How We Stick To A Budget When We Buy Gifts For Our Large Family

Posted December 4, 2020 by Prairie Wife -

Ahh, budget and gifts…two words that couldn’t be harder to put together.

Or is it just me?

As we officially begin the holiday season I have lots of people ask me how we do Christmas in our family.

After all, with 5 kids it has the potential to both break the bank AND ruin our Christmas spirit.

Thankfully The Cowboy and I have had a budget and plan for gift buying for many years now and despite my joke at the beginning of this post, it has actually been pretty easy to follow.

And, even though we are no longer in the tight financial situation of the past (where we had to sell our motorcycle and jeep to pay hospital bills for new Cowkids), we still stick to the same budget and gift buying plan we developed 10 years ago.

Santa Gifts

Each Cowkid gets three gifts from Santa

One thing they ask for in their letter
A Wyoming or Glenrock hoodie, shirt, or hat
A religious book

The Cowkids ask Santa for two things in their annual letter and know he will only bring one, and they aren’t allowed to ask for tech or pricey gifts.

Sibling Gifts

Each Cowkid picks out one gift for each of their siblings

We try and keep these gifts around $30 or less
I keep a mental tally and if one kid purchased an item that was $5.00 that “extra” money can go to another kids’ purchase if it needs to
We focus really hard on getting gifts their sibling would want NOT what they want 😉

Gifts from Mom and Dad

They get one gift each from both of us (not one from me and then another from The Cowboy)

This is often the other item they asked Santa for
Sometimes we get one family gift that is for all the kids (like Poncho the Christmas Mule or a Kayak)

And that’s it.

Santa gets the same thing for The Cowboy and I that the Cowkids get, and The Cowboy and I break off and take the Cowkids shopping for the other parent.

We try and keep things to a minimum and stick to a budget with those gifts too…but have been known to go a bit big every now and then.

Though I think The Cowboy will agree that the horse that Santa brought him a few years ago was TOTALLY worth whatever the elves had to pay for it.

The Cowkids have never had any complaints about how we do Christmas, and it’s a true joy to see them get more excited about the giving than the getting as they get older!

Gifts giving ideas for the entire family

Gifts for young children

Baby Board Books

Great Book Ideas For Kids Of All Ages