Charity doesn't begin at home this Christmas

Grandchildren beware: Your stocking may not be as full as usual this Christmas.

A survey for the website grownups.co.nz reveals many Baby Boomers plan to give more to charity than they spend on family presents this year.

About 1100 people took part in the poll.

Nearly 60 per cent said they would give more to charity while 42 per cent said they would spent less on their significant others.

Val Osborne, of Green Bay, Auckland, is among them. She's planning to spend more on charities than her husband of 43 years, Mike.

"Over the last few years he hasn't got that many presents from me, but he gets my attention all year," Osborne said.

The couple's 11 grandchildren will also get less, with a budget of $40 per child instead of the previous $100 each.

They will instead donate to local firefighters and the Foundation for the Blind.

Fellow Aucklander Tera Dean and her husband Derek give money to Oxfam and World Vision, and have asked their children do the same instead of buying them presents.

"To me it's just a good way of saying we've got everything we need and there are plenty of people that haven't," she said.

GrownUps was set up in 2006 to service the rapidly-growing group of internet-savvy over-50s and has more than 36,000 members.

Its survey also revealed surprising attitudes towards presents, with almost half saying it was okay to give an unwanted gift to someone else.

Among unusual present requests were a divorce settlement, the return of money from a collapsed finance company and requests for Mr Right.

Other more adventurous members of the 50+ crowd wanted a new skateboard, a surfboard and a tattoo.