CHRISTMAS gift giving and stuff....

3BluEyedBabies

3BluEyedBabies

Active member
So my husband was off on Monday because his work place was doing inventory, and so we decided to get a start on our Christmas shopping while my two older kids were in school. I know, it's not even Halloween, but when you need to stay on a budget, layaway is the way to go! My 10 year old daughter only wants an ipod tough 5...whatever that is...but we still haven't decided if spending over $200 on that one item is a possibility. My 7 year old son is all into Legos...again, not cheap, but we can manage a few medium sized sets. My 4 year old son loves John Deere and Paw patrol, so he is pretty easy!

So I was just wondering, what you all are planning on buying for your kids this year, and what DIY projects do you like to give/receive to other members of your family (sisters, brothers, moms, dads, grandparents, aunts...) if you do that?? I love making unique photo gifts and crocheting things for my family, but sometimes I wonder if they really like receiving them. I was thinking of making a book of all my grandmother's recipes since I have them since she passed.

Edit: here is a pic of the photo gives I made last year. I should have made one for myself since I ended up using all of those cute Christmas scrapbooking stickers!!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128422049@N03/
 
I have NO ideas yet! I'm usually almost done by now.

My 5 year old daughter loves Frozen so I'm planning to get her a Frozen Lunch box (metal) and there is a darling little Frozen purse in one of the stores here. She also will be getting a couple of Frozen t shirts and nighties. DVDs for her of My Little Pony: Friendship is magic and some books, colouring and art supplies. That's it so far. She loves Minecraft too and is very good at it, so I may get her something to do with that too.

My 13 year old son is obsessed (thank you Aspergers) with his X box. He will be getting an X box live 1 year membership and a new game. I also picked up some minecraft books for him and he gets the Guinness World record books every year, so he will get the 2015 version. I am looking for some really good ideas for him. He doesn't really have any hobbies, but he just started playing the trombone at school and his music teacher said he is a natural and is very good! I might get him a mouthpiece of his own to use and some of the sterisol stuff to clean it.

And we always get the kids new jammies to open on Christmas eve.

We are taking the kids to a local waterfall this weekend to do some photos for the grandparents. I'm going to get them framed with nice frames and then maybe do up a calendar for them too. It's just my mom and Dh's dad left now, so I'm always looking for unique ideas to give them.

so far, that's all I've got in mind. LOL
 
It's hard to believe that Christmas is just 2 months away! Argh! I always have great intentions of making all kinds of things for Christmas gifts, but in reality I never finish half (or even a quarter) of them.. *sigh*. My oldest son is turning 18 two days before Christmas, and he's said that all he wants is a laptop. I really don't have a few hundred dollars to spend on him, so most likely I will give him some money towards it, and hopefully his dad will do the same. AJ can kick in some of his own too... and then he'll have a laptop! I guess the alternative is to send him to stand in line in the craziness of Black Friday and see if he can get one really cheap. He's a boy scout, so he knows all about camping out LOL!
I'm getting a used iPhone 4 (in mint condition) for my middle son. $150, so that's probably about all that he's getting too.
No clue what I'm getting for my 13 year old yet.

I started on a calendar but haven't finished it. Not sure I will. Lots of money stress this year, but 2 weeks off from school. Maybe we'll just drive south until we get to warmer temperatures. :)
 
Don't have to worry much about my little guy yet....with him being only 8 months old, he doesn't really have many wants. We'll pick up a few toys I'm sure here and there.

For my hubby I've been scouring Ebay for a certain item he wanted for months and was sooo happy to find one at a good price just a few weeks ago because I had NO other plans for him.

As for the families....I've printed calendars locally at the drugstores with special coupon codes for the past few years and knew I had to do one this year. I actually did a slightly nicer one for a chance, but still went with the 'premades' online at Shutterfly and just dragged my photos ins.

I also worked on a family history album for my husband's family. Have had it put away since early this year. Made one for his parents and both of his brothers. Then I wanted to make one for my side of the family for my brother and mom, but it's still a work in progress and not sure if I'll get it done in time! We shall see I guess!!!
 
