Christmas Budget/Shopping?

[RADOPT]

I love this thread!

I don't have a "budget" for christmas but keep things down by shopping all year and buying everything on sale. My kids get alot of gifts. Santa brings the one gift that they really want, which for my one daughter is ALWAYS a pair of shoes, and fills the stocking. They get one piece of clothing and one toy from Santa, the rest is stuff they can use for school or camp. From mom they get a book, a toy, a puzzle or game, and clothes. I already got their pjs from a discount store for $10.00 a piece. I never buy my children "back to school" clothes. They wear what they had from the year before unless they really need something. Their "back to school" clothes are under the christmas tree. What can I say - I like getting the most mileage out of what I have to buy. Ok -- I'm cheap!

I do spend $50.00 on my nieces/nephew (3 - 21,18,14) and $100.00 on my brother/sister in law for christmas and birthdays. That is going down as I am tried of spending that or more for presents when they send my kids a $25.00 gift card - especially when they have more $$ then we do. Can wait to hear the remarks next year when their $25.00 gift card is opened. - Sorry for ranting!

I buy my sister something she need, which is easy as she bought a house last year, and I spend about $100 - $150 on her. My mom - thats always a good one. Her birthday is in November so that is 2 gifts at the end of the year. I try to get her a little something and set something up with her friends or get her a gift card for a kitchen or garden store or cooking class. Something I know she will enjoy.

This year, if I have the time, I am thinking of getting my parent's wedding movie transfered to dvd plus some of the slides from our trips with my parents.

 

[LynnTH]

In my family I buy for my 2 kids and husband and 3 nieces/nephews, 2 brothers and 2 sil's and my parents. And then my inlaws. I will pick up stuff here and there on clearance for my kids but I usually like to wait until later in the year when I know what everyone wants for Christmas. So, I have started buying gift cards on Hotwire for Target, Toys R Us and other places I know I shop during the holidays and put then in a jar so when the holiday season rolls around I can pay with the gift cards, which I got for 20% off.

For Teacher gifts I usually give them a Target Gift Card. They can always use that.

One other thing that my family has done as gifts for my parents (as we all know they are usually the hardest to buy for). Their Birthdays are both in June and then you have Mothers Day in May and Fathers Day in June. So, my brothers and I went in and bought my parents about $400 worth of Gift Cards to cover those 4 gifts. We had Target, Restaurants, Movies, Golfing, Casino, Home Depot etc. Each one was $25-$50. They loved it and since they are both retired they were able to go out and use gift cards for everything. I would definitely do this again.

 

[dvcgirl]

DH and I buy our WDW annual passes for ourselves each year for Christmas . Other than that, we will spend about $100 each on each other just to have gifts under the tree to open.

For my extended family and DH's extended family, we all draw names, and the limit is $50 per person. This means we spend 50 on ONE person in my extended family, and $100 on DH's extended family (since his family does "couples" exchanges for the adults). I also buy a gift for my mom (usually clothes, because that's what she likes, about $70).

I found out last year at my workplace that the tradition there is to give small gifts to everybody, so I will be buying my favorite scented soaps this year(http://www.bellasoaps.com --I have no financial or personal interest in this business --I just happened to purchase some of her soaps when I was visiting family in Pennsylvania, and the soaps are just the most superb, subtley-scented ones I've come across!)for about 25 people. This will total about $100 including shipping.

Total for this Christmas will be about $1100-1200, all in cash.

BTW, I appreciate people who ask for things like dishtowels--I think they are probably trying to let you know that you don't need to spend a lot of money on them! Perhaps they are trying to help reduce the financial pressures of Christmas too!

We're similar to you FloridaGirl. We don't buy any gifts at all for each other, we'll call a dinner out our "gift". Last year we went to Victoria and Albert's for Christmas Eve dinner, and that was wonderful.

As for family, we have no kids. We do have a niece and nephew on DH's side, a new niece or nephew on the way (my side) and a few young cousins on my side who we have given gifts to in the past. We've decided that gifts to the niece (22) and nephew (18) are over as of this year. Same for one cousin who is 21. The younger cousins are 8,11 and almost 14....so I'm not sure about them, maybe a $25 gift card or something like that.

We don't do BDs or Mother's or Father's day gift during the year for our parents so we generally spend $200-$400 on gifts for each set. We bought my in-laws Seasonal passes to Disney last year, not sure what we'll do this year. We bought my parents Broadway tix and a dinner out. They seem to enjoy getting one large gift like that.

