February 2011 Moms

Holiday Gift Ideas - trying to save money

Hey Ladies, so I was wondering if anyone has some good gift ideas for their family.  My husband and I are trying to stay on a tight budget to get ready for all of the expenses of the baby.  We don't exchange gifts, so it's just for our parents, siblings and his one neice.

Re: Holiday Gift Ideas - trying to save money

  • I had this problem a couple of years ago.  The best gift I ever gave my mom was a homemade day by day calendar.

    I bought square cardstock and stamped each date on the top of the card. Then for each day I either glued an old photo of me as a child, an "I love you because...", or a "Remember when..." 

    She cried her eyes out when she opened it and still uses the calendar to this day. (I didn't put a year on it or days of the week, just the month and day).

    Just an idea but it was a lot of work. 

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  • This year we are doing a secret Santa with a spending limit. It saves on lots of money. Instead of spending all this money for all these people you only have to buy one gift.
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  • My sister and I last year in an effort to save money made cookies and candies for people and this year I am try to knit a few scarfs for people too to save some money.
  • We are getting all extended family gourmet chocolates. I really do not want to spend my Dec waddling around a mall looking for some inexpensive gift for each aunt & uncle, cousin, etc.

    If it were up to me we'd just buy the presents for the kids, but I digress. 

  • We are making purse books with our ultrasound pictures for the grandparents and greatgrandparents.
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  • We are in the same boat.  I have four sisters so this year we are drawing names and only buying one gift instead of four...of course Dh and I still have to buy for both sets of parents and his brother/fiance, but it still helps!  BTW, I love the calendar idea!  I think I may try it for my mother and mother in law!!!  
  • We do baskets full of homemade goodies for each family.  This year, DH and the kids will be making homemade peppermint candy and banana bread (I've been freezing all the extra black/brown bananas in anticipation of this).  Cookies are also a big hit in the baskets.  I am making homemade soap and body scrub, and  maybe candles if I can find the time.  I will probably have the boys make some ornaments too.  I plan on buying a jar of local honey to add to each basket.  I  tend to keep each basket under $20 from start to finish.  Next year I'm going to add homemade cloth napkins or paper to the basket, but not enough time this year.

    I luckily only buy for Mom/Dad, M/FIL, SIL, BIL's families and my two neighbors so it's not a big deal.  We do a gift exchange for the kids (DH is from a large catholic family) and adults can bring an ornament if they want in on the ornament exchange.

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  • i second the pollyanna (secret santa) idea- i have three siblings and we've been doing it this way for the past 5+ years...no guessing games either- we provide a list of three or four items that we would like...i love it.  another idea- if you like to bake you can whip up some cute, holiday-themed cookies/candies and wrap em up in a tin as a gift. 
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  • This year, being that this baby is the first grandchild and great grandchild on my side my BF and I decided to make the grandparents, great grandparents and my sister  T-shirts. (New grandma, new papa......etc.) Everyone else we are making homemade goodies.
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  • We set a budget and we are sticking to it - that is the biggest help in all honesty. I'd just look for sales and sign up for emails for coupons and you can get some amazing discounts through things like that. Also, have you ever looked at www.abcdistributing.com?? They have great stuff at great prices.
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    BFP # 1 - 12/19/09 EDD 08/27/10 - D&C 1/26/10 @ 9w5d

    BFP # 2 - 06/05/10 EDD 02/17/11, DS1 born on 2/14/11

    BFP # 3 - 04/10/13 EDD 12/21/13 - D&C 05/15/13 @ 8w4d

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    BFP # 5 - 09/14/13 EDD 05/28/14, DS2 born on 5/22/14 

  • Since everyone in our family has different financial situations and budgets, we don't do a Secret Santa. We exchange lists with items ranging from $10 - $100. Our budget is about $25/pp. So far we've purchased:

    • MIL - decorative Christmas plate and stand (she likes stuff like this...)
    • Dad - 1863 U.S. $.03 coin
    • Sister 1 - teapot, tea strainer, fancy tea sampler

    We have lists for everyone else (my family likes to get started earlier) but we're waiting until it gets closer to Christmas for sales.

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