Christmas Shopping - Bellville,OH

Last year was my first Christmas as a stay at home mom and our budget was very tight, but it was actually really nice to spend less money! We were able to enjoy the holidays more with less stress.

We agreed to focus on the kids. For my niece (8 years old) I got her headbands, ribbon barrettes, nail polish, nail stickers, etc., and wrapped them all individually in tissue paper and put them in a pretty toiletry bag. I got everything on sale and probably spent about $10 and she really liked unwrapping each little piece.

I made scarves for the adults with yarn I bought on sale. We also bought some gifts on Amazon - they have good sales and free shipping with $25 orders - and we took our change jar to a Coinstar machine and got an Amazon giftcard with it. We like to go "shopping" at write down things we like and then see if we can find them online for less.

Gamestop is good for used video games if your boys are into that. If they are like our nieces and nephew, they will be so excited to get the game they won't even notice it's used.

I also like Etsy.com - you can find unique and cute homemade jewelry, scarves, etc., for not very much.

My mother-in-law does "Christmas bingo." She collects little things throughout the year or finds little things in her house that she no longer wants and puts them on a table by the tree. When you get a bingo you pick a prize. We play until everybody gets something. The kids love it and it makes it seem like everyone is getting so many more presents.

1 mom found this helpful

I personally always start christmas shoppin ridculously early( I have a really large family) and i usually wait to shop for when the sales hit. I also look into things such as layaway to minimize the amount of money i fork over at once.

My family is so large though that everyone that is older than 13 raws a name from a hat and that's the person they buy for and vise versa..all the little kids get something from everybody...it's easier and cheaper than tryin to buy for everyone

The last few years my family had drawn names and we bought for only one adult and then the 4 small children.It worked well, but we spent like 3 hours watching the little ones unwrap presents, this was very boring and the kids got tired and cranky and after a couple of gifts they were bored as well.This year we all drew names and we buy only for one person period. I got my 4 year old great nephews name. We have a limit of $35. on the gifts. Sadly the only thing he is interested in is wrestling and I hate that stuff it is so fake. I prefer to buy him something educational or useful.I am at my wits end on this one. might add I am the only person in my family that is on a fixed income and every one else has to die for jobs making big money but they are the ones complaining about cost.I have always been able to buy for every one and not go into debt. I just don't understand it. Good luck .
Debbie

I started my x-mas shopping about 6 months ago. Look for sales, of course and start early.
During the course of the year if I am out shopping and see something great for someone, and the price is right, I go ahead and purchase it and store it away until x-mas.
My x-mas list is almost finished as of today. I do stock up for example, Bath and Body Works during their huge sale in June/July, by getting tons of stuff for next to nothing and keep some for me, x-mas presents and extra gifts for B-D's throughout the year.
Another idea is to make your own. One year I made my girlfriends homemade sea salt scrub.....big box of kosher salt, essential oils (I already had), some olive oil and went to Old Time Pottery for the jars. It was an inexpensive way to give a wonderful gift. Good luck!

I keep an eye out for clearance and good sales all year for birthdays and Christmas. The in Oct. Nov. and Dec. I do the rest of the shopping so money is spread over 3 billing cycles. We never carry a balance on our credit cards, so it helps to spread shopping out some.
Also, I try to pay one month ahead on our mortgage just in case we get in a jam and Christmas. My husband had to take a 10% pay cut a year ago and we're still feeling the effects. We hoping they reinstate pay soon, but 10% less is much better than 100% less, so we aren't complaining. He kept his job!

I do this EVERY YEAR and it has never failed me. I opened up a Christmas fund with my bank (you should open it now for next year) I have them automatically take out $50.00 per paycheck and put it to the xmas fund. Then around 11/01/09 I get a nice check for around $1200.00. (Its usally more because of the extra paychecks durign the year)I cash it and get the CASH. I ONLY spend that money on xmas. That way I NEVER have to save for xmas, never have any nasty Credit card statement in Jan and It has been wonderful for the hubby and I. We dont fight over $$.
However for THIS year I recommend you write you people list and then say how much you want to spend on each person. I.E Hubby $75, Kid #1 $100.00, kid #2 $100.00 Then only get out the necessary cash to buy your gift. Do NOT bring your Credit cards.

