I'm already thinking about Christmas! I tend to stretch things out so I don't have a huge financial burden trying to buy and make stuff in December. So we have tons of shredded zucchini in the freezer. I will make zucchini bread and probably Christmas cookies for friends and teachers etc. I have been using Listia to get some fun things for my oldest... bath and body stuff, a wallet etc. I need to pick up some school supplies while they are on sale for my very crafty youngest daughter. My son wants all things of a plastic variety... Legos, Bionicles, Power Rangers, Beyblades etc. I will keep my eye out for sales plus I have swagbucks to cash in for Amazon cards. Anyone making plans yet? Any good ideas out there for saving money on Christmas?? Edie
Nope, not to early for me!! I don't have to do much shopping at all, though. Just need a few gift cards, a couple photo books for the grandparents, 5 similar boy toys for the cousins, and something for my kids. I've been debating about getting the kids some neat sleds, skiing lessons, or something else that is non-indoor toy related. But would that be horrible to not have toys to play with under the tree?? We just don't have room for any more toys in the house. I guess the best way to save money for us is to have a plan for how much we will spend on each person and have some ideas of what to buy so that I can keep an eye on sales. Sounds like you already do that!! I adore Black Friday!! I take advantage of the fun and sales by only taking enough cash for the list of items I plan to buy. We've never really spent a lot of money on gifts, but we try to enjoy the other aspects of the holiday: decorating, making ornaments, making cards, baking, etc...
Blizzard, maybe you could buy one family gift like a board game or something, so there will be something to play with under the tree! My kids also don't mind used thank goodness! So I tend to find used dvd's (Swap a DVD!) and books (Paper Back Swap!) to add to the goodies under the tree. My daughter's birthday is right before Christmas and she is turning 13 this year, so I think I will get her some of the Chicken Soup for the Teen Soul books. I think they would be right up her alley. To combat the to much stuff issue, we are having a garage sale this weekend. That will help with getting rid of stuff plus add to our funds. Edie
Yes and no. I REFUSE to think deal with Christmas until after Thanksgiving, but make two exceptions: 1) I will buy gifts all year 'round. Carl just saw a camera advertised very cheap, and was wondering about Phillip for Christmas. Decided against it, but would have no problem at all of getting it for him now and saving it. 2) Crafts. If I waited until after Thanksgiving to make Christmas crafts, nothing would get done! I'm currently working on a really neat paper-pieced quilted thing to put on my table for Christmas. It's like a giant hot-pad.
It is never too early to think about Christmas. I think about Christmas all year long. It is such a wonderful time of year. Just this morning I was thinking about Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving will be different this year. Our daughter will be living in Indiana; we live in Washington. Also, my mother will visit us this year. Her husband, my father, recently died. It will be very nice to have my mom visit and sad to have my daughter gone. Christmas is different with no little kids around. Little children make the holidays more joyful. My husband and I need to think of some new traditions since our children are older now. I don't mean for this to sound like a sad post. I just need to be proactive in the changes in our lives. I do love the holidays and always will.
Sue May, my mom passed away in January. I'm really not sure WHAT to expect this year for Christmas, as Mom was the one who did all the gift buying for the kids. We would spend Christmas Eve with my parents and open presents there. It meant so much to Mom! Without her, I'm not sure Dad will even want to put the tree up. I may "push" it; tell him the kids want to come over to help him decorate it. I may invite him to my mil's place Christmas day, but I'm not sure he'd feel comfortable there. I know dh's family would love to have him, and would try to make him feel welcome, but....
I love Christmas and usually start the shopping around this time of year. I can't stand the Christmas shopping crowds. I love cooking all the family favorite you know those rich very unhealthy food for just the special occasion. I can't wait for mint fudge This past Christmas was my first Christmas to not have a excited younger kid. I had 2 teenagers. We did have fun and changed up instead of doing Christmas morning. We had Christmas celebrations midnight Christmas eve. My parents stayed over and we read the Christmas Scriptures, open gifts, and watched The Naivety Story and got in bed around 3 am My boys loved the new adult Christmas. They also have always loved having my parents stay over Christmas eve when they where little but we never could get my in laws to stay with us.:cry: this year we hope that my mother in law will come stay with us but even being a widow now she still want come stay over at our home. She tends to ignores us. She really favors my SIL's family anyway we can keep trying. The boys have already planned to watch Elf and Jingle All the Way. It looks like we will have a comedy Christmas this year
I will be getting 4 FREE t-shirts with College Football logos on them that I got with Coke Caps. I will have a few books left over after I wrap some for birthdays, then when they have another Scholastic awesome sale I'll get more stuff for christmas. I get free stuff from Amazon and now that I'm done with Birthdays I'll start saving for christmas!!
