Should you gift someone a more expensive gift on christmas or their birthday?

33 comments

  1. I don’t think there is a rule for this, and I think generally it’s pretty gauche for a gift recipient to be like thinking about or comparing suspected gift prices.

  2. This depends on the person and the relationship and the family customs. There’s no set expectation for this that is common across American households. Many people don’t celebrate birthdays and many aren’t that crazy about Christmas.

    If you don’t know the answer for the person you’re shopping for, just ask them casually which holiday is more important to them.

  3. There is no specific cultural rule I know of. I generally give nicer and more pricey gifts at Christmas mostly because a lot of my friends and family are older so birthdays aren’t celebrated as much outside of milestone birthdays like 40/50/60/70 etc.

    For kids birthdays tend to be equivalent to Christmas. But a lot of parents these days ask for no gifts on birthdays unless it is from family. For kids the birthday party is the treat. But even then Christmas gifts are usually limited to family and close friends.

    It really depends on who you are buying for. A spouse? Your own children? A friend? A brother or sister? Your parents?

  4. Honestly just pick the most appropriate gift that will make them happiest each time

    Only materialistic assholes would scold you for some perceived cost mis-prioritization of their gifts

  6. There isn’t a general rule, but I typically buy the more expensive gift for their birthday. But its more expensive in the way that I buy more, I guess. I typically buy like a bag of presents for their birthday and a single present on Christmas.

  7. I usually give pricier birthday gifts since Christmas involves me buying presents for many people in one month vs. a birthday present for one person the months that close friends/family have birthdays. The thought behind the gift matters more than the piece though

  8. This is very dependent on the relationship, your budget and the people involved.

    In my social circle we don’t really give each other birthday or Christmas gifts. You give gifts to your immediate family or partner.

    I would probably spend a bit more on a birthday gift than Christmas gift because I am not buying gifts for multiple people at that time. It doesn’t have to be a very expensive item and there is no rule about how much to spend but in practice probably double what I spend on a Christmas gift.

  9. I have the same budget for both occasions. I’m equally as likely to go over budget for either one, if I decided to spend a lot more money once, I would do it for either occasion.

  10. Usually birthday, during Xmas there are so many other people to buy gifts for that you can be excused for trying to go less expensive.

  11. Usually my Christmas gifts for people are more expensive, but I’m also more likely to split a gift with someone else around Christmas. There’s no cultural rule, do what you want.

  12. There’s no rule, but I’d say birthday for sure. Everyone gets a gift on Christmas, so you’re buying a lot at once. But on your birthday the focus is just on you. It’s worth splurging a little more (assuming their birthday is not on/around Christmas).

  13. Expense shouldn’t matter as much as thought. It should be a thoughtful gift on either occasion.

  15. Different people have different customs on how big birthdays are, how big Christmas is, etc. When I was a kid, we always got much more for Christmas and only a relatively modest gift for our birthdays.

    As I’ve gotten older, I wouldn’t even notice my birthday going by if I wasn’t reminded by facebook and my daughter.

  16. I’d keep it relatively the same for family members.

    For friends I’d do a bigger birthday gift.

  17. Whichever one you have a looser budget for. Statistically, that’s probably birthday, since you’re not also buying gifts for everyone else. Your financial well-being comes first.

  19. There’s no rule on this. I would go by which holiday is more important to them. I would personally prefer to receive the nicer gift on Christmas because I really like the holiday and don’t care much for my birthday. However, there’s plenty of people who feel the opposite.

    Nobody worth giving a gift to would make a big deal out of it though.

  21. To me it’s more important that the gift has meaning maybe an experience, or something that they mentioned and you just took a note of the year. It’s not the amount of the money you put into the gift of the thought that really counts

  22. I personally tend to put more thought into a really excellent gift item on Christmas. I start thinking about it months ahead of time and work hard to make it special.

    In my experience as an adult, birthdays tend to be more about making the day special for the person. Treating them to their favorite food, appreciating them, maybe a card but not really physical gifts unless it is a kid, or if I found something very specific and special for them.

    There is no rule about this though.

  23. About the same, personally.

    Sometimes expensive. Sometimes small. Sometimes multiple cheap things. Almost always thoughtful.

    I spend more total for Christmas, but the total per present can vary wildly.

  24. There is not cultural rule or expectation for this. In fact it is considered extremely tacky to be concerned about the cost of a gift you are given.

  26. I don’t care about pricing if the gift is genuine and shows thought and care. In fact, if someone puts effort into the gift, I’d rather receive that than an expensive one.

  28. I never really noticed until my dad mentioned it. Christmas gets the big presents. Birthday is a cake and a special dinner.

  29. I actually think the only person I buy presents for on both days is my brother. We do family gifts for relatives birthdays.

    My brother is hard to shop for so I usually just find something I think he’d like and pay whatever it costs, as long as it’s not ridiculous.

    Last birthday I gave him a bunch of ideas of what I could give him, and he chose from scratch cookies. So that was free lol.

    Did the same for Christmas, I’m taking him to an aquarium and paying for lunch.

    So I guess I’d say Christmas is the bigger gift.

  30. For immediate family, I definitely spend more on Christmas. But for friends, extended family, it comes down to my budget at the time. I usually spend the same amount for them though for both events.

  31. For me and my family, Christmas was always the biggest gifts of the year (which compared to other families were still modest, but alas!)

  32. In our house, it’s usually birthdays. This is solely so you don’t get hit with a huge credit card statement and can spread it out over the course of the year.

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