Guidelines for tipping during the holidays

Holiday tips are a way to thank the people who make your life easier. So why is it so hard to figure out whom to tip and how much?

Guides published by etiquette experts don’t always agree on what’s appropriate. What people actually do is another matter altogether.

Only about half of Americans give any holiday tips, according to a recent Consumer Reports survey, and those who do tip often give less than the amounts recommended by etiquette experts. For example, 56 percent of those who had housekeepers gave them a tip, and the median amount was $50. The manners mavens at the Emily Post Institute suggests the tip equal the cost of one visit, which according to HomeAdvisor averages at $167.

Plenty of people don’t even realize that holiday tipping is a thing. Others want to tip but struggle with budgets already strained by other holiday spending.

“From an etiquette standpoint, we try not to say, ‘You have to do it exactly like this otherwise it’s wrong,’” says etiquette expert Lizzie Post, copresident of the Emily Post Institute in Burlington, Vermont. “There are so many varied relationships that we have, or our budgets might not be able to accommodate it the way our hearts would like.”

Ideally, your holiday tipping list would include everyone who makes your life easier by providing you with regular service throughout the year — but if you get a lot of help, that can get expensive. Here are some guidelines that may help you decide whom to tip, and how:

1. Cash is often best, but not absolutely required

If you can afford to give only a few dollars, a small gift or homemade item may be a better way of expressing appreciation. Post remembers her parents baking cookies and making candy for their mail carriers, garbage collectors and newspaper delivery folks. Of course, not everyone is good