# Gift budget calculator: how much to spend per person

URL: https://intelli.gift/tools/gift-budget-calculator
Type: tool
Locale: en
Published: 2026-04-27
Updated: 2026-04-27

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> A simple tool that helps you split a gifting budget across people, weighted by how close you are and how much the occasion matters. No accounts, no signup — just answers.

## How much should you spend on a gift?

Drop in your total budget, the number of people on your list, and how close you are. We'll do the maths so you don't have to second-guess.

## Your per-gift budget

Move the sliders. The recommended spend updates instantly. Values are saved nowhere — close the tab and they're gone.

*[Interactive widget — see the live page for the full experience]*

## Three reasons it actually helps

### Fair across the list

A flat per-person budget undersells your closest people and oversells acquaintances. The closeness slider rebalances automatically.

### Honest with yourself

Most of us pick a per-gift number then forget how many people are on the list. Working from total → split avoids the December surprise.

### Calibrated to occasion

A wedding deserves more than a Tuesday birthday. The occasion weight scales the result without re-doing the maths.

## Common questions

### How is the suggested spend calculated?

We take your total budget, divide by the number of recipients, then scale by the closeness ratio (closeness ÷ 3, so 3 is neutral) and the occasion weight. The result is rounded to the nearest dollar.

### Are my inputs saved or shared?

No. Everything runs in your browser. Close the tab and the values are gone — there's no analytics, no cookies, no signup.

### What's a sensible occasion weight?

Use 1.0 for a normal birthday or holiday, 0.7-0.8 for small milestones (housewarming, graduation), and 1.5-2.0 for landmark events (wedding, a once-in-a-decade anniversary).

### Why does closeness max at 5?

Five buckets is enough to express the gradient from polite-acquaintance to immediate-family without burning the user's time. More granularity wouldn't change your gift much.

## Ready to spend it?

Once you have the per-gift budget, our top pick is UncommonGoods — fair-trade, B-Corp, reliable returns.

*Call to action: Browse UncommonGoods*