My youngest son married into a large, well-to-do family. They are lovely people who love giving parties and always are generous when it comes to giving gifts. For several years we exchanged gift cards but it started to feel like they would give us a gift card for X amount, and we would give a gift card for X amount, so we were really just trading gift cards back and forth. So this year we will be giving them a card that says that we have made a donation to St. Jude's Children's Hospital in their name.
I have four grandchildren and THREE of them have birthdays in December. So December turns into a very expensive month for me. I try to give them *one* present off their list and then everyone shares a Night Before Christmas box, which has new PJ's for all the kids, a DVD they can all watch together, and hot chocolate and popcorn.