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I think it depends on what you can afford. I am thinking of spending about $65 each (based on what I am going to get them) and I have five girls.
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i'm on a tight small budget myself. i'm still piecing the gifts together, but they are pretty much adult goody bags.
There is a black or brown tote and inside each one will be
a bottle of (CHEAP) wine/bubbly. my friend knows of a tasty one that just a few bucks a bottle. this is fine bc none of my friends are bubbly buffs.
A box of assorted tasty chocolates
I ordered some cute kits from the Hard Candy 75% off sale yesterday. my cousin and MOH will get one goody more than the other bms.
i've got extra bottles of assrt lotions from bath and body works that i bought a long time ago and decided to save for them.
and i'm still batting around the idea of (inexpensive) jewelry. perhaps a pair of earrings not necessarily for the wedding.
that's probably it. I've got 5 girls, and each gift will cost me about $20-$25.
I ended up spending about $80 on each of my girls, and I had a great time picking out all of their gifts! But that said, I'm sure they would have been just as happy with even a small thoughtful token or a really nice note as well.
we're getitng married at the beach so i wanted to get my girls something they could use while on the trip. i have three bridesmaids as well and this is what i'm planning on getting them:
personalized canvas tote bags $20 ea.
starfish pendant & necklace $10 ea. (bought these during christmas time at overstock)
travel accessories from origins (all together comes to): $43.00--i subscribe to their newsletter and they're currently offering free shipping and free samples.
DIY picture collage for each one: $50 (cost of materials)
notebook/2009 calendars: $9.99 ea (got them at TJ Maxx and had them on lay away 
)
DIY personalized notecards with their initials: $15
so per girl, i'm spending:$60.00 (i rounded it out)
look around for sales and discounts--now that it's end of the summer and with labor day around the corner, I'm sure there will be a lot of sales going on!
I am on a budget myself, but I love being creative and finding great deals... I started buying my bridesmaids gifts months ago, that way it wasn't all at once.
I found on ebay a lot of 5 clutch bags. So I get the girls black clutch bags to use on the wedding day...($30 for 5 bags)
I have filled the bags with:
wedding day jewelry ($30 for 5, I only did earrings)
hair peice ($3 each, forever21.com has some CUTE cheap stuff)
bath and body works stuff...
wedding cd (that the guests are getting..)
Personalized sticky notes (they say Bridesmaid, Coffin/Courter weddin, and the date. I got these free on vistaprint.com)
Thank you magnets (look on vistaprint.com, they will send you free stuff flyers..I got a lot of stuff for my wedding on their free! Wedding invites, Tshirts, personalized note pads...)
Be creative, look around! :) And good luck!
Spend what you can afford, don't over do it just to try to reward them. These ladies accepted to be your bridesmaids/matrons because they want to support you and be there with you to celebrate (at least that's how it's supposed to be). Because of that, the big elaborate present isn't required. It's all about the thought behind each one.
I have a relatively relaxed budget that can afford larger gifts but that's only because the dress the three of them are wearing was relatively expensive and two of the three are paying for their own entirely. That said, each of my ladies are getting something entirely different.
My sister/MOH is getting pearl earrings. One bridesmaid is getting custom stationery, and one bridesmaid is getting a basket filled with pampering-type items (she's a single mom of a 2 year old) that contains things like salt scrub, jammies, book, cd, nail polish, tea, etc. I also have a special lady that agreed to hand out programs and greet guests as they arrive and I was able to get her a gift box from Origins. All of our groomsmen and ushers are being given leathermans for their gifts.
My advice to you is to think of each person and personalize or tailor the gifts to their likes and personality as much as you can. I think that makes a bigger impact for the recipient because it means you took the time to think of each one individually.
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As a semi-professional BM, I'd say don't go for dollar amount, go for quality. I've received some really over the top gifts (jewelry, etc) that are hanging out in the back of my closet, and then I got a really cool t-shirt that I actually wear. Basically, I'm sure they'd rather have something they can use than expensive clutter. :) Btw, I don't think you can go wrong with a custom tote bag.
I was really excited about the gifts, and kept finding more I wanted to get. I started with buying each of them big colorful beach bags with their names monogrammed on them (etsy), robes to wear while we were getting ready (Vicotoria's Secret), pearl earrings (Red envelope), a photo cube (red envelope) where I printed and cut pics of each BM with me/our friends in them, and a cute little box that said "Friends" on it (etsy). Also I got them flip flops. I think it worked out to $100 or maybe more, but I am not sure. I just wanted to give them something special that they would like and would (hopefully) convey how special they were to me!
