For #1: Telephone Pictionary? All you need are lined 3x5 note cards and writing utensils. With 6 players, give each player 6 note cards alternating blank side, lined side, and have them number and initial each card. The first card they number and initial should be lined side front, the second card will be blank side front etc. (this helps to keep confusion at a minimum). In the first round, everyone writes a silly phrase on lined card #1, like "Elvis goes grocery shopping" or "Three cheers for Mr. Toast!". Pass the bundles of cards to the left. For the second turn, the players read card #1, put it at the back of the stack and draw a picture of the phrase on blank card #2. Pass the cards left again. For the third turn, players look at the picture on card #2, put that card at the back of the stack and use lined card #3 to write what they think the picture is showing. And on and on... card #4 will be a drawing, card #5 will be words, card #6 will be drawing. Pass cards one last time to have them back with their original owner. It's always really funny to look at the cards in the end. If you have good artists in the group, ask them to draw with their non-dominant hand... For #2 I would put out a bunch of adult coloring books/pages and markers.

Saltine crackers topped with thin slice (1/4") of a milky way, snickers or other thick candy bar that goes for under $1, topped with another thinnish slice of banana. Sprinkle with cinnamon if you have some. I think you could stretch one candy bar and 1 large banana onto at least 16 crackers. Alternative: saltine topped with the banana slice and then a dollop of shelf-stable chocolate or vanilla pudding on top (4pk at Aldi for 89 cents, like Snack Pack). The banana might start to make the cracker soggy so they should be served soon after making them. $1 package of hot dogs or a box of Banquet brown n serve breakfast sausage (this goes on sale for $1, and Aldi makes a knock-off that is $1.19 or something?), cut up and sauteed with one small coarsely chopped onion and one small coarsely chopped bell pepper. Likely the hot dogs/sausage are fatty enough to not require the use of extra butter/margarine. You could skewer a piece of meat + onion + pepper on toothpicks to serve. If you can find generic frozen blueberry waffles for 0.99, this would be another option to serve cut up on skewers with a section of breakfast sausage. The blueberry ones are usually a little sweeter than regular waffles, so it will help people to miss the syrup less... The Banquet brown n serve comes in maple flavor which might help too. Canned pineapple chunks (less than $1/can at Aldi) wrapped in the very thin Buddig brand ham that is sold in a 2 oz bag, I think it is $1 or so at a regular grocery store and Aldi has a similar item for 50 cents? Serve on toothpicks. Alternative: wrap the thin meat around cheese cubes if you can find an 8 oz block of cheese on sale for $1.50... How about dipping various things in melted chocolate chips? I think a bag of chocolate chips is $1.29 at our Aldi. A package of fig newtons or sugar wafers go for 89 cents there so that is really close! I think they would look nice and taste really good half-dipped in chocolate. I've heard of people dipping potato chips, or cheese curls, or Doritos in chocolate, too. Labor intensive, but pretty cheap...

Pet rock upgrade.

Yes, we woke up bright and early to stockings full of toys and yummy treats! This was the first year that my oldest two made a bona fide scratch cookie recipe by themselves, where I only helped by scraping down the mixer and tending the oven (yes it was a success, *yummy*). We briefly remember the story of the real St. Nicholas, but the 6th is always a blend of St. Nicholas and Santa Claus stories. Santa gets this day for all the chimney/elves/reindeer/etc but he sticks to the stockings, and Christmas is reserved for someone more special! I mentioned this in another thread, but I would have liked to skip the Santa myth completely. Our relatives started our kids on it at an early age even though I had asked them not to. I didn't have the heart to tell the boys otherwise... so this is how we came to a compromise (12 yo knows/has grown out of it, 9 yo still half-believes). Now that we live further away from extended family, we might be able to drop Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy and the Easter Bunny with the youngest ones. :hurray:

I'm filling stockings tonight for St. Nicholas Day; here's what I have for ds 12 and ds 9 that I didn't see mentioned: stickers Duncan yo yo finger lights strip caps/nerf ammo novelty note pads scented markers

Anne of Green Gables, when Matthew dies Edward Scissorhands, when grandma Kim says she still dances in the snow A Charlie Brown Christmas, when Charlie Brown thinks he killed the little tree and his friends fix it The Elephant Man, when he is chased by the crowd and he cries out that he is not an animal, he is a human being Glory, on the beach before the final battle Braveheart, "Freedom" Dances with Wolves, the wolf dies Mary Poppins, when Mr. Banks redeems himself The end of Toy Story 3 Hachi, after the owner dies Black Beauty, most of it Schindler's List (who wouldn't cry?) A.I. and Requiem for a Dream, I hate them, utterly devastating The Passion of the Christ, I will cry through pretty much the whole thing

If you like abstract strategy games, try Cathedral (beautiful wooden sets) or Pente.

Search on Youtube for "Madrigal Dinner". <--- former Madrigal singer

I don't buy games that I don't want to play myself, so they are all secretly gifts to me! :ph34r: Right now our gift closet is holding: Concept Robo Rally Flash Point Fire Rescue Doodle Quest Kitty Paw Taboo Zooloretto Rhino Hero A few of these will be reserved for birthdays. My kids love Scribblish but we are almost out of paper. I can't buy more pads, so I am planning on making a big stack of refills to put in their stockings. What I'd really like is some Dominion expansion sets, but no one here wants to play it with me <_< I'm keeping my eye out for cheap Smash Up, Story Cubes, and Star Wars X-Wing Miniatures expansions, too.

I think your best bet is a plush animal over a wooden rocking base.