Siblings have been $100 per couple, but I want to kind of stop that because I think it's sort of silly at this point. If it's a thoughtful gift that I haven't requested...fine, but I feel kind of silly coming up with a list of things that I need...like a sweater or something for the house. If I need something I'll just get it myself. Oh well. Generally, we end up spending somewhere between $1,000-$1,200, but like I said, it's a little high only because we do big gifts for parents in lieu of BD and MD/FD gifts.

 

[yecats]

I am from a small family so most of the people in my family get about $80-$100 worth of gifts and some can be joint (last year dad and stepmom got a DVD player as a joint gift - Sam's Wholesale has a lot of things that I find reasonably priced and a few smaller priced gifts as well). As such I spend about $800 a year on gifts for family, friends and coworkers. I start saving about $25 to $50 per check right after christmas and attempt to have all x-mas monies saved by September. I generally start shopping here during mid summer (July/August & September) and attempt to have all shopping done by Thanksgiving because I don't like the xmas crowds. As I reside in Louisiana and it is generally hot here for 8 to 10 months of the year, it is fairly easy to find clothes on sale here that can be worn year round without looking like summer wear. So instead of paying $40 for a nice blouse, I buy it for $20 and find I can buy a few more items as I only buy what is on sale.

Most things I buy are clothing, shoes, accessories, housewears, perfume, candles, movie tickets or giftcards. I do have picky people in my family and have found that purchasing giftcards from the places I know they shop allows them to get whatever they want. I was in the Hotwire Savings Club last year and loved the fact that if you bought $500 worth of Giftcards then you received $100 back - that was a great deal. I also really like the photo idea as well as those are cherished items.

In the past I have given out needlepoint pillowcases and pillows as personally gifts as I spent my time working on them. I also make food baskets as my grandparents are diabetics and they get plenty of fruit baskets (about 4 at x-mas) from friends and church members. I love to go down the diet food isle at the supermarket to make a sugar free basket of goodies for the grandparents (about $25 to $30 of stuff put in the baskets and wrapped in celophane) and it usually includes things like jams/jellies, various types of crackers, chocolate, cake mix, spagetti and sauce, beanie weanies and one or two other items that they can make when they feel like it. This generally goes over well with them as they know they will eventually eat it all and haven't received any more fruit.

I have received from coworkers in the past homemade jelly, sweet bread and liquor fudge and really appreciated all of them as they were good and I know that person spent time making the items.

 

[elaine and the boys]

JoyG and all you other budget DISers,

I have two sisters and two brothers...all with spouses and 2-3 children each. We used to draw a name for adults, and buy a $50 gift...until we kept getting each other gift cards to the same places!! We then decided to donate the money we would have spent on gifts for adults to a charity. A different sibling picks the charity of his/her choice each year. It really works out well...and we all get a great feeling of giving. We do buy for all the neices and nephews...and pool our money for a big gift for our parents. Then there is my husband's family...only one sibling with spouse and two children...so a lot less money needed. We keep gifts for most around $20-25, but usually the gifts are of higher value because I'm a sale-a-holic! I worked in a department store when I was in high school and college, and I know how high the markup is!! I usually don't buy anything unless it's at least 50% off! My budget is usually around $1,000...maybe a bit over.

This year, though, we are spending Christmas in WDW!!!!! Can't wait!! I've already purchased new character PJ's for DH and my 2 DSs, as well as Disney t-shirts and pins.. .all on sale from Disneydirect...with additional discount codes or free shipping!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!! AND HAPPY SALE SHOPPING!!

 

[CarolA]

I think I'm getting through to the middle DD though, last Christmas when asked what she wanted Santa to bring her, her reply "nothing".

My best friend has the sweetest little girl. When asked what she wanted for Christmas last year she said "Mommy, I really don't need anything" Of course, her older sister (also a sweetie) piped up "good, then I can have more stuff"

 

[PaulaSue]

Love all the ideas!!! I have always tried to make a lot and have been getting into the basket ideas last year and plan on doing them again this year.

I do for the 3 girls about 50-75 each if you totalled indv and combo gifts. Dh and I do nothing for each other. Maybe about 15 per GP but real price is more. For friends and kids (we are both only children and not give to many of the cousins) it is about 5 each on sale.

I am a big bargin hunter.