We've cut back on gift giving. I too liked making gifts, but I start more than I finish.
David will will be fun- he's easy. Ben a bit more challenging at age 10 and we live in different states. For the the DDs and SILs, it is usually money, unless Bill comes up with a plan. He's had a couple of good ones in previous years.
I make calendars- usually sized 4x6 or 5x7 and place in an acrylic desktop frame. This year I'm combining the ones Dagi's Temp tations and SandyPie have. 3 months done...9 to go.

i also make " white trash" a tasty snack food to give.

an idea which I think makes a great gift and can be in expensive is a wordle with the names of all the family. My brother/wife had one made and framed for my dad last birthday. It would be a cinch to make on the computer. I'm happy to send a photo of it if anyone wants to see the one made for dad.

last year DH and I gave each other the same gift!
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My stepson lives across the country, so we'll be shopping from Amazon for him this year. Shipping his presents can be more expensive than his actual presents so we've done that the past couple of years.

My husband and I don't buy for each other, but we usually make something personal. He wrote me a poem last year and it was seriously the best present I've ever gotten. I'll have to think of something to top that this year!

I really admire people who make handmade gifts. I'm not really crafty, but I make chex mix and cookies for my best friend and send those to her.

Does anyone send cards? I got tired of sending out a bunch of cards and only getting two or three so I didn't send any last year. And I felt like a jerk. I like the feeling of sending cards out into the world, whether or not I get any. :) Or that's what I'm telling myself anyway. I will continue to hurry to the mailbox every day just "knowing" it will be stuffed full of cards. And my soul will be crushed when all I find are bills and ads... :(
 
I'm not sure 'what' box the wordle my brother made is in, or if he took it to his house. Here is a link that will give you the idea.
https://michaelhait.wordpress.com/2009/03/21/my-family-tree-wordle/
On ours...my brother, sister and my name were in the largest font. The next size down were our children [Poppy's grandchildren] and then smaller was David. At that time he was the only great grandchild.

The white trash-
combine chex cereal [I use corn and rice], cocktail peanuts, pretzels, m&m's in a bowl. [I don't measure, it really doesn't matter, LOL]
Melt white almond bark. I break it up and microwave in 45 sec increments. The first round does not appear to melt at all but only 45 sec at a time. Mix it all together. spead out on parchment to dry.
I scrapped it once.
 
hclappy said:
My stepson lives across the country, so we'll be shopping from Amazon for him this year. Shipping his presents can be more expensive than his actual presents so we've done that the past couple of years.

My husband and I don't buy for each other, but we usually make something personal. He wrote me a poem last year and it was seriously the best present I've ever gotten. I'll have to think of something to top that this year!

I really admire people who make handmade gifts. I'm not really crafty, but I make chex mix and cookies for my best friend and send those to her.

Does anyone send cards? I got tired of sending out a bunch of cards and only getting two or three so I didn't send any last year. And I felt like a jerk. I like the feeling of sending cards out into the world, whether or not I get any. :) Or that's what I'm telling myself anyway. I will continue to hurry to the mailbox every day just "knowing" it will be stuffed full of cards. And my soul will be crushed when all I find are bills and ads... :(
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I know what you mean, Jen! I always write little notes in the cards and send pictures of the kids. I think we got two cards last year in the mail. Kind of sad considering I sent out about 30. I haven't decided if I'm going to send any this year. I use to help my grandmother write out her CHristmas cards once her Parkinson's was too bad to write anymore, so writing out cards to the family members she use to send them to when she was still here was kind of a tradition I hate to end :(. I think that's one of the many problems with social media. Nobody sends letters and cards anymore.
 
I do send some cards, but lately I've been sending more digital ones than in the mail ones.
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My sons are getting Star Wars and Lego things this year as that is what they are both into! I've been picking things up here and there on clearance all year!
I got my husband Star Wars Episodes 1 - 3 this year as he got 4-6 last year
For the rest of my family I have a few neat DIY gifts I want to do for them. Honestly, I only make gifts for the parents and my siblings. Then we do two for our family white elephant exchange.
 
