Calendargirl
^I rarely give money, but give a mixture of vouchers, useful and silly gifts^.
I can’t understand why people give vouchers nowadays. If the firm goes bust, they are wasted, and to me, a £20 M&S voucher is no different to a £20 note, and far less versatile.
Martin Lewis says don’t buy vouchers.
I give my siblings vouchers rather than cash as it’s a way of making sure the recipient buys themselves something rather than just adds the cash to the household purse. But I do ask each person what shop they would like a voucher for and this Christmas they were all cautious about picking somewhere safe so it was Amazon, M&S and John Lewis. The vouchers tend to get spent very quickly!
For my adult children, it depends on how generous I am feeling, some years they get a voucher, other years a more substantial amount of cash as they are all in their 30’s with hefty mortgages so I enjoy helping out and at the same time giving them some inheritance early! This year I has spare cash due to cancelled holidays and a non existent social life so all three of them got a much appreciated bonus.
Everyone also get a small token present so they have something to open on Christmas Day. I buy birthday gifts though, not vouchers, and this year my siblings got online food
presents which were sent direct to their houses.