We have historically been an over-the-top Christmas-giving family. Not sure why. My MIL, a very generous (yet also very frugal) person may have helped set the tone early on. Plus we bought very few things throughout the year and we tended to use Christmas to "catch up" on things we needed and wanted.
Last year my second son requested that we go really minimal. He and my DIL were expecting and they were watching their budgets. So we actually did pretty well with it.
This year, he reiterated that they are on a very tight budget, and that his in-laws are doing Secret Santa, and that his wife asked if we could go that route as well. My son told her "it will never happen."
Well, I toed the water by sending out a family email asking for Christmas "wish lists" and then saying that our (more) minimalist Christmas last year was a success and I absolutely didn't want stress about shopping and/or budgets to impair our Christmas cheer so I was open to any suggestions for keeping it simple--and among the things I mentioned (simple handmade things, dollar limits, gifts of time) I included Secret Santa.
I heard back from DIL who, predictably said that she's in favor of Secret Santa, but she knows that she's probably in the minority.
Does anyone have any creative suggestions for how to make everyone happy, and make gift giving fulfilling for the most number of people? Numbers of people concerned are about 10 adults and 3 little ones.