Here’s an example of how I have used the “buy ahead principle” for purchasing my daughter’s Christmas gifts.

• bath robe – regularly $20, after Christmas sale in Feb for $5
• two-wheel scooter – regularly $17, Black Friday sale for $5
• Hanna Montana doll set – regularly $28-32?, after Christmas sale in Feb for $7-8
• guitar purse – regularly $8-9, clearance for $2-3
• Barbie Advent calendar – regularly $20, after Christmas sale for $5
• Pet Shop bubble bath – regularly $10, clearance for $2.50
• High School Musical umbrella – regularly $8, clearance for $2
• Pet Shop electronic game – regularly $13, clerance for $3.24

This is approximately $125 in gifts for the bargain price of about $35.  My daughter will have a nice selection of toys under the tree this year, and all things that she likes.

Those of you with older children may find buying ahead more difficult, however, it is not impossible.  Try picking up just a few things that you’ll know they’ll like, even if it’s just stocking stuffers or dvds.  Every little bit saved helps.

Did you shop all year for Christmas?

image (c) Karen Weideman

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When I was growing up, my mom’s friend would bring over a platter of homemade treats at Christmas.  I fondly remember the lemon bars and gooey chocolate bars.  She only spent money on ingredients for the sweets, but her time and delicious gift were well appreciated.

Here are a list of ideas to use as family gifts:

• dvds
• board games
• movie passes
• homemade goodies
• gift certificate to a favorite restaurant or ice cream shop
• tickets to a show, zoo, museum, etc.
• theme basket such as snack items or ice cream toppings

This year, I went shopping on Black Friday and found some great dvds and board games at fantastic prices and I thought these would make nice family gifts.  This money saving idea would would work for extended family too.  You might want to check with the person first to make sure this idea is ok with them.  Don’t wait until the last minute though because they may have already purchased gifts for your family and you don’t want to cause hard feelings.

Do you have any ideas for family gifts?

image sxc.hu

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Tiffany from Stuff Parents Need commented with a great question.

Do you have any tips for how to tactfully remove people from your list? We have a few aunts and uncles that I’d like to stop buying presents for, not because I don’t love them, but because I think us continuing to exchange presents is really unnecessary at this point. But I don’t know how to stop because they always get us something, too!

I just went through this issue a few year’s ago, so here are some tips to make it through the Christmas list cuts.

1)  Suggest a gift exchange.  You could say something like, “I know that many of our budgets are tighter this year.  Rather than us spending money that we don’t have, could we have a gift exchange?”  Suggest making a want list for each person and drawing names.

2)  Suggest a gift game.  Some of you may have heard of Dirty Santa.  This is where you decide who goes first.  That person picks a gift. Then the next person picks a gift. They can keep their gift or take another person’s gift.  A gift can only be taken twice. 

3)  Make a charitable donation instead of gift giving.  Tell your family that everyone is so blessed and you think it would be great to give to a needy child or charity instead.  Perhaps everyone could go in together and purchase some goats, chickens, or something similar through World Vision for an impoverished country.

4)  If you still feel like you can’t completely cut someone out of your Christmas list, cut on the amount you spend.  Purchase each person a gift that costs $3-5 rather than a $10-15 gift.  These could be homemade gifts or something simple like a mug or basket with candy.  I’d certainly be happy if someone gave me a mug of Dove or Ghiradelli chocolates.  It wouldn’t matter if it only cost a few dollars.  

What do you think of these ideas?  Will you be cutting back this year?

image sxc.hu

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So you’ve found a great deal on the perfect gift, but now what? Cards cost a fortune, considering they’re just sheets of cardstock, and normal gift-wrap isn’t so environmentally friendly. Well, here are a variety of ideas, from basic to more involved, to get you started.

Cards and Gift Tags:
The easiest, least expensive thing to do is to buy a gift card pack. I use this for thank you cards and quick notes. Target and other stores often sell big packs of colorful note cards with matching envelopes. I got a set of 200 for $10, with coordinating envelopes. I’ve gotten just plain bright colors, or sets that have embellishments on the edges (scallops, rounded corners, etc).

