Thinking of Christmas

[scottmel]

When DD13 was younger i too could shop early etc. Now it seems like Christmas is all year round at this age. Last week she got a brand new bike for having an incredible year at school and I paid 1/2 for a new ipod touch for her. Guess I could wait for xmas for such things but you can't ride a bike iin PA snow in winter and the ipod is such a nice treat as her old one kept crashing, etc. how could I make her wait until xmas? SOO no buying early etc.

But having 1 child makes holiday shopping easy as sometimes I see so many cool things one year and the next is eh. So her present pile varies wildly....I use to shop SO early but found I returned most or it wasn't what SHE really wanted and I ended up wasting money even if the item was super cheap. I don't do clutter and neither does she! So I WISH I could even remotely think of the holidays but alas that has to wait until December b/c of the fickle teen years!

 

[mjantz]

I try not to have a lot of guilt over the different amounts of presents. Usually I'm able to find dirt cheap items throughout the year (like a shirt at Mardel for 90% off) that I can toss under the tree as well.
I also do crazy stuff like wrap presents in lots of layers & then put even small items into enormous gift sacks so it looks like 'more' under the tree.

 

[lovesmurfs]

I try not to have a lot of guilt over the different amounts of presents. Usually I'm able to find dirt cheap items throughout the year (like a shirt at Mardel for 90% off) that I can toss under the tree as well.
I also do crazy stuff like wrap presents in lots of layers & then put even small items into enormous gift sacks so it looks like 'more' under the tree.

I've done that, and have also done scavenger hunts, leaving mysterious clues for them to figure out to stretch out the gift if there is one really big one.

 

[bababear_50]

I am Officially DONE!!!!
First time in my life that I have ever done this.
Christmas is going to be so much more relaxed for me this year.
I am a single parent and Nana and the expense alone sometimes is a bit much. I was able to shave off 1/3 of the cost this year,not as good as the 2/3 I was hoping but it really is due to buying my grand daughter a airplane ticket to Disney,,and that for me is priceless.

Thought I'd post my favorite Christmas song to get others in the mood


Link here
Where are you Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFr7UYgRnng&feature=fvwrel


And here is the Budget Buster
a rather large ticket I designed and printed and laminated which will float out of a Christmas box,filled with helium balloons.
Yes that is my budget board Minnie piggy bank behind the ticket which is now empty.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Hugs Mel

 

[mrsbornkuntry]

I am Offically DONE!!!!
First time in my life that I have ever done this.
Christmas is going to be so much more relaxed for me this year.
I am a single parent and Nana and the expense alone sometimes is a bit much. I was able to shave off 1/3 of the cost this year,not as good as the 2/3 I was hoping but it really is due to buying my grand daughter a airplane ticket to Disney,,and that for me is priceless.

Thought I'd post my favorite Christmas song to get others in the mood


Link here
Where are you Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFr7UYgRnng&feature=fvwrel


And here is the Budget Buster
a rather large ticket I designed and printed and laminated which will float out of a Christmas box,filled with helium balloons.
Yes that is my budget board Minnie piggy bank behind the ticket which is now empty.




Hugs Mel

That's awesome!

 

[ctinct]

That is really cute, but....are you sure you want all that info on the internet?

 

[bababear_50]

That is really cute, but....are you sure you want all that info on the internet?

Thanks
I was excited and forgot that I really shouldn't post all the info,,I edited the post ,,thanks for the heads up.

Hugs Mel

 

[littlebit0863]

I wasn't thinking at all about Christmas until I read your thread yesterday. Then I happened to find two adorable Mickey & Minnie Christmas ornaments NIB at a yard sale. Then at Target, their dollar section stuff was on sale for 30 cents, so I bought a few little stocking stuffers for my niece. (the candy flavored lip glosses and stickers.)

 

[ShortStuff]

I am Officially DONE!!!!
First time in my life that I have ever done this.
Christmas is going to be so much more relaxed for me this year.
I am a single parent and Nana and the expense alone sometimes is a bit much. I was able to shave off 1/3 of the cost this year,not as good as the 2/3 I was hoping but it really is due to buying my grand daughter a airplane ticket to Disney,,and that for me is priceless.

Thought I'd post my favorite Christmas song to get others in the mood


Link here
Where are you Christmas

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFr7UYgRnng&feature=fvwrel


And here is the Budget Buster
a rather large ticket I designed and printed and laminated which will float out of a Christmas box,filled with helium balloons.
Yes that is my budget board Minnie piggy bank behind the ticket which is now empty.





Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Hugs Mel

Adorable, awesome and what a great idea, to 'float it out of a box'!!!! I love that song bye the way!

 

[4 Ears]

I bought a tshirt today for each of my boys at Legoland water park on clearance for 12.48 each!

 

[DreamingofDaWorld]

I absolutely adore Christmas! This year will be a bit different, as most of our family will be taking a vacation to Disneyland during Thanksgiving. So no Black Friday shopping for me this year. The kids know that Christmas will be cut back big time this year. I'm thinking of doing a group gift for my 4 younger boys, from santa. The xbox 360 w/Kinect. My 17 year old, a smaller flat screen tv for his room. And I still have the little people castle from Walmart's last year BF shopping, for my daughter. I am an all year shopper.

 

[Priorityonecb]

It's official, we are going to Florida instead of gifts galore at Christmas. In fact, our daughter asked for only one thing, for us to replace the Ipod touch that was stolen from her. She left today for a two week vacation today, and we gave that to her early for her trip. I really hope I can contain myself not to buy a bunch of presents!!!

I did reserve our hotel for the Christmas trip this week! I got an awesome deal at an all suites Hilton near Sea World. We have season passes, so parks are free. I made ADR's for Kona on Christmas night, Holiday Wishes on the beach to follow! Ahhhhh

 

[kayrosek]

Finally started really shopping! This year we will probably have my kids half-sister (I call her my bonus daughter) for Christmas. Since that means 4 kids to buy for instead of 3 we are cutting back on the big presents this year. Also I've been picking up stuff on clearance or store sales. So far I have bought 3 feather hairpiece craft kits and 3 dead sea mineral manicure sets for my 2 teen dd'snd bdd who's in the same age range. My oldest has a unicorn obsession so I got a unicorn pillow pet half price at a store cosing sale for her. I also picked up the hair straightener my dd 13 wanted for about 80 percent off. For DS12 I got a mush belly (a ducky, cuz he loves them) and a nerf gun at less than half price each as well as a baseball gove that was 75 percent off and another toy gun for 80 percent off that I will give him for his birthday in Otober. I have a list of pretty much,everything else I want to get its just a matter of finding the best deal and then picking them up.