AStableBeginning Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 This year I want to go to the Dollar Tree and get a few white coffee mugs. The girls will decorate them with Sharpies and bake them in the oven to set the ink. Then I think we will put a little baggie of home made hot chocolate mix and a plastic spoon dipped in milk chocolate and rolled in sprinkles to stir it up with. The grandparents would love these. Thanks for the idea, Grandma and Papa will love these from the girls! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
starwarsmomma Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 still searching pinterest for ideas. darn, I wish I could knit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amey311 Posted November 8, 2012 Share Posted November 8, 2012 still searching pinterest for ideas. darn, I wish I could knit! Are there other things you can do well? Is it possible you could trade with someone who can knit? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KarenNC Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I haven't seen any suggestions for felt play food. I recently made a bunch of this for our Spirit Play religious education program at church and it was surprisingly easy. A yard of felt can be had around here for $2-3 (if you use the 40-50% off coupons for the craft store) and a bag of stuffing is also cheap. If my daughter were younger, I'd definitely do a few sets for her. Google "felt food instructions" or the like. Felt is remarkably forgiving to work with and a simple blanket stitch is about all you need. A few French knots do come in handy as well. There are directions out there for "slice-able" felt food, felt playsets, etc. Here's one link to get you started http://whilewearingheels.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-heart-fake-food-felt-corn-tutorial.html. I modified this by simply cutting out a "corn" shape of yellow felt, sewing a few rows of the kernels onto it, then sewing a plain yellow felt back on it and stuffing. By cutting the leaves longer (I didn't quilt them) and making them join at the top, it was easy and came out well. For my daughter, my husband made a Tardis ipod charging case http://technabob.com/blog/2012/02/17/tardis-charging-station/ and I'm considering whether I can make her a Tardis hat and scarf on the sly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomeschoolMamaOfTwo Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 This site is offering 10 free cards through tonight. They even pay for shipping to the person as well! Just enter in the addresses, pick the date you want them delivered and you are good to go! It is only 10, but that is 10 I don't have to do! The code was at the top of the site for me. http://www.cardstore.com/ Also, just saw this hardcover Christmas book, only $1.30 (normally $17)... http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0778328198/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0778328198&linkCode=as2&tag=wwwhip2saveco-20 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I don't do Christmas on a budget, but I have to say that I love threads like this one. You guys have such fun and creative ideas, and I always end up learning a lot when I lurk around! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Catwoman Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 I got really lucky when I did some Black Friday shopping at CVS. What did you get? I love a good bargain! I never know what I'll come across at places like CVS and Walgreen's, so it's fun to browse around in those stores. PS. It's nice to "meet" you, Leslie! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thewaka Posted November 9, 2012 Share Posted November 9, 2012 This site is offering 10 free cards through tonight. They even pay for shipping to the person as well! Just enter in the addresses, pick the date you want them delivered and you are good to go! It is only 10, but that is 10 I don't have to do! The code was at the top of the site for me. http://www.cardstore.com/ Thank you for this! My card list has only 10 on it and now it is completely done, and no charge!!! Totally works in their favor since I can get everyone's b-day cards done all in one day so I am planning additional orders already :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted November 9, 2012 Author Share Posted November 9, 2012 I almost forgot! I found stocking stuffer-ish gifts at the Disney outlet store, for 74 cents AND they were buy 2 get 1 free! Also, dh will be making marshmallow guns for all of us again this year! Great deals!! I seem to find great stuffers at thrift stores and the little clearance bins that have things for under $1! I'm going to be making each of the kids a marshmellow catapult. I'd love to make it to the point of the shooters but I'm just not that advanced yet. LOL! I know they have easy plans out there but I'm also making American Girl doll clothing and American Girl doll beds so I'm not trying to stretch myself too much. All the stores are having CRAZY sales on the marshmellows right now too because of Thanksgiving so I'm going to buy each of the kids their own bag! Before I was planning on splitting 1 bag amongst the three of them! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
La Condessa Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Blackberries grow wild everywhere around here, so this year I planned ahead and made wild blackberry jam, syrup, and vinegar to give as gifts to the extended family members. I bought the extra canning jars at a rummage sale for $4 a dozen. Total Cost per gift: 33 cents! Now, to figure out Christmas for our immediate family . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k2bdeutmeyer Posted November 11, 2012 Share Posted November 11, 2012 Blackberries grow wild everywhere around here, so this year I planned ahead and made wild blackberry jam, syrup, and vinegar to give as gifts to the extended family members. I bought the extra canning jars at a rummage sale for $4 a dozen. Total Cost per gift: 33 cents! Now, to figure out Christmas for our immediate family . . . Wow!! That's awesome!! I'd love to be on your Christmas list!!! :) Sounds yummy! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 And the list gets longer when the kids grow up. Oldest dd is married and now has three children. Those four extra people really add up...and we still have three more kids- if they all get married and have a couple of kids, our shopping is going to take forever. So we have four kids, our parents, one son in law, three grandchildren, and each other. Dh buys for his sister and her husband and I usually send something small to my two sisters. Last year my grandma made some really fun and colorful pillow cases for the grandkids and kids. We all LOVED them! Simple and fairly inexpensive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I have NO idea what our budget is going to be, but it is small. Here is what we're going to try this year! We're going to choose categories of gifts and then get each child one item in that category. For example, "Favorite Snacks" or munchies is one category and we know what each child loves. Ds18 is a huge Skittles fan so he will get a big bag of those. Dd17 loves Haribo gummy bears....etc. We have a GREAT candy store near us that has every candy under the sun. Every year our kids love that we wrap gifts for each person in ONE kind of wrapping paper and they just search for packages in "their" paper. So this year we're going to change it up (without telling them) and wrap each category of gifts in the same paper. With names on them, of course, but for some reason my kids get a kick out of finding their gifts. We could do a scavenger hunt with clues for some of them, too! My kids would eat that up, even the teens. LOL Another category might be Music and we can do either CDs (we still use a stereo and CD player sometimes) or iTunes gift cards, etc. My kids all like very different music styles, which is fun! Actually, we could do a "DOWNLOAD" category and "give" each child a downloaded movie, show, music, video game or even software that I can find for a really good deal! Then just give the clue to what it is in a little wrapped box or something. One category could be Hobby and I know what I'm doing for my middle dd: Get her the needed ingredients to make 2-3 new dessert recipes (all chocolate baked good, btw, LOL) so that she can bake on her own. My other dd likes to knit and always loves new yarn. All of these items are NOT expensive and then I go a little nuts with candy and goodies in the stockings because we do not usually buy candy at any time of year other than Halloween! lol We celebrate Advent, so that is something fun we do all month long, too! These are such cute ideas! Thank you for sharing. I am inspired. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted November 12, 2012 Author Share Posted November 12, 2012 Blackberries grow wild everywhere around here, so this year I planned ahead and made wild blackberry jam, syrup, and vinegar to give as gifts to the extended family members. I bought the extra canning jars at a rummage sale for $4 a dozen. Total Cost per gift: 33 cents! Now, to figure out Christmas for our immediate family . . . That sounds DELICIOUS!!!!:D Wow!! That's awesome!! I'd love to be on your Christmas list!!! :) Sounds yummy! I know, right! :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 I haven't seen any suggestions for felt play food. I recently made a bunch of this for our Spirit Play religious education program at church and it was surprisingly easy. A yard of felt can be had around here for $2-3 (if you use the 40-50% off coupons for the craft store) and a bag of stuffing is also cheap. If my daughter were younger, I'd definitely do a few sets for her. Google "felt food instructions" or the like. Felt is remarkably forgiving to work with and a simple blanket stitch is about all you need. A few French knots do come in handy as well. There are directions out there for "slice-able" felt food, felt playsets, etc. Here's one link to get you started http://whilewearingheels.blogspot.com/2011/11/i-heart-fake-food-felt-corn-tutorial.html. I modified this by simply cutting out a "corn" shape of yellow felt, sewing a few rows of the kernels onto it, then sewing a plain yellow felt back on it and stuffing. By cutting the leaves longer (I didn't quilt them) and making them join at the top, it was easy and came out well. For my daughter, my husband made a Tardis ipod charging case http://technabob.com/blog/2012/02/17/tardis-charging-station/ and I'm considering whether I can make her a Tardis hat and scarf on the sly. Do you know if they are the size that would work with American girl dolls? My daughter is interested in some doll food but it is expensive. I would love to make some for her to enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llindseymomoffour Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Thank you guys for all the great ideas. I am going to try several since we need to save some money this Christmas. We are also selling old toys and electronics in order to get new ones from Santa. They are all excited about helping "Santa" raise money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 We are also selling old toys and electronics in order to get new ones from Santa. They are all excited about helping "Santa" raise money. I have done the same thing. I was just wondering about a post on here of things for sale. I know they have a for sale section. Do you think we could list our kids legos or is that for curriculum only? I can list on Ebay but some times by the time I take the time to type it out and then pay the fees I have to charge more than if I did not have to go through them. I would much rather just sell it straight and know I was blessing another family. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southernm Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 We have a new store called Five Below. It's a chain of stores, mostly kid stuff and everything is five dollars or under. They always have a nice selection of books, school workbooks, etc. I have found a Magic School Bus solar system kit, phonics and math puzzles, and tons of arts/crafts kits. They have model cars, science kits, sports stuff. They even have Barbie and littlest pet shop. Best find so far is a green energy kit using a soda can. Target had them for $9.99. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MAIMOM Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 Can you find things at garage sales, rummage sales, and used book/CD/DVD/video game stores? Have you checked eBay for anything yet? I remember when my ds was into Calvin and Hobbes, I bought him a big lot of the books on eBay for an incredibly low price -- and they looked like brand new. I know a lot of people who find great stuff on CraigsList, particularly toys, but I have never looked for gifts on Craigslist, so I don't have any amazing bargains to brag about. One last idea -- can you make some cool stocking stuffers for your kids? Last year my sons kept talking about dads old xbox and how he missed those games. I found an old xbox on ebay for really inexpensive and got him the games he wanted for udner $5 each. He loved that gift. I was worried he would not appreciate it as a 16 yr old...it was not the latest xbox 360 his buddies were getting after all. He was so excited. My husband made a scavenger hunt for him and then we wrapped each game and he opened one a day for a few days.....It was great! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