3BluEyedBabies said:
I know what you mean, Jen! I always write little notes in the cards and send pictures of the kids. I think we got two cards last year in the mail. Kind of sad considering I sent out about 30. I haven't decided if I'm going to send any this year. I use to help my grandmother write out her CHristmas cards once her Parkinson's was too bad to write anymore, so writing out cards to the family members she use to send them to when she was still here was kind of a tradition I hate to end :(. I think that's one of the many problems with social media. Nobody sends letters and cards anymore.
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I'm glad it's not just me! I usually send 20-30 and for the past few years we've gotten exactly three cards, one from each of our moms and one from my old boss. But I still run to the mailbox like a chump :P We can blame it on FB.
 
We do picture cards so I consider that the one time a year families gets actual non-digital pictures of our crew.

I'm thinking I'm going to make homemade vanilla extra. I need to get started on that because it takes a while! And I usually do a calendar for the 3 sets of grandparents but I haven't even started on that yet! AHH!!

My 12 and 10 year old boys want phones for Christmas. But I'm still on the fence. It's noy necessarily the phone, although I don't think they really need them... I don't want to pay the monthly service fees!!!

Some small toys and clothes for the girls (5 and 3).

Otherwise, I'd rather spend the money on activities and experiences this year instead of STUFF. I'm so tired of STUFF in my house!!!
 
We don't really exchange gifts anymore except of course the Grandkids, but I LOVE getting and giving gift jars and Gift Baskets if we do a swap at work or for my friends anytime really.

Michi I love the wordle thing, there's a whole board on Pinterest on them. I was looking at something similar that I thought would be easy enough if you have a good printer, or I guess you could have them printed somewhere.
Free printable letters Free alphabet stencils Free photo fonts to download and print for free Free printable butterflies
And of course I got carried away, it's always a mistake clicking on Pinterest, as I have said, I have a love hate relationship...just some ideas I really liked as a cute DIY gifts

I just really think this is a cute idea

These are for sale on Etsy, but if your clever you could make it

Just love this

I really liked this too
DAD

Cute gift to grandma, or for Grandma to sneakily get the prints and then gift to daughter/Son

Photograph for the generations:
This idea is brilliant and although this one is of a father, but you could do it with a mom, or children as they grow as well

OK, so hours after I started this, I'm finally posting, sorry, as I said I get carried away, well and watching the Walking Dead, so I get distracted, lol...
 
Oh and yes even though I don't get as many Xmas cards as I send, I still send out about 50 photo cards each year with a letter for the ones I don't talk to as frequently
 
My 12 and 10 year old boys want phones for Christmas. But I'm still on the fence. It's noy necessarily the phone, although I don't think they really need them... I don't want to pay the monthly service fees!!!
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I'm right there with you! My 13 year old really wants a phone and honestly, he is probably one of VERY FEW in his grade without one. All the kids have iphones. My son is Aspie and while he is certainly responsible enough for an expensive phone, I don't feel he needs it. He doesn't go very far from home right now. DH and I are thinking of getting him one for High School next year. He will get my phone and I will upgrade. However, I just don't want to pay his bill! LOL...he's only going to get talk and text, no data plan. Doesn't need one. We have ipads and he still uses his ipod a lot.

It's all he's been asking for, but DH is adamant that we wait until Sept.
 
My daughters are adults so we don't spend as much on them as we used to.

I make everyone a calendar. I'm working on them now. I'll make everyone an ornament. I haven't started those yet and I'm not sure what my theme will be this year.

My oldest daughter has a part time job where she dresses up as Disney Princesses for little girls birthday parties. I found an Elsa gown on Etsy that I ordered for her, but I gave it to her a bit early so she could use it. The price of that will cover just about her whole gift.
 
All my daughter wants (almost 8) is a bearded dragon for Christmas and her birthday and some Ever After dolls. So, she's getting a bearded dragon! ;)

My son (almost 5) wants a Guinea pig, but I really think our dog would try to eat it. She's quite the hunter. Our dog and cat are best buds, but I think a Guinea pig is just too much like a squirrel or rabbit…. I thought maybe he might like a turtle or hermit crab or something. He also wants Legos, spy stuff, and weapons. I have picked up some Lego sets for him.

I would rather get them each a pet of some sort then more toys. I feel like we have so many toys! It doesn't help that we have November (birthday), December (Christmas), and January (birthday); that's lots of gift giving all in a row for the kids!

I was also going to do gift certificates and memberships for our kids and/or family of 4. Movie theater passes, hot cocoa at the coffee shop, indoor bounce house passes, MