What do you think? Is this reasonable? I ALWAYS Stress about this. Every. Year.

    Reply
  7. Melissa H

    Stocking stuffers: under $2. I’m thinking some candy and fruit, some hair clips, some crayons. Santa is a practical sort of guy, right?

    Gifts: for my in laws family we exchange names and have a $100 budget for the one person we give to. I usually make something and spend less than $100 but I drew my cigar smoking, motorcycle loving, poker playing, I have nothing in common with him brother in law AGAIN so ideas for gifts for men much appreciated. The sis in law said no “vice” gifts but I’m not sure what that leaves that he would enjoy!

    Long enough comment for you? Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

    PS my word verification is a bit dirty looking: bjection (is that only funny to me?)

    Reply
  8. cindy

    My budget is $15-20 each for our nieces and nephews (we have 10 of them, ranging in age from 3 to 13). I’m not sure yet how much I’m spending on my own kids, but probably around $100 total per kid.

    Reply
  9. Cherish

    Im looking at about $10 for each person that isnt my own kid because there are 40 of them. My own kids though are anywhere from $50-$150 each, depending on ages (thats total for about 5 gifts each). Then I plan to spend about 10-15 on stocking stuffers for each kid.

    Reply
  10. distracted by genius

    I like to see suggestions in the $15-$35 range. I plan to spend in the $25 realm for friends and relatives, but closer to $100 for my husband, maybe a little more.
    If you haven’t discovered it yet on your own I found http://www.fredflare.com to be a great spot for gift ideas at reasonable prices (thanks to my careful reading of Real Simple for that tip…).

    Reply
  11. drowninginlaundry

    I personally spend $50 on niece/nephew/best friends, $100 on the BIL/SIL, up to $200 on grandparents (our parents) since they bend over backwards for us each day and whatever I please on my Significant other (could be $100 could be $1000 depends on what he needs or wants).

    10-25$ gifts are always liked though since I try to keep stuff like that in the house for those surprise gift givers.

    Reply
  12. Anonymous

    We spend about $75-$100 on each set of parents, about $50 on my grandmother (the only living great-grandparent to our kids – the $50 is always a gift certificate), and about $50-$75 on one particular aunt who is unmarried with no kids and treats our kids as if she were a grandparent (she spends a lot on them). We used to spend about $25 per niece/nephew, but kept that to $20 or under this year (we have 8 nieces/nephews). We spend varying amounts on our own 3 kids – it really just depends – I don’t worry too much about spending equal amounts, but we try to make it “look” even (in size of gifts and amount of gifts to open) since they are all old enough to count and young enough to care (I think I’ll actually be happy when I can spend $125 on some electronic gadget and be done in one fell swoop). My kids are 3, 5.5 and 7. I think we spent about $75-$100 on each this year. For each other, it just depends. Some years, we go pricey. This year? Nope. We’ll probably get something for the house. We have ceased buying gifts for siblings and siblings-in-law several years ago.

    Reply
  13. Michelle

    Ahhh… someone after my own heart. Me, I do $25-50 for the in-laws and such, and a few $10-50 items for my parents and sister. Husband gets a bunch of stuff from all over. Kids get three gifts. Price doesn’t matter so much (they’re 3 and 5 so c’mon how much could I spend?) but they don’t need anything….

    Reply
  14. Kelsey

    We buy gifts for what I consider to be a fairly significant number of people. . . it may be cheap, but we usually aim for about $30 per person. If it helps, I do tend to close my eyes and sort of ignore the shipping charges for online purchases (when we can’t get free shipping) as I don’t want that to go into the total. We fudge this number a little with immediate family, usually if we see a good deal or can get something they really want for $35. We spend more than that on the kids and each other, but I need the most suggestions for the people who don’t live in our house.

    Reply
  15. maggie

    There are a zillion of us and I am hoping not to spend more than $20 on each person. (My kids don’t count. Have already spent many buckets of dollars on my kids.) $20 works for pretty much everyone except The Sister-In-Law Who Has Everything. Help!

    Reply
  16. Anonymous

    I’d like to see things in the $25 – 50 range for parents, in-laws, siblings, friends, and in the $50 – 100 range for kids and hubbies.

    Reply
  17. Anonymous

    Wait… are you saying there will be only one dessert on Thanksgiving for your large family? That’s just un-American!

    Reply
  18. Mairzy

    I want to try that cheesecake. Yummy. Although when I read “chocolate crusted” I was waiting to find out how you covered the whole cheesecake in a chocolate crust.

    The gift price range that I’d find useful is pretty much what everyone else has posted: $15-$30 for kids, $25-$40 for adults. I’m temped to buy August an ice cream maker for Christmas because I’d really like one, but that’s pretty shabby no matter how much I spend, isn’t it?

    Reply
  19. Daisy

    I like the low ranges: $15-25. we have birthdays in November, December, and January, and then there’s Christmas…careful budgeting all around.

    Reply
  20. Lawyerish

    I don’t usually have a set amount in mind, so I’m open to gift ideas from $10 stocking stuffers to $150 under-the-tree gifts. And for ALL recipients — husbands, dads, moms, etc.

    I am desperate for ideas this year, oh lordy. I have men in my life who are not into golf, fishing, tech gadgets, or any of the other gift themes the online stores try to box every male on the planet into. And they’re of the “oh, don’t get me anything, just some books” variety, so I need something interesting and special.

    Reply

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