 

[MomOf2DisneyKids]

Last year for teachers and Sunday School teachers I put together a CHRISTMAS MORNING BREAKFAST BASKET. I included pancake mix, syrup, a red pancake turner/spatula from Bed, Bath and Beyond, hot cocoa mix, marshmallows, and a cute Christmas pancake mold from Williams Sonoma. The gift was very practical, but looked really nice in a basket with a Christmas patterned basket bag and ribbon. Everyone seemed to like the gift.

My SIL put together movie baskets using paper Popcorn Boxes, microwave popcorn packets, a few pieces of movie type candy and a GC to Blockbuster. We enjoyed this present also.

just wanted to say that I love love love these ideas! I've done the movie one before, but the breakfast basket is a great idea too!!

 

[lbgraves]

Well, I'm pretty much done for Christmas and have been since February. I buy on clearance after the holidays & any time I see something appropriate 50% or more off. The only thing that I still need to buy are some GBA tapes for the kids. I am waiting for a great sale with codes. I picked up two GBAs at last year's black Friday at WM for $40 each. I might spend a total of $250-300 a year for everything but really cut back on family gifts.

One thing that will save you alot of money on shipping is to NOT use the USPS. I opened an account with UPS when I sold on Ebay and they have much cheaper rates with insurance included. I just weight it, print up the prepaid label online, and drop it at the copy center around the corner.

 

[TEK224]

Wow! I came across this thread and you guys have some awesome ideas. I may have to steal a few

I've done the breakfast basket, but not the movie one. That could be fun.

I've always gone overboard on holiday gifts. I have 20 nieces and nephews and I love to surprise them on Christmas morning. However, I also have to be more fiscally responsible, so I am trying to cut back. It is so hard!

I am trying to include more handmade stuff and get things on sale more. I have started shopping. Picked up 3 things so far.

Sometimes, it bums me out that people "expect" an expensive gift. To get over that, I usually find a family that has it a little "tough" and try to make their holidays more enjoyable. That makes me feel good and they get a surprise too.

Keep the ideas coming. I need them all!

Terri

 

[wide awake]

DH and I have already put aside $1500 for Christmas. We generally don't buy for each other...for DS we usually spend about $300...buy gift cards for the nieces and nephews...buy gift cards for DH's parents that are good for Music Circus or Broadway shows...spend about $200 apiece on my mom and dad...they're divorced. The $1500 also includes holiday show tickets such as TransSiberian Orchestra or the Nutcracker...decorations, CDs, special foods and entertaining...
As a teacher I LOVE a handwritten note or card from your child...or a gift card...or plant...or holiday CD or cassette...even if I have it I can take the extra in my car or to school...a box or gift certificate from Sees...
For all of you thinking about Christmas dinner...my sister and I have come up with an easy, festive menu that can be divided work and cash wise...whichever sister is hosting is responsible for making a prime rib, roasted green beans, and sherried mushrooms...also for setting the table...the other sister brings wine, twice baked potatoes stuffed w/ shrimp, cheese, sour cream, and scallions...bread...horseradish sauce...and See's peanut brittle and Lofthouse sugar cookies for dessert. Yummy and easy !!!

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Another great idea for Christmas goodies is a cookie swap. My family has been doing it for about 15 years now and its a great time when aunts, grandmothers, moms, sisters (basically any woman who wants to join in - in my family women only! ) participates. We have 10-15 people per year - each person bakes a 1/2 dozen cookies per participant and 1 dozen for the hostess of the same type of cookie. Noone tells what they are making so it's always fun to see who came up with what. So lets say 15 people partake... you would end up with 15 different 1/2 dz of cookies for your own house parties, work, party, school, etc. This way you make 1 type of cookie instead of all the different goodies but get a huge vairety. Also a great tea time tasting all the cookies on the day of the swap - this is the reason for the dozen for hostess (so she would really end up with more with leftovers ) It's also fun to see who makes up the best presentation of their cookies.

 

[EthansMom]

For all of you thinking about Christmas dinner...my sister and I have come up with an easy, festive menu that can be divided work and cash wise...whichever sister is hosting is responsible for making a prime rib, roasted green beans, and sherried mushrooms...also for setting the table...the other sister brings wine, twice baked potatoes stuffed w/ shrimp, cheese, sour cream, and scallions...bread...horseradish sauce...and See's peanut brittle and Lofthouse sugar cookies for dessert. Yummy and easy !!!

Mmmmm.....sounds delicious!

