You might be surprised. My mom's family is quite wealthy and when I was a kid they were pretty materialistic. When we decided to ease off the gifts, sometime in my teens, I think, we were all just fine with it. It's been years and years since we did any major gift giving and all is well.

$75 for desserts seems like a lot. Is it because there are a lot of people or because you tend to bring a wide variety of desserts? Maybe it would simplify things to make 1-2 kinds of desserts. Maybe something cheap, like homemade cake or brownies. Even if you make several pans of brownies it's not especially expensive or hard. Maybe do a variety of bars. Those are easy and cheap and there are lots of variations. Plain brownies, brownies with mint, brownies with or']ange or raspberry, blondies, cookie bars, etc. Or homemade gingerbread cake. That's cheap and easy too, and very Christmasy. Maybe gingerbread and a flourless chocolate cake for the gluten free crowd. That would not be too expensive.