Another easy method is to print your own. Microsoft Office templates can be customized to fit your situation, and you can buy large sets of good-quality cardstock or photo paper.

A set of pinking shears and old greeting cards make great gift tags. Cut out part of the card, and write the name on the back, then attach it to the gift. My husband and I use this for all of our Christmas gifts.

Festive bookmarks can be used in lieu of cards or as a gift tag, as can reprints of photographs, which can be personalized and printed off very inexpensively.

Wrap:
When you get gift bags, save them! I have a clear tote full of bags. Every time we get invited to a special occasion, I pull out an appropriate bag. We used our wedding gift bags first, and now we’re using ones from our baby shower. Every Christmas we seem to pick up a couple, too, so they just keep going around.

Obviously, grocery bags and comics can be used, but you can use this idea with a little more creativity. Let your kids decorate some butcher-block paper with stickers, crayons, markers, or paint, and use that to wrap gifts.

You can also use gifts to wrap gifts. A handy idea for weddings or showers is to wrap kitchen items in flour-sack towels. Baby presents can be wrapped in burp cloths, cloth diapers, towels, or washcloths and tied with a bow. Christmas presents can be wrapped in a scarf.

In my family, we have a few seamstresses. My mom’s family now cycles around a couple dozen handmade gift bags out of festive cloth. They took some time and effort at the outset, but now wrapping gifts doesn’t cost anyone a penny!

Another option is to make the recipient search for the gift. The gift doesn’t even need to be wrapped in this case, since the search for the gift is fun by itself!

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Thanks to Bekah for today’s Frugal Friday post.  Bekah can be found at Motherhood Moment where she writes about freebies, coupons, money savers, time savers, environmental tips, and more.

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Why do we, as parents, feel it is necessary to give a gift every year when we hate picking it up the next month? Am I crazy or do you think I am on to something?

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Thanks to LifeTips for the idea.

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Give them to those in need.
1.  Donate new, unwanted toys to the Salvation Army, Marines, or some other organization that gives toys to needy children at Christmas.
2.  Use small, new toys to fill up shoeboxes for Operation Christmas Child. I remember one year my daughter got so many little stuffed animals.  She was too little to know better and I used them to help stuff my shoeboxes for children in need.
3.  Donate new toys, clothes, and other items to a ministry or non-profit organization.  They will find needy homes for them or sell them and use the proceeds to help those in need.

Try returning unwanted items.  This can somtimes be a real pain because you may not know where the item came from.  Also, many times items are significantly reduced after Christmas, but $6 is better than nothing.

Resell the items.  You can put the items in your yard sale or you can consign them.  You may not get much money for the item, but at least it won’t be sitting around your house collecting dust.  You may also want to try E-bay.

It is almost a given that we will receive some gifts every year that we don’t need.  To avoid having your gift regifted, I would suggest asking the person for gift suggestions, giving a gift card, or asking for suggestions from their spouse, etc.

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I don’t drink wine becasue I usually can’t get it past my nose.  However, I am fully aware of the benefits of a glass of red wine a day can have on your cardiovascular system.  And it is great to use as a stain for table cloth napkins and doilies for the holidays – just an FYI.  But what do you do with all the leftover wine corks?  They just junk up yoru trash cans and are pretty useless after they leave the bottle.  Or are they …

I recently came across a wine cork wreath for the holidays.  Now, I am not recommending that you have to drink all the wine to make the wreath but it isn’t hard to accumulate enough.  Jut ask friends and family or go to a local restaurant that serves wine and they can save the corks for you.  Why would you want to give such a gift? 

1. It’s cheap material.  Especially if you already drink wine and just throw the cork away anyway.  If you dont drink wine, you probably live near enough restaurants that you could round up enough in a short amount of time.
2. It’s unique.  How many other people would thnk of it.
3. What a conversation piece.  I have a friend that sells wine and she would be ideal to give a cork wreath for a Christmas present as it would be perfect at her house for wine parties.

Just another neat Christmas present to give that won’t break the bank

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