STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

mikacat · Coach

how much should you spend on shower gift?

Dizzy · Marc Jacobs

If you are hosting the party, you dont' have to buy a gift. If not, I think $50 sounds about right for a VERY close friend - as in your best friend or one of two three people closest to you. Anything less and I think $25 should do it. That may sound cold, but showers are OVERWHELMING and become very expensive very quickly. Just wait untl you have three or four a month... plus all the weddings, then the birthdays and the housewarmings and the hostess gifts for holiday parties... sheesh. I once added it up and we spent about $3,000 on gifts in one year (including christmas and eachother's birthdays). That's when I put a stop to the $50 a pop for people I only see once a year thing. (There were too many people who only got in touch when they were whoring for gifts. It was starting to be so uncool.) Plus, if you set a precedent at a certain level for people who arent' very good friends, you'll have to keep it up for everyone on that level who knows eachother, because some people will keep track and get hurt feelings if they get less than anyone else.

bex · Chanel

i usually spend about $50 on shower gifts for weddings and baby showers... however, if you are hosting the party- you do not have to give a gift too. the party IS your gift!

blink · Coach

depends on the friend, but as a married couple, my husband and I probably spend around $50 and up for wedding gifts on a casual acquaintance, more like $80 or $90 for a really good friend.

baby showers I spend more like $30 if it's mostly a friend of my husbands, and then a LOT more for a close girlfriend of my own, like $100.

I am kinda cheap, but my husband probably dragged me to TEN couples wedding showers between 1999 and 2001 and that just adds up!!