When it comes to setting a budget for the gift exchange, Joyce Marter, a licensed psychotherapist and author of The Financial Mindset Fix: A Mental Fitness Program for an Abundant Life, recommended sending the group an anonymous poll via text or email. “With an anonymous survey, people can respond privately and you can make a judgment call to select either the most common response, the mean or median response, or the lowest response depending on the unique circumstances of your group,” she said. She also said you might consider asking the person with the greatest budget constraints what range would work best for them — but only if appropriate.