When it was just DH and I, we would buy some fresh rye bread, fresh deli meats, and all the fixings for sandwiches. We'd buy all of our favorite side dishes: macaroni salad, potato chips with onion dip, kalamata olives...and we'd just have a wonderful snack-fest all day long.

Living near the in-laws, I got stuck having Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner here last year since my SIL was pregnant and had baby #3 in early Dec. I found Thanksgiving to be stressful -- you HAVE to make a turkey, and you HAVE to make mashed potatoes, and you HAVE to make gravy, and it all has to come out of the kitchen hot at the same time. Even though everyone brought a dish to contribute, it was too much work and too many people in the kitchen and no fun for me at all.

For Christmas, I got smart. We made a ham, which didn't require nearly the same amount of prep or cooking time as a turkey. Also, there wasn't as much expectation about the side dishes I should serve. I made an oven-roasted veggie dish (cut up the veggies and mixed the sauce the day before). Since the veggies and ham cooked at the same temperature, arranging for them to both come out of the oven at the same time was easy. SIL made scalloped potatoes. We served bag salad from Costco with salad dressing from the store. MIL brought bread. FIL brought wine. And we served pies I had made on Chrismas Eve.

I also make sure to have the dishwasher cleaned out before dinner is served so that each of my guests can load his/her own dishes which makes clean up so much easier!

This year, SIL has said she'll take care of Thanksgiving if I'll bring my homemade pies. And I told her I would take Christmas if neither MIL nor SMIL wants it.

 

[bunny213]

Let's keep this ball rolling....you were all such an great inspiration last night...I made my list in my little Christmas book (so I can remember what I've bought, have to get, and where I put it!!)....you all have such terrific ideas .... I always get my sister a sweater for Christmas.....today I found a Holiday Sweater vest at Ross for only 8$. It's so pretty and was originally 40.00!!!! She's going to love it!
As a small joke gift I always get my SIL's some kind of crazy boxers.....I think I may order those pj pants they have a Disneydirect on sale....how can I beat 5.99?????
Oh...and back to the picture idea...what's the difference between a copy and a reproduction??? Is a reproduction better? Thanks......Barb in Texas

 

[momxx5]

DH & I do not exchange gifts....we started a tradition our first year married that we would sponsor an Angel each instead of giving to each other. We each pick a name from our local charity and buy presents for those children in need. It is usually foster children that are in the greatest need here.

As for the children...5 in all...they each get 2 items from Santa. Since they do not get many gifts throughout the year, nor do they get things just because we are at the store, Santa brings the "special items" from their wish list. Because their wishes change throughout the year, it is very hard to buy ahead for them. So the shopping for them is closer to December. My mom and sis send money for me to get the children something - I use this money to get the best deals so Grandma gets the kids awesome gifts at bargain prices. Those gifts I pickup along the year as I see the bargains.

For teachers.....last year I had to buy for 12 teachers plus the bus driver....
we made "Christmas Mix" and put in tins or canning jars. It looked so pretty and was delicious. It was not costly and everyone liked it.
The year before that we made white chocolate dipped pretzel rods, again putting them in canning jars with festive fabric and bows - another great hit.
DD wanted to give her 1st grade teacher something special so I had her draw 12 pictures - one for each month - and then I printed a calendar on the pages, so her teacher got a home-made calendar for the new year. Her teacher loved it.
Another teacher idea - inexpensive card stock w/envelopes (Sam's Club - 100 card w/env for around $12.). Have the children draw a picture, scan into computer, print onto blank cards, customize the envelopes, wrap with riboon, attach at fancy pen - notecards for way under $5/teacher.

We also give our 7 neighbors alittle homemade something during the holidays...the Christmas Mix was a huge hit.

Chritmas Mix:
-Red and Green M&Ms (huge bag at Sams club)
-small pretzels (used Christmas shaped ones from Sam's Club, ran out and used small regular crossed pretzels)
-frosted cheerios
-unsalted peanuts (*my kids do not like nuts so we left them out and it was still delicious, so I would not make it with nuts)
-white chocolate chips

Melt the white chocolate chips in microwave - making sure to not over heat because chocolate can seize. Lay a sheet of wax paper on a cookie sheet, and put large handfuls of all the ingredients on the cookie sheet. Drizzle white chocolate over ingredients and mix to cover. Some will clump up and thats okay. If the clumps are too large, break into bite sizes.
I put it into quart canning jars and it looked so pretty, attached festive fabric and ribbon. Next year I'll include the recipe because so many people called to get the recipe.
(credit for recipe from my great mega-mommy friend Mary )

I must say though, that I have not thought about Christmas until I saw this post.

