Ive sorted out a weekend in Krakow for my daughter and her boyfriend for christmas. flights with ryanair and a reasonable hotel for 3 nights came to £150 in total . similar for us as well at the same time .hubby and Istarted doing this a few years ago as well . so instead of buying each other expensive prezzies we just get a little something to go under the tree then have a weekend away after christmas . trouble is the last couple of years those "little somethings " have started to grow again .

lyn

We've booked a caravan for next June in France, daughter & husband asked if they could join us for 2 of our 3 weeks so for their Christmas present I have bought them overnight ferry & meals as their joint present. Tesco vouchers really helped with the £360 bill.

Patka

i had bought my daughter and her boyfriend for xmas a 3 day break in prague and was very pleased with the price i got, i did a diy flights with thomsons and hotel with airmiles ,so using some airmiles and paying some cash it cost about £140 for the 2 of them + my airmiles,bargain i thought,then sadly thomson cancelled my flights and left me with a hotel in prague booked, anyway ive had to re book flights with easy jet but for 5 nights instead to get a similar flight price, then ive had to book a hotel for another 2 nights ,trouble was the hotel i booked with airmiles was very expensive so ended up booking another for the extra 2 nights, so although this seemed a good idea at the time, as we love prague, sadly its turned into a nightmare and cost me £50 more than i wanted to pay ,also due to it being 5 nights have had to tell my daughter although i havent told her where shes going, so all in all not pleased with thomsons its spoilt my surprise, but hopefully they will enjoy prague as much as we did, as i think giving weekend breaks and holidays as a surprise is a good present for relatives

We do it every year. Our presents to each other include the holiday just before Christmas and we always say to the kids it is part of their Christmas present. They are happy with that as they get a great winter break and something to look forward to in the form of presents to open when they get back home. This year is probably the last time either of them will holiday with us anyway as Daughter is 18 and Son is almost 16. Last year we paid for my parents to have a holiday and this year we will probably get them a City break of some sort. Rob's parents are a little more difficult to cater for when it comes to holidays and breaks. I think it is a fantastic idea to give city breaks and holidays as Christmas presents.

last xmas I treated my mum to 3 nights in Marrakech , we had a great time too