I usually start very early...this year we have been ebay-ing for our son. He's only 3 1/2 so he would never notice if something wasn't brand new. Even if he did my husband likes to open the toys and set them up to play with anyway so they wouldn't have a box!
Don't know if that will help you but we've gotten some great toys there!

I became a stay-at-home Mom early last year so Christmas last year I really tried to tighten the purse strings. As with other Moms, I look in the clearance racks every time I shop and have a shelf in the closet of stuff that's available for last minute birthday parties and I also keep people in mind for Christmas. Watch for stores going out of business.
I also end up doing a lot of shopping on Amazon.com and have picked up some great things from their "gold box" or "deal of the day".
I have a huge extended family and make a list and keep track of what I've bought. I do this in excel and do two seperate columns, one for what I actually paid and one for what the item usually retails for. In the past I'd always made sure I spent the whole budget on a person even if I found stuff on sale. Now I tend to pay more attention to the actual cost column. No one knows if I paid full price. So if my budget is $10 for my niece and I find a Polly Pocket set for 75 per cent off and only spend $2.50, I consider her done (full price $10).
A lot of people may disagree with me here, but we don't buy presents for our kids. They get so much stuff from grandparents and extended family. We do have a decent budget from Santa, but my boys have never complained or asked where their gifts from mom and Dad are (my oldest is nine now). We do buy little things through the year though for them but we've cut back on that and they still doesn't really "want" for anything.
One side of our family doesn't do gifts at all and another we draw names. We didn't used to include the little kids but now we do. Everyone gets one gift.
Another family does "$5 gifts". These can be fun, kitchen supplies, soaps, socks, candy. It actually ends up costing more than you'd think cause there are so many family members, but we did this last year with my sister in law and it was fun. You can set that rule for adults so everyone still has something to open which is really the only point.

I know that's a lot of info, but I take Christmas shopping very seriously - I LOVE gift-giving! And saving money for me is a sport. :)

One more note, if you are cutting back, make sure to let everyone know so the gift-giving and receiving aren't lopsided. My sister was on the raw end of this one year, she was out of work and still bought gifts for everyone and an older cousin was there and didn't buy anything for anyone and her mom said it was okay because she didn't have any money. My sister had no money either and still managed to buy something for everyone. She would have loved to not buy something for that cousin who didn't get her anything.

Yes, I have. I ususally find thing on sale thru out the year, post them in a file in my computer and put them in a tote. Then, when I need a birthday gift and have Christmas to do.....I have a selection. I may even log in the computer, WHO I bought it for. It helps keep the stress out of the holidays. I enjoy them SO much more. I"ve been doing this for years! Don't have to worry about the $$, the traffic, the weather or time or anything else. Wouldn't have it any other way.

I ALSO do things like make homemade biscotti, wreaths, soup mixes, hot chocolate mixes, picture frames, painted plates, etc. My friends and family loves these and actually prefer tham. These can be fun to make as a family, too.

My family also does a gift exchange. We draw names when we are all together for Thanksgiving and have about a $25 limit. Kids are not part of the gift exchange in our family, we still usually buy something little for them.
Another family that I know does a gift exchange as well, but has a $0 limit! They take basically the whole year and anything that they get for free or win is used to give to that family member. It takes a creative twist on things, but they seem to enjoy it and it is different each year based on what they can get for free. Good luck!

Hi K.:

I know how you feel. Last year we picked names among the adults and then just spent less on each child including nieces and nephews. This REALLY helped out a lot!!!

Not sure where you live but besides Odd Lots, etc. look for a store called Tuesday Morning. They have higher quality merchandise at discounted prices. You might have to dig thru the items but I know you can find great stuff!

Good Luck!! I hope you have great holidays.

I have started xmas shopping about a month ago. I check daily on www.woot.com and www.spoofee.com for deals. I do most of the shopping for toys on Black Friday every year and save a ton of money at toysrus.

