Yes I've been buying things as I find stuff that will suit the recipient. For SS30 and his GF - about $15-$25 each. Token gifts - but usually something that is picked out for them.

I'm done shopping thankfully. I usually do $100 per kid, we have four between us but this year we decided to do something different. We bought a group gift, a Wii U. They each got their own remote, nunchuck and steering wheel attachment which will be packaged together as a gift then I bought 4 games (1 for each kid to open) and then one toy for each.

We saved a bunch of money this year as we only paid $270 for everything.

My wife is the ultimate shopping planner and full campaign Christmas shopper. For our family (Bride, Skid, Me) and my family (my mom and dad, my brother, SIL, and their 3 kids) we generally have no set budget. Or at least I don't. I am a get the people I love what I want them to have kind of guy and the budget is only a loose guide line and little more than a range-ish number in my head.

For my IL clan we generally stick to a budget of $50 per head. My IL clan is 13 people. The no budget philosophy can get a little spendy with 10 people and can get way out of control in a hurry with 23+ people.

Fortunately my bride was raised in a low income household so she is the ultimate bargain shopper and gets started mid summer shopping for my IL clan. Interestingly she is the one who has set the budget for her clan. She has struggled since we first married with selecting gifts for her family. I am of the philosophy that you get people what you want to give them not what they ask for. That can backfire with my IL clan. They are ungrateful pigs when it comes to gifts. My wife spent seemingly countless hours shopping for a very nice Krupp coffee maker, coffee grinder, milk frother, and selection of very nice gourmet coffees for her mother. She was very excited to do this for her mom. When her mom got it the comment was "What and I going to do with this? I drink Folgers instant coffee. A gift card to WalMart is what I wanted." This is not an unusual thing to happen with the entire IL clan so my wife struggles with shopping for them. I am committed to the "Fuck'em and give'em what you want to give'em" mantra. That will often get a laugh out of her but sometimes comes back to bite me in the ass.

Where she starts shopping in the summer, I am a go shopping the day before kind of guy even though I generally have an idea of what I want to select as gifts for the specific and important people in my life.

This year i am on a strict budget, so $50 per kid and two gifts each (not including stocking stuffers).
This goes for my niece too.
And parents and aunt/uncle all whom love gift giving.
DP knows this and I think he's going to limit his costs too.
Plus, SD11 turns 12 mid December so that's in addition to everything else (one nice gift and that's it).

Money for SDstb16 and SDstb13.
A few small gifts for DD2.5.
SO and I don't exchange gifts.
We get small things for SO's family and for my brother and nephew. The rest of my bio family live abroad so it's a phonecall to say Happy Xmas and that's it...

it all depends on ones means. just make sure dh does not go crazy with skids while buying you trinkets.