I spent about $75, but $30 of that was for a pashmina that matched the wedding (so I don't really consider that a "gift," even though they'll probably use it after the fact).
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Wow you girls are going to die when you read my post. I have always been a little too generous and I thought the girls deserved nice gifts especially since their dresses were a little bit more expensive. I will be spending about $210 on each girl. I bought them small longchamp bags on sale ($70), pashmina beaded shawls ($50) and paying for their makeup on the day of the wedding ($90). I wanted to get them things they would use again and I really wanted them to get their makeup done so I figured I would pay for it.
I got my girls:
Cute Tote Bag: $5
J.Crew Flip Flops: $9 (on sale)
Pashminas: $5
DIY Personalized stationary: $12
Unique Etsy Jewelry: ~$25 (not so much for wedding but something they can wear again
Rounded up I spent about $60/girl.
I spent about $10 on initial engraved bracelets (they were on sale onlie and actually are beautiful and not cheap looking!) then i got them each pocket mirrors at about $10 a piece and made them tank tops that say bridesmaids in rinestones each shirt was about $10 a piece so for the Bridesmaids I spent a total of $30 on each girl.
Groomsmen we spent about $15 a piece on each of them. I also etched champagne glasses that say either bridesmaid, maid of honor, groomsmen, and best man that totalled about $10 a piece on those.
I have learned however that making your own stuff sometimes is not the cheapest thing to do because I wasted about $10+ because I made mistakes on the first 2 I did. Hope this helps!
I wouldn't go based on the amount spent, as above posters have noted.
A few things I would consider when buying the gifts are:
1. Does this gift specifically relate to the wedding? (shawls, shoes, make-up application, hairstyling) - if so then I wouldn't consider that a gift as such as this is an expense that is only being incurred because your friend is involved in your wedding party! These are all lovely gifts and I am doing some of them myself, but I would make sure that this was not the ONLY gift I was giving them.
2. Can I afford to purchase the dress for my bridesmaids with the amount I am spending on gifts for them? If so, you may want to consider doing this and then throwing in a few small things to go along with it as the gift. She probably will never wear the dress again, regardless of how nice she tells you that it is so offering it as a gift is a nice idea. All of the weddings I have been a bridesmaid in have gone this way and it's really nice knowing that you're not shelling out lots of money on something you don't want!
3. Is the gift something my friends would actually like? Everyone has different taste so it's hard to generalize here, but be sure it is something that she could consider a gift and not just a souvenir from your wedding!
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My gift is more sentimental and time consuming. I'm making my two bff's a blurb book. It will have all our photos from when we were kids hanging out together and photos of us together at present time. Along with pages of letters we wrote each other while we were in middle and high school. I'm sure they will get a kick out of it. :o) It will cost me $30-40 a book and a lot of scanning and editing, but the end result will be priceless.
I also paid for hair and makeup for my girls, 1/3 of their dresses because I didn't want them to spend more than a certain amount, and one night lodging, but I didn't consider any of these their "gift". If I did, its a LOT more!!
I think a gift is something you give them to show them how much you appreciate them. Its not like they consider their travel and hotel a "gift" to me, although it was an expense for them related to the wedding - so I didn't consider these wedding related things gifts either....
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I'm not doing anything too big. I'm making them all barefoot sandals, which yes, they can wear at the wedding, but afterwards too. I am getting them each a tote bag, and i'm going to put their initials on them (myself!), and then a few other random things in there that relate to the person more than just something i threw in there for them all. I think maybe $20 will get spent each girl.
Since my 6 BMs have done nothing (and no parties with 10 days left) I spent $30 on each of them to be nice. We spent about the same for the guys.
I think as long as your gift is personal and well thought out to the BM, it doesn't matter what you've spent. I myself bought a tought bag at Ross for $15 (valued at $30) for one and a leatherbound book for $20 for the other. I'm going to treat them to mani/pedis and that's it! I guess it ends up around $70-80pp, but I think the most important part is that they will enjoy their gift and I bought it with them in mind.
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I have no idea how much I should be spending on the gifts for my bridal party! We are only have 3 each, so that makes it easier to spend a little more....but still, we are on a tight budget. I certainly don't want to be cheap, but I don't want to be excessive either. I have some great ideas picked out for each one.....and I'd rather spend too much than too little.
Thoughts????