How much do you spend on birthday gifts for your young adult children and their spouse?

[Lady Florida.]

I answered in the poll. Our young adults aren't so young anymore. We tend to give money as the main gift because that's what they really need. We also give a small gift just so they have something to unwrap.

[Lady Florida.]

My kids aren't quite to that age/stage yet, but my parents gave $100 per adult for birthdays and I expect to do the same, although I may increase that in the future as inflation continues to make it worth less.

 

 

 

My IL's financial situation was better than my mom's so they usually gave more. They give $50 per adult child and $50 to the spouse. They give $25 to their grandchildren, all of whom are adults or close (ds is the youngest and he'll be 18 in a few weeks).

 

They're now on great-grandchildren, and I think they've kept up the $25 for kids, but they give it to the parents (adult grands).

[Serenade]

I don't have young adults yet, but my mom does the exact same thing for all kids and grandkids.  Kids and spouses all get either $35 or $40 for birthday, or the gift equivalent (I can't remember quite what it is), and grandkids get either $25 or $30.  For Christmas, kids and spouses each get $100, and grandkids get $50.  There is very little variation in this and when things get off a bit, it makes my mom twitchy because she really wants to be fair.  Sometimes it gets a little ridiculous because she doesn't want to go over or under that amount at all and it stresses her out, which is why she mostly just gives money now.  My mom has 3 kids and 5 grandkids, with one more on the way.   I would say she is very financially secure, but she is not big on the gift culture at all, and spoiling via gifts is just not something that she does. 

[lllll]

nm

[Hikin' Mama]

We only have one child married so far. Since they have moved, I've sent them each a check for $100 for their birthdays. Before they moved, I bought them a gift they wanted or needed. One year my dil got a microwave. The next year, she and my dd and myself got pedicures and went out for dinner. It was my first and only pedicure and really not my thing, but I would have done it if my daughter requested, so I did it when dil requested. I try to treat her just like one of my children.

 

For Christmases, it just depends. One year we didn't do gifts, but took a trip to the Oregon Coast instead. (Dil got to go, but son didn't. He was doing career training and couldn't leave.) We are going to take another big trip in Fall 2016, so that will be what's for Christmas 2016. Last Christmas we travelled to see them and we did smaller gifts, but travel is expensive and we bought lots of groceries. I'm a practical person, so I would rather spend on practical things. :)

[Kareni]

I wonder if how far away our adult kids live colors our answers.

 

 

Our adult daughter (in her twenties) is currently living in South Korea.  We've done different things for her past couple of birthdays.  Most recently for her birthday, we sent several books for her Kindle (thus no shipping).  We've also sent physical books (from Book Depository, no shipping) and food items from i-Herb ($4.00 shipping) on other occasions.  We would make different choices if she lived in the Continental US.

 

Regards,

Kareni