Frugal Christmas Ideas

[homeschoolmom23]

What do you all do to have a frugal christmas?This would be anything from decorating,gifts or menus.

[kathymac]

I would say the most frugal thing I could do, but have yet to do is plan ahead and be prepared. I promise myself every year that I'm going to do this but I never do. I end up spending more money because I get into panic mode. This year I will be making most of my gifts, especially those for friends, coworkers, neighbors, etc.

As far as menus go, I just make sure that I keep my pantry well-stocked with basics. I have actually already started doing this. That way, I have everything I need and don't have to run out at the last minute to get them. Especially when it's nearly impossible to go into a store and only come out with what you went in for.

homeschoolmom23 - what do you plan to do this year?

Kathy

[AnnaInOhio]

Hi homeschoolmom23

You're not the homeschoolmom they had on our local news from Alabama that all 3 kids under age 12 are in college now, are you?

Frugal Christmas? We make alot of our gifts and I always buy my sister and her family a gift card to one of the video stores as I know with the kids they enjoy renting movies alot.

Anna

[homeschoolmom23]

No Anna thats not me LOL I have three kids under 12 but they are still under foot.

I usually bake something and get tins from Wal Mart or the thrift store to put the items in.But this year I am on a diet so most everything will be bought out of a catalog to keep me from munching on it.LOL

I recently bought a sewing machine but haven't had tje time to teach myself how to sew or I could make some kitchen things for all the women in my family.
As far as decorating I really don't right now because I have a two year old curtain climber,so if I want to keep all of my best decorations entact,I'll just keep them put away a little while longer.

[BuddyBeanieBaby]

Hi
I usually do up the cookie mixes in the mason jars and have the recipe as a tag...I do make each of my kids and grandkids afghans each Christmas...

The most frugal thing I do for Christmas is started shopping for stocking stuffers and most things on sale in January...

I also make flavoured butters,jams and pickles to give in gift baskets to my family...

[AnnaInOhio]

homeschoolmom23

My sister's dh who is the stay at home mom in their family... last year he helped the kids ( age 4 & 7) cut out paper snowflakes, color pages in a coloring book of Christmas seasonal, did paper chains and they decorated every room in the house, very cute and the kids were so very proud of all their decorations. If you know someone who works in a office, ask them to save all the extra xerox paper that would be thrown away to make the snowflakes and paper chains.

Anna

[ajrsmom]

Anna, I love those ideas!! I decorate a lot of the time with my kids coloring pages, too.

In fact, Grandma is getting a few pages in her goodie box for Grandparents day.


I plan on making writing boxes for my nephews for Christmas. I bought notebooks, pencils...etc. when they were on sale for school. I'm going to add some prestamped, addressed envies of different sizes for my house in there, too. I'm going to ask them to write, send pics....etc to us. If I can find disposible cameras on sale somewhere, I will add one for each of them.

I am making easy fudge for my Sister as one gift.

I think that I am going to try my hand at the easy melt and pour soaps. I am buying a bunch of candy molds from a lady tomorrow morning for a cheap price. I'm not sure if I'm going to wait and use them for chocolates or turn them into soap molds.


My Mother has been talking a lot about cooking lately so I think that I am going to create a personal cookbook for her of my recipes -- since she has handed down hers to me.


For dinner, I usually make and freeze Lasagna ahead of time so that come Christmas day, all I have to do is pop it into the oven to cook it. (I used to cook a big meal but since my kids are getting older, we think that it is more important to spend the time with them, than in the kitchen.)

[hemlynne]

What great ideas are here. I love the idea of the lasagne, Tami. And the letter-writing boxes. I also love the decorating ideas. My kids are all grown up now and the grands not quite old enough yet, but I look forward to having them come over and help me decorate.

My sister cuts down greeting cards to use for gift tags and also uses the small pictures of the cards they have on the backs of some card packs as gift tags. Quite frugal.

As I have said before, I don't do frugal well, but do enjoy reading others' ideas and tips.

I have also baked but never thought of putting the recipe on the tag.

Will look forward to more reads here.

[AnnaInOhio]

Tami

Be careful... melt and pour soap making is very addictive, LOL! If you need any help with that project, just ask I make around 75 lbs. of that stuff a year.

Fudge? Yum!!!

Anna

[TracyD]

Christmas has always been very big in our family. Since my DH and I moved out of state the money we spend on xmas has dropped considerably. I would not, however, suggest this as a way to be frugal. LOL. Our family just knows that shipping presents is too much. We send cards and one present for each family. Except the kids. Each kid gets one present plus I always buy xmas jammies for all the kids. What I usually do for the families is a gift basket with homemade cookie or soup mixes, spice mixes, etc. Add a special mug (dollar store) or bowl and shrink wrap and you have a great present for a couple. I have done different things each year like a movie basket with big boxes of movie candy (0.88 each at walmart) and popcorn seasoning mixes. Also an inexpensice movie from the $5 bin at wally world and a warm fleece blanket. Or a coffee and hot chocolate basket with mugs and marshmallows.

I also sew and do cross stitch. So, I try to make something special for my grandma and our moms.

Right now, my biggest challenge is my kids. I have 3. 13, 2 and 7 mos. The 7 mo is easy this year. And the 2 yo not too difficult. He would probably just play with boxes anyway! LOL. But.... trying to be frugal while giving to a teen is a challenge. I would welcome any ideas in this area.

As far as decorating goes, we have decorations from years past that I use and a fake tree. I usually do not buy any new deco unless I have to. My mom sends me stuff sometimes. I buy wrapping paper and cards after xmas for the next year and save them. Also tape and ribbon/ bows. Much cheaper that way. I also am planning to make fabric gift bags for next year. I will buy xmas fabric on sale after the holidays and make bags to reuse for years to come.

Ummm.... food. My DH is a professional chef so he does the cooking on holidays. And he is NOT FRUGAL when it comes to cooking. I just grit my teeth and budget extra for food for Tgiving and Xmas.

Sorry this is so long!