 

[MayMom]

My hubby and I save about $2500.00 all year in a Christmas account. We use this to buy our Disney tickets, which takes about $800.00. Then we have a huge amount to buy for family and food, etc. This keeps me from becoming stressed over money during this special time of year.

I teach and have received some great gifts:

A Cracker Barrell gift card for breakfast with my husband
Movie gift certificates
I love getting one nice hardback book (@ $10.00). This adds to the classroom library and will be used for years to come. If you are afraid to buy a book because you think the teacher may already have it - Go ahead and buy it - then include the receipt so they can exchange it. This way the teacher will understand the idea behind the gift.
At the end of the school year once a parent sent me a hanging basket to school. It was an unexpected and thoughtful thing to do also.

 

[CrzyforPiglet]

Count me in as a chronic Christmas overspender! This year though I'm trying to be more like my mom. She has a set budget per family so the more people in the family - the less each person may get but at least it is fair. She also has a little notebook that she would keep in her drawer (yes as a child I knew where that and the secret stash was - I was a stinker and I know it ) and keep track of how much she spent and on what. I've bought some stuff already but haven't written it in the notebook so I'm just getting started on that. I am usually one of those people who is done by Thanksgiving but this year we're having our own little one join us around Halloween so I feel even more pressure to get a lot of this taken care of sooner rather than later. In my household I am the decorator, stamp buyer, card sender, gift shopper, and wrapper. I always tell DH that I have to be done early so I can help him decide what to get his family.

So far I've bought some great disney clearance items and little things at art fairs we've been to. Most of my immediate family is going to disney with us next May so I'm making everyone a "vacation box" filled with things for the trip like sunscreen, books, film, maybe a new outfit, disney dollars, etc. For my niece I am going to have Mickey write her a letter telling her how excited he'll be to see her again!

For neighbors and family friends I make homemade english toffee each year and last year I took regular gladware containers and put the candy in there and tied christmas ribbon and a little trim like poinsettia or something from Michaels on top and called it good. So I do watch for those things to go on sale to save some money. Also last year my sister asked me to make a donation in her name to charity which I happily did.

Great ideas everyone!

 

[MomOf2DisneyKids]

could some of you share good teacher gifts as well? Maybe some of you ARE teachers and you could tell me what good gifts are?????

I'd like to hear from some elementary teachers in particular, since I will have to buy for 2 classroom teachers, plus all of the "specials" (art, music, etc...)
Thanks!

 

[Princess Glenda]

This thread is GREAT!!

Just wanted to add a couple of thoughts...

For the Christmas Morning Breakfast Basket I purchased coupons on eBay for the Pancake mix, Pancake Syrup, and the Hot Cocoa Mix. This really helped with the cost because our supermarket doubles the coupons.

ALSO... Two years ago I made a mixed CD of our favorite Christmas songs to send along with our Christmas cards. These were sent to family and close friends. We have a huge collection of Christmas song CDs so we picked one or two from each and DH made a CD of our favorites. We took a picture of DS and DD sitting on Santa's knee and made a CD label for the front of the CD and included the words A (Our Last Name) Christmas 2003. We also bought red and green CD envelope sleeves to put the CDs in. My kids really enjoyed picking out their favorite songs and the CD is priceless to us. DS had just lost a tooth so of course we included "All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth." The mix was really unique and I even included a reading of The Night Before Christmas. My family really enjoyed the CD and you wouldn't believe how many of them asked "Where's our 2004 CD?" last year.

 

[EthansMom]

Oh...and back to the picture idea...what's the difference between a copy and a reproduction??? Is a reproduction better? Thanks......Barb in Texas

A reproduction is a copy of the photo, but it's on photo paper and done by a professional. You might be able to use a Kodak-type photo copier at the store to do the same thing -- make photo copies without the negative. But, my understanding is that a reproduction place scans the image into the computer and can take out crease marks and such. My reproduced photo of my Great Great Grandfather looks just like my Grandma's copy, except mine is in much better condition. I understand that having photos reproduced can be a little pricy, but if you're making several copies of the same photo, I understand it costs less per copy than if you're having one copy made.

Personally, I'd prefer copies of photos on photo paper because they are so much nicer to display than photos copied onto paper.