llindseymomoffour Posted November 12, 2012 Share Posted November 12, 2012 We are also selling old toys and electronics in order to get new ones from Santa. They are all excited about helping "Santa" raise money. I have done the same thing. I was just wondering about a post on here of things for sale. I know they have a for sale section. Do you think we could list our kids legos or is that for curriculum only? I can list on Ebay but some times by the time I take the time to type it out and then pay the fees I have to charge more than if I did not have to go through them. I would much rather just sell it straight and know I was blessing another family. I agree about all the fees and such with eBay. We have been selling on Facebook and a local website. Would be nice to sell here as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ewe Mama Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 nm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swellmomma Posted November 20, 2012 Share Posted November 20, 2012 My budget this year is zero. I can only afford about $30 total for all 4 kids to fill stockings and give a santa gift. The kids are aware of the situation. They know I will get them something in the new year when I can afford it. We are still recovering from the 4 birthdays and start of extracurriculars. They luckily understand there is only so much money to go around and current there is none left. I am trying to teach myself to knit leg warmers for the girls since I have yarn, but don't know if I will finish them all by then. It might just be scarves for all 4. The focus will be on doing stuff together on xmas rather than on opening gifts. So going sledding, and baking etc. Last year I spent around $200 total including santa gifts and stockings. We found some really good deals, bought used, ordered from RR etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mommee & Baba Posted November 20, 2012 Author Share Posted November 20, 2012 My budget this year is zero. I can only afford about $30 total for all 4 kids to fill stockings and give a santa gift. The kids are aware of the situation. They know I will get them something in the new year when I can afford it. We are still recovering from the 4 birthdays and start of extracurriculars. They luckily understand there is only so much money to go around and current there is none left. I am trying to teach myself to knit leg warmers for the girls since I have yarn, but don't know if I will finish them all by then. It might just be scarves for all 4. The focus will be on doing stuff together on xmas rather than on opening gifts. So going sledding, and baking etc. Last year I spent around $200 total including santa gifts and stockings. We found some really good deals, bought used, ordered from RR etc. I like that the focus is togetherness rather than gifting. I have taught myself to knit a little bit but it's alot on my hands so I only knitted a small portion of a scarf and gave up. I still have all the things to knit. I also have all the stuff to crochet too. I've never done it but I bought the stuff to teach myself. I was hoping to teach myself before Christmas but that's not very likely this year. I think scarves is a wonderful idea!! My bunch would love a warm and cozy scarf! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Adamwalker Posted November 23, 2012 Share Posted November 23, 2012 we love christmas. here are some ideas our family has used: a) last year, dd age 26 knit scarves for everyone. she picked free patterns from the internet. she thought about each person, and the colours they love, and the colours they wear. then, she wrapped each one beautifully. they were lovely, and cost her the cost of one pair of knitting needles, and the wool. B) we give useful things as part of our giving. eg. a giant jar of olives for the olive lovers, a giant jar of pretzels for the pretzel lover.... each morning, my dh makes coffee for the two of us. christmas morning when he gets up, i've left several different kinds of coffees in a christmas basket by the coffee maker. each christmas morning, he gives me a case of wine. the beauty of these, is that we will use them, and we would have had to buy them to serve our extended family anyway, yet they still feel like gifts. we also give one another a gift just for us. c) most years, i make photo books for people. i get them ready, and then wait for a sale so that they aren't as expensive. sometime between now and christmas, usually around thanksgiving, the site i use has a "buy one, get one free" offer, which is great for extended family. d) each christmas, there is at least one "gift" peimar lighting hunt. we wrap something, hide it, and then lead the recipient all over following clues. it is very fun, and can make simple gifts seem extra special. eg. a star trek dvd might have all star trek clues. one year, we gave dbil a bush he had really wanted for landscaping, and led him all over, inside and out, using monty python clues until he found his "shrubbery". e) we give Christmas pajamas on christmas eve. those are the winter pajamas for everyone that year. (ie. i don't buy others). but the kids grow out of theirs every year, or every other year, and we turn those into gift bags, so that under the tree is full of beautiful memories. f) and we make advent special somehow, too. one year, i wrapped christmas story books, and we opened and read one each night after dinner in december. some were ours, some we returned to the library. one year, each morning i put something in an advent calendar for the kids, but each one was something we could do. eg. one morning it said, "make advent shortbread stars". another said, put up christmas lights. etc, etc. it built anticipation, and was all things we would have done anyway. (or things that didn't cost anything. eg. "go back to bed, and wait for breakfast to come to you"). hth, ann it is very difficult to have Christmas in Budget. I have purchase new led lights so expense already started Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.