How Much To Tip For The Holidays

Do you tip at the holidays? I know there are many people who try to take care of the people in their lives who otherwise go unnoticed. Trash collectors, mail persons, babysitters  all of these are people we couldn't do without all year and yet most of us barely even think about them.

SO maybe if you throw a little holiday love at some of these people you will get some back all year. Maybe you don't get charged for that extra bag of trash you left out, maybe your mail carrier is a little more patient about how fast you get your snow shoveled, or your babysitter spends a little less time texting and cleans up a little bit, OK maybe that is asking too much but you never know.

So how much do you give well here are some tips from gifts.com.

1. The babysitter: If the sitter is more than occasional and goes above and beyond for you through the year, a gift card (a little more personal than cash) for the value of one night worth of sitting is good.

2. Daycare Staff: Cash or a gift card plus a personal small gift from the child. Depending on how many people are involved in watching your child, 20 - 70 dollars. If there are more people , it's OK to give less to each.

3.Trash Collectors: About 20 dollars each.

4. Mail Carrier: Also about 20 dollars but keep in mind federal employees can not take cash so a gift will have to be bought on this one. Gloves and a hat for cold weather use? Or even better a gift card to a place where he or she can get a hot cup of coffee nearby.

5. Teachers: The trick here is gift are usually only given to a teacher that has your child all day, like in the early elementary grades. If you have one of these a value of 25 - 100 dollars is good.

6. Hairdressers: if you have one primary person you use the cost of one haircut should do the trick for this. I bet they also would prefer a little cash.

That I think is going to be the primary people you will find in your day to day life that you may want to give some holiday cheer to. If there are others, I'm sure you can use these as a guideline and you should be fine.

Happy Holidays!