How to Make a Christmas Gift List With a Budget for Each Person

To make a Christmas gift list with a budget for each person, decide your total gift budget first, list everyone you buy for, and give each person an amount so the amounts add up to that total. Then track each gift from idea to delivered and record what you actually spent. Below is a worked 10-person, $675 example.

TL;DR

• Start with the total, not the people. Your gift budget is one slice of your whole holiday budget.
• Give every person a number, and make the numbers add up to the gift total before you buy anything.
• Group people (family, kids, friends, work, other) so you can see where the money goes.
• Track each gift through four steps: idea, bought, wrapped, delivered.
• Write down what each gift really cost. The difference from its budget tells you whether you can afford the next one.

How much should I spend on gifts in total?

Your gift total is a share of your whole holiday budget, not a separate pot. In the example in how to split your Christmas budget by category, a $1,500 holiday budget gives gifts 45%, which is $675. The rest covers food, travel, decorations, cards and the other costs that come with the season.

How do I decide how much to spend on each person?

Divide the gift total by the number of people to get a starting average, then move money between people on purpose. With $675 and 10 people, the average is $67.50. Your partner may get more, while a teacher or neighbour gets less, but every dollar you add to one person comes from someone else.

A simple order that works:

1. List everyone you buy for, including the small ones: teachers, neighbours, a Secret Santa at work, the mail carrier.
2. Put each person in a group: Family, Kids, Friends, Work or Other.
3. Give the people closest to you their amounts first, then share what's left among everyone else.
4. Check the total. If the amounts add up to more than your gift budget, trim some amounts now, rather than at the checkout.

What does a gift list with a budget per person look like? A worked example

Here is an example household, with made-up numbers. Their gift budget is $675, and it's late October.

Example figures for illustration only.

Where they stand:

• 6 of 10 gifts bought, 3 of them wrapped and 2 delivered (the niece and nephew live out of town, so those were mailed early).
• $456 spent of $675, with $219 left.
• 4 people still to buy for: Sister, Best friend, Teacher and Neighbour. Their budgets add up to $210.
• 1 person over budget: the partner's gift came to $155, $5 over its $150.

The $219 left is a little more than the $210 still to buy for, because the bought gifts came in $9 under budget overall ($14 saved on four gifts, minus the $5 over on one). That $9 is a small cushion for the last four gifts.

How do I see spending by group?

Add up the budgets and spending for each group. It shows quickly whether one part of the list is taking over.

Example figures for illustration only.

In the example, family gets $410 of the $675, which is about 61%. That's fine, as long as it's a choice.

What if my gift list goes over budget?

Catch it while planning, not after shopping. Say the household raises the partner's budget from $150 to $200. The planned gifts now add up to $725 against a $675 gift budget, so the plan is $50 over before anyone has bought anything.

There are three honest fixes:

1. Trim other budgets: take $50 from a few people on the list.
2. Move money between categories: give gifts a bigger share of the holiday budget and take $50 from decorations or events.
3. Raise the total on purpose: only if your savings plan can cover it. See how much to save each month for Christmas.

When one gift costs more than its budget, as the partner's did, take the difference from a person you haven't bought for yet.

How do I do this in the Christmas Budget & Gift Planner?

The AISheetLogic Christmas Budget & Gift Planner has a Gift List tab built for exactly this, and it feeds the rest of your holiday budget. It opens with sample data, so clear the yellow cells first.

1. Setup tab: type your Total holiday budget and the Gifts % of budget. The Allocated column shows your gift total ($675 for 45% of $1,500).
2. Gift List tab: one row per person with Who, Group (Family, Kids, Friends, Work or Other), Budget, Gift idea and Where to buy.
3. As you go, tick Bought, Wrapped and Delivered and type what you Spent. Left shows the budget minus what you spent, and Status moves from "No idea yet" to "Idea", "Bought", "Wrapped" and "Delivered ✓".
4. Gift summary: People on the list, Gift budget, Spent, Left, Bought, Wrapped, Delivered, Still to buy, Over their budget and No idea yet, plus a progress bar ("6 of 10 gifts bought"). The group table beside it shows People, Budget and Spent for each group.
5. Budget tab: the Gifts row picks up the Gift List automatically. Planned is the sum of everyone's budgets, Spent is what you've spent on gifts, and Plan vs budget turns negative if the list adds up to more than your Gifts allocation (−$50 in the over-budget example).
6. Dashboard tab: the Gifts bought and Gift spending tiles, and a count of gifts delivered, wrapped, bought and still to buy.

Gifts that aren't for a named person, such as stocking stuffers or a family board game, can go on the Shopping tab under the Gifts category, so they count toward the same slice.

Frequently asked questions

How much should I spend on each person for Christmas?

There's no standard amount. Start from your total gift budget and divide it by the number of people for an average, then adjust: closer people get more, and others get less. In the example, $675 across 10 people is an average of $67.50, but the actual amounts range from $30 to $150.

Should I include teachers, neighbours and Secret Santa on my list?

Yes. Small gifts are easy to forget and add up quickly. In the example, the teacher, the neighbour and the Secret Santa together come to $105, which is more than any single person on the list except the partner. Listing them makes sure they come out of the gift budget instead of on top of it.

What do I do when a gift costs more than I planned?

Record what it actually cost, then take the difference from someone you haven't bought for yet. In the example, the partner's gift came to $155 against $150, so $5 has to come from the remaining gifts. Small savings on other gifts often cover it, but only if you write them down.

Should I count wrapping paper and shipping as part of a gift?

It's simpler to keep them separate. Put wrapping paper, tape and gift bags in a wrapping category, and stamps and shipping in cards and postage. That way each gift's budget is just the gift, and the small costs that come with gift-giving still have their own line in your holiday budget.