I got several things for my youngest this summer during clearance sales--LPS, Polly Pockets. The others are harder, becuase they are older. I try to watch for good sales all year, but really start concentrating about now.
I took advantage of the Nintiendo DS special ..... how to train your dragon for 9.99 ....... I guess for my youngest son. PAM>>>>>> I"m soooo jellous of your sale finds. (LPS) with my teens and tweens........ Its getting harder to find the inexpensive stuff because they just want games for Wii or DS Sammie loves Art stuff and eva still likes Webkinz.......
Amy, I was so grateful to a friend for letting me know when Dollar Tree had LPS. There were only 2 left that we didn't have, but that's $12 worth for $2!! I found 2 more at Target on clearance for $2.43. Dd7 will get a couple for her birthday (Thanksgiving Day!!) and a couple for Christmas. The Polly Pocket set was a $19.99 set that I got for $4 at Target. Watch Target at this time of year. They start clearancing to clear out for Christmas just after school starts. I usually have decent luck at Ross, too. My 13yo dd does love clothes and make-up, so I can get some of those things for her.
We are Christmas junkies around here! It is never to early to talk Christmas. Are you kidding?:lol: With that said, I haven't done any shopping yet. However, we have already made the new gingerbread house for the front yard. Sadly, we have to wait until the Christmas lights come out to light it up. I also make gifts through the year and try to come up with new decorating ideas. We take a long break from Thanksgiving through New Years so we can enjoy the season.
Hope you dont mind me jumping in here, been MIA for a long time, LOL. I LOVE Christmas and think about it all year round! I have a Christmas binder, like some women have a home management binder, I store my Christmas ideas for gifts, crafts, baking, ect in there. I'll pull it out several times a year and work in it. I have a large family and need to shop year round. Whenever I see a sale I take advantage of it and put things back for the holidays. I also do lots of homemade things. Baking, canning, crafting for gifts. I love going to garage/yard sales all summer - now some think think this is really cheap, but I will gift shop there too. I got my Dd a DS for $8, my sister a Thirty-One bag for a dime!! Games, ect. I make sure they are in good shape and save LOTS that way!
I just bought my youngest a kid sized wheelbarrow for christmas for half price!!! I am stoked. I have to find a place to hide it for a few months...LOL I love to shop before hand. I have two birthdays in OCt for my sisters kids, My dd is the day after thanksgiving, ds is dec 30th, other ds is the day before valentines. We have 7 adult birthdays between Christmas and New Years. I have a question. I am sick of the junk for Christmas presents. I was wondering if there was some idea of something to do or give for presents to others. Most of my families are on weird diets so I have quite baking things. I don't like the crafty things either, because they are picky. (I know not really fun people) I was thinking of donating to a charity, but that seemed like a cop out. So any suggestions. I thought about filling boxes for troops and sending them overseas. One box per family. That is something our whole family could do. I could take pictures and describe what we did. It would be good for my kids as well as some snotty nephews we have. I also thought about telling the other families that we would like gifts to send to soldiers. Then when we got together we could all fill the boxes with our " gifts" then put them in the mail the next day. I also thought about spending time making crafty kid type gifts and taking them to the local nursing home. I really am not fond of that idea, because honestly I do not like nursing homes at all. Long story short when I was a teen my group went and an old man grabbed me and wouldn't let go. He left bruises. Freaked me out a bunch.
I've found that magazine subscription are great gifts for neices and nephews. It's like a gift that keeps on giving each month. Each month, they get excited when it arrives.
PS: Well, yes, magazines can be good. You always want to be sure that the person that is getting the subscription will actually read the magazine regularly. (Something to bear in mind, too.)
I got my nephew Clubhouse for Christmas. I made a little card and put it on the Christmas tree, telling what to expect. That was OK, but no big deal. But when his first magazine came, I got a phone call. He was SO EXCITED; his mom suggested he call and tell me how excited he was and to thank me. She called me last year right before Christmas to suggest that renewing the subscription would be a GREAT idea.
