I did the major, shop til you drop, for 17 people, during the years of my marriage and raising my daughter. Now, for many years, the last 13 or so I have kept things to a minimum, only buying for my daughter, her boyfriend (s ) over the years, and one or two friends. I never budgeted and focused more on getting fun and customized gifts that I knew would be enjoyed. Now, since 2013 I am on an extremely tight budget and only gifting my daughter and her live in boyfriend.
I have made it clear to others that I want nothing, don’t need it, want it or have the space for erroneous stuff. I still have one friend that insists on buying me gifts and while I appreciate the sentiment, really, I find it rather annoying. When you explicitly ask not to be given a gift and someone does anyway, I find it disrespectful, personally. If I say I don’t want anything, I mean it! haha
She is very nice but her gifts are usually just stuff I do not want or need. The holidays are just not that important to me anymore and I really loved all the years of freedom from the obligation. I am with @canidmajor in that I loathe obligation. The holidays should be about communing with friends and family not buying and giving a bunch of stuff that just clutters up peoples spaces. haha
I will say though that my daughter gives me great things, one of my all time favorites is a cool, 3 foot tall, rectangular paper lamp with a multi-colored floodlight bulb with a remote control to customize the lighting features. I love that lamp and use it every-single-day. haha