We do a gift exchange on both sides of our family. On my side the adults draw names at Thanksgiving. Children are excluded from the name exchange. It works for our side b/c there are only five children younger than 18. The spending limit for the adults is set at $25. The limit per child is $10. We have each person write a list of five items they would like to have as well as a hobby, so that we have something to work with.
On my husbands side of the family they do a name exchange as well. Even the children are included in that drawing, as there are a lot more children in his family. We each buy for one person and there is a $20 limit.
In our home my husband and I have set a limit of a max of $100 for each child. We don't stress about getting each other gifts, but instead splurged on a nice evening out together. We went to the funnybone for dinner & a great night of laughing together. It definitely helped lighten the "stress" admid all the holiday craziness.

Yes, I start early in the year because we have so many to buy for. For the kids, we buy clothing one size up from what they're currently wearing and shop the clearance sales. We also watch toy clearance sales and use coupons when possible.

The biggest and best thing we've done is we've enrolled in several rewards programs - one through our local gas station, one connected through our bank debit card, and one through the internet (www.MyPoints.com), and we collect points throughout the year. In November, we cash them in for gift cards - to restaurants, to stores, cash cards, etc. The recipients have no idea they were [essentially] free to us, and they're to major stores/restaurants (WalMart, Target, Applebees, etc.). We save several hundreds of dollars a year this way!

I start my Christmas shopping the day after Christmas. Seriously! There are some GREAT clearance deals in mid-January as stores try to get rid of the toys to make room for other items. We have a closet in our basement that is locked and the kids still have no idea what is in there. They have never even seen us take bags to the basement so don't know it's where we stash stuff. It's locked, too. Anyways... I just pile stuff in there all year long and around this time of year, when everyone is at school/preschool I pull everything out and make a list of what is there.

I also shop garage sales. My girls are too young to realize if something is new or slightly used. My son knows, but as long as it's in great condition he doesn't care. It's just how he was raised and he's always gotten more used toys than new toys. He's starting to understand that he can have alot more of things when they are bought cheaply.

I also use clearance sales all year long to buy small toys to be given away at birthday parties and stash those in the closet as well.

Because of this, we usually spend around $100 for each child for Christmas but it's hard to know for sure since purchases are so spread out. But they end up with >alot< of toys and games.

I'll also say that we rarely buy them a 'just because' toy during the year (maybe 1 or 2 toys during the year other than birthday time). I know some people do that but we do not. And birthdays (all summer birthdays) are usually limited to just 1 or 2 things from us (under $50) since they get so much stuff from friends at their party. So they get more at Christmas than some people do. It's hard to compare apples to oranges. :-)

I started christmas shopping months ago and am about half done! Like most of the other moms I shop the clearence deals and have a shelf full of stuff in the closet for christmas, birthdays, ext.
I love giving gifts to others, it makes me feel good so I tend to go overbord for christmas! last year we got gifts for about 30 people (parents, friends, cousins, nices, nephews, aunts, uncles, siblings, ext) but only spent about $1000!! and that is with a $200 limit on our little girl, $200 from me to hubby and $200 from hubby to me!!
places like target have great clearence (they do markdowns on thursdays). a few months ago they marked down alot of toys and I got 24 items for around $75! and saved over $400! things like princess, HSM, Hannah Montania, games, Star wars, ext.
I also try to make things or give my time, like this year I am giving my SIL (who is due any day) a baby free day for her and I will take the baby all day so she can do what she wants! Or things that last all year, my daughter is getting a zoo membership this year.

Good luck!

I returned to the old adage my parents had several years ago and think it is the best one to follow.

My children received two or three gifts from the mythical Santa Claus. These were generally toys when they were young and then grew into other items as they aged. We set a limit of $100.00 per child and stuck to it.

We had a name draw for family members children, nieces, nephews etc. and there was a $25.00 limit for them.

Naturally we gave to the grandparents, mostly items the children had made themselves or something they could use jointly, like a dinner at a favorite restaurant, etc.

If we felt the need to give to others it was baked goods or homemade items. Pine cone wreaths, Painted pine cone ornaments for their trees, etc. Sometimes the children picked up wooden boxes, frames, etc. at the Dollar stores, painted them and we put a current picture in the frames for grandparents, etc. They did stain glass painting, etc.

It cuts down on the expenses, gives the children projects to occupy them on unpleasant days and evenings when it is dark early, and makes for family time as well.