We tried to resist the whole Santa thing, but grandparents on both sides imprinted the myth on our sons at an early age (thanks a lot, guys...). I'm pretty sure my 9yo still half-believes. Anyway, we do St. Nicholas Day as a sort of compromise. That's the day that Santa gets his milk and cookies and leaves some small gifts. He doesn't make an appearance on Christmas at all. Filling the bulk of a stocking with a pringles can is a brilliant idea! :D

How about looking into local food, particularly a little nearby winery? Perhaps you live in a city with a winter farmer's market... local preserves, honeys, flours, etc.? Another idea is a simple leather journal.

I'm in the same boat, kinda. Dh's work always sponsors a couple dozen [foster?] kids for Christmas gifts, but suddenly they are all spoken for... I have a bunch of nice toys stored up in the gift closet and prefer to do something more personal than Toys for Tots. Cash/gift cards are more of a hardship for us to give. I don't need to know personal details... but it's nice to customize a collection of gifts for one child "3 year old, wears size x clothes, likes x toys" Has anyone ever used this website? Is it legit? I found some requests in my area. http://www.2hands.org/

When the morning sickness is bad, I don't want to cook (I normally love to cook). I don't to be confined to sitting in a restaurant or smell the food there. So our family's diet mostly consists of quick convenience foods or carry-out for a while. I would appreciate gift cards to places that offer comfort-food carry-out and have a varied selection, like Bob Evans, Cracker Barrel, Panera... I would like a neck pillow for the frequent napping in odd places. A hot water bottle or rice heating pad.

Is one technically being hosted when walking through a house for sale? I don't know, so I started a new thread. Dh and I were only a couple of years married, kidless, recently graduated (read: poor), looking for a starter home on the rural outskirts of a college town. Dh was willing to do some sane level of fixer-upper work. We will never forget one of the first houses our "realtor" took us to see. Note that it wasn't priced super low compared to other houses in that neighborhood. Several people were sitting on the couch facing away from us, smoking and watching tv in the dark living room (no lights but the tv screen, all shades were drawn) as we walked in. No one put a light on at any time so that we could properly see the living room. The downstairs bathroom was missing the suspended ceiling and the bathtub was coming away from the wall, and it was obvious that nothing in there had been cleaned for some time. Upstairs where the light was good, there were cat feces and beer bottles strewn across the carpets and holes in the bedrooms' walls (our best guess, made by fists). On the way out, I stepped around a white cat on the stairs and something just did not look right, so as we stopped to make the obligatory small talk and thank the occupants, I was sneaking glances at that cat... I suddenly realized it had some number of extra toes on its front paws so that its feet resembled mittens, like this cat. I'd never heard of or seen polydactyl cats before and it was a little hard to keep my countenance right then. That whole walk-through was such a bizarre experience!

Ebay is having a flash sale for the next couple of hours. Code CYBERFLASH16 for $15 off $75. Some exclusions, and you have to check out with Paypal. Want discounted postage stamps? Go to the USPS ebay store, add 8 books of 20-ct forever stamps to your cart = $75.20. My final total with shipping was $61.45, so about 38 cents/stamp.

The Children's Place 60 - 75% off entire site.

I tried making the turkey in our standalone roaster this year, to free up oven space. 23 lb turkey. I started it at 10:45 at 325 degrees, thinking it would be ready around 3-3:30. I didn't want to check it much because the roaster would lose all that heat. At 2:30, I had just finished serving a substantial snack to get us through the next hour+ and thought I'd peek on the turkey. The bird was DONE. The meat thermometer read over 190. You should have seen me scramble to finish cooking all the other dishes to go along with the bone-dry turkey. Luckily we didn't have any guests coming this year...

stickers candy If they like retro stuff, check the Walmart $3.75 - $5 bins of various cd's or dvd's, and often WM has movie multi-features for $10 or less (I have picked up Gremlins with its 2 sequels plus The Goonies for $10 before) A pack of bright gel pens, scented markers or other unusual markers/pens

Babylegs has 3 pairs of legwarmers for $15, free shipping. (love the Galaxy ones) I found a great deal on Rainbow Resource Center for the Melissa & Doug Skyline Suspension Bridge, to add to our wooden train track collection. It's only $15. The bridge itself is 14" long and the entire apparatus is 50" long. I also saw a couple of deeply discounted Haba games there, always high quality. Shipping would be free if you can find enough stuff to reach $50.

Pumpkin pies are custard pies, aren't they?

A wrist wallet A small Camelbak backpack A quality insulated water bottle, or hot/cold travel mug (we like Contigo) If she is active outside in cold weather, Smartwool hiking socks

Haba's Orchard game Yahtzee Jr. How about large floor puzzles?

I'm guessing that she would like Mika; you might want to check his albums out... Let's see, some random dancy ones that I put on when I'm cleaning, that are probably familiar to you... R.O.C.K. in the U.S.A., John Mellencamp Walk of Life, Dire Straits Let's Hear it for the Boy, Denise Williams What I Like About You, The Romantics Should I Stay or Should I Go, The Clash On the Dark Side, Beaver Brown I Get Around, Beach Boys Got My Mind Set on You, George Harrison Midnight Confessions, The Grass Roots Let My Love Open the Door, Pete Townsend It's the End of the World as We Know it, R.E.M. Ballroom Blitz, Sweet She's Got Me Dancing, Tommy Sparks Little Bit O' Soul, The Music Explosion On Top of the World, Imagine Dragons

Leaf crayon rubbings Leaf turkeys Step-by-step drawing Thanksgiving characters, like those found here