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NOPE!

Point out to your sister that because you are married, you have twice as many gifts to get since you have to get gifts for your husbands' parents as well, so you have to stick to your budget of $50 for your parents. (Even if you don't buy gifts for your husband's parents, your sister needs some perspective.)

I was the last in my family to get married, and I never got a break on gifts. It was usually the opposite, that I would pay more because I didn't have children to support. My sister thought I was rich because I only had to support myself.

I wouldn't comment on her suggestion, but I'd write back and say something along the lines of "I'll be on upaid leave soon, so DH and I have discussed it and we can afford to pay half right now."

No, we split parent gifts, etc. among siblings only, significant others are not included in cost even though we sign their names.

The only one who gets a break on group gifts is DH's sister who is still in college. Anyone working chips in equally.

If anything, it should be the opposite because you have 3 people to take care of and she has 1 person. Whenever I go in on something with my brother (who's single), we always split half and half and I would tell him to get his own gift and do my own thing if he decided to split hairs like that with me.

Yea I would tell her simply $50 is what we have budgeted for Mom and Dad's gift.

We accommodate for my younger sister sometimes because she's still in college.

Oh and fwiw, we don't do anniversary gifts for our parents at all.

She's crazy. But probably just clueless as to what it costs to have kids and unpaid maternity leaves. I had WAY more spending money before I got married and had kids.

But I've had a similar issue with a sibling thinking that I can afford all kinds of things I can't--I don't know why, because I have two kids and have had two totally unpaid mat leaves in two years. Whereas he is totally single, unmarried, and has no kids. Sometimes people are dense...that's the only explanation I can think of.

Nope. That's crazy.

I do spend a bit more on SIL's Christmas gift, but only because she is buying gifts for myself, DH and both DDs so I feel badly that she is giving 4 gifts but only getting 1 gift in return (if that makes sense)

But when I go splits with family for gifts we definitely split it equally!!

@looch: That's interesting! In my family (I'm one of 6 adult kids), we rarely split stuff unless it's totally voluntary...but when we do split gifts for my mom, each sibling splits, and the spouses or partners or lack of partners are not factored in at all. I'm the 5th kid and was married at the oldest age, so I was usually the single one and was happy with that arrangement.

eta: not factored in financially......they were still included in the "this gift is from all of us" part.

We kind of do, but that's because I know my brother's approximate budget for gifts, and I know mine, and so I add those together, find something in that price range, and ask him to contribute his budget. I wouldn't ask him to go over his budget. And I would never ask somebody else to pay a bigger portion than I was paying, no matter how many people are in their family.

Maybe I am the oddball out but we do this with my brother all the time. DH and I and my sister and her husband each make a little over 4x what my single brother makes. He is not in the same position financially as we are so when we go in on gifts together with him, we always contribute more than he does. He contributes what he can afford and we do as well. But it is a budget/financial situation thing, not due to the fact that we are married.

I mean, I guess if she is literally looking at it as a gift from 3 people - you, DH and her - then it is isn't the strangest thing to say.... BUT in reality, I would never divide things up this way. I totally get the younger sibling who is in college or HS still not paying as much, but otherwise no. I would just say what I could contribute and let it be.

I always contribute more toward gifts than my brother (who is unmarried)... but after reading these comments, I'm reconsidering!

I'm always happy to pay more than my share now that I am well established in my career. My younger brother is still starting out and I'm happy to pick up the slack.

BUT, that is because I am the one offering, he is not asking or demanding. I think being asked to pay more than my share would bother me too. It would put me off just the way your sisters request has you. What did you say to her to are planning to say? @alphagam84:

With my brother and I, the understanding is 50/50. Occasionally one or the other of us will just pick up the whole cost or the majority, but we don't squabble about it. We are both married though.

No - my SIL tried to pull that once saying her 2 brothers were married so should pay more - essentially splitting the cost 5 ways. I shot her down saying your mother has 3 kids who will be splitting the cost 3 ways. I think she was being ridiculous!!

Um, no. That's ridiculous.

@T.H.O.U.: That's a good point. Plus think of who would be buying her a gift if you weren't married. Really the gift is coming from the daughters.

For the first of our friends to get married, a bunch of us went in on a video camera for them. We asked everybody to contribute $50. My boyfriend and I each contributed separately because we were both friends with them, and that made sense to me, even though we were a couple and would have bought them a gift together if we hadn't done it this way. But the husband, in this instance, wouldn't be buying a gift on his own s.

Idk it's a bit forward of her to ask, but with my little sister we always "assign" her a lower amount since she's single and less established. A lot of times we just tell her not to worry about it. I think it depends more on financial situation than marital status though. You can always decline and tell her you'll get your own gift this year.