Hope this helps you out some.

Apparently Walmart is coming out with 100 toys for $10 each. I guess they did this last year but only had 10 toys on the list and sold out. I read the article a few weeks back and think that the items will be put out sometime in October. I think its a great idea.... I have twin daughters and too many things are upwards of $10 - and when i have to buy two of everything, well, you know.

I started my shopping about a month ago. I have been looking for items that are on sale / clearance. I picked my 3 year old up a wooden train set for 60% off the typical price. (I know it was a deal because I'd been looking at them). We also set a budget for each kid and a gift limit. It isn't easy to do for me because I love Christmas and that is the one time I truely spoil my children (I have 4). I also look on the seasonal racks clearance for others. Who wouldn't love a $2 cami to go under a sweater?

L. - mom of 4 boys 10, 8, 3 and 2

We have a big family and this year we're exchanging names. Normally we have lots of nieces and nephews to buy for, so this year we're having 2 exchanges, one for the kids and one for the adults. It will make things really fun for the kids because they can pick from the list of possible presents that the receiver writes along with their name during the name picking, and they can also give the gift to them on Christmas day. My kids are really excited. Plus, we're doing an amount of $30, so the kids will get better gifts.

Hi. We stopped buying for siblings gifts last year. Instead of spending $50 each on nieces/nephews, we now spend @ $15-$20. My son will be three by Christmas. He loves books so this is mainly what he is getting. He already has many toys. A few neighbors and I switch gifts each year. The amount is @ $10 each. I sell Scentsy (wickless candles) so they receive product. So if your relatives love Avon, then I would suggest to give them product. Hope this helps.

S.

I'm one of those irritating people that shop for Christmas all year. In fact - I'm almost finished for this year. Even it it's July - if I see something that "speaks to me" for someone I grab it because I've learned that it usually isn't there when I look for it later. I then put it in the guest room with a sticky note on it with the recipient's name - because I've also learned that months later I may forget who I purchased that thing for. Sometimes I get lucky and run into something that works for everyone and I buy a bunch of that one thing. Done! It's not about the amount paid. The "perfect gift" may be very inexpensive... a treasure found at a garage sale. Remember - it really is the thought that counts. People know when you have really thought about them when giving a gift.

When money is really tight I have been known to crochet scarves, bake (cookies or quick breads) or do those soup mixes where the ingredients are layered in a quart canning jar. I start collecting ingredients as they go on sale... starting now. [Now is a good time to get the jars... canning season... and marshmellow cream for fudge. They're hard to find closer to Christmas.] The soup jars are great hostess gifts or gifts to keep around for when someone shows-up unexpectedly. It's also a nice family-type gift or gift for older relatives. There are several differentkinds of soup that you can do. The soups are easy to make from the jar mix. They don't go bad and everyone seems to like getting them. [I also make them for families at church that have an illness or a death in the family. They're easy to make but store indefinitly in the pantry.]

As for the quick breads. I've also learned that they freeze really well so I don't have to go crazy days before Christmas trying to do all the baking at once. I do a little at a time, wrap them individually in foil, and stick them in the freezer until a day or 2 before I plan to gift them. One recipe can make 5 or 6 mini loaves if you want to give some little something to neighbors, teachers or folks at work, for example.

Don't be ashamed to buy gifts at Dollar General! Cheap stuff and some of it isn't bad at all! Big Lots also has cheap stuff and some of it isn't too bad either.

Suggest your family pull a name of only one other family member to buy for, instead of buying for all your aunts, uncles, cousins etc.

Closer to Christmas, Kohls will give you gift certificates for every $50 you spend. I shop there a lot, and then go back in and buy more gifts with the certificates.

Just a few suggestions!

We hit a crunch a couple of years ago when hubby was out of a job. That year, we did a family picture at Portrait Innovations. The package was about $20 and you got a ton of pictures. For some of grandparents and aunt and uncles, we bought inexpensive frames, but the rest we sent them pictures as Christmas gifts! Everyone loved them and so we've stuck with it ever since. We buy just a few gifts for the youngsters in the family, but other than that, we just have the pictures. Most people have loved it because they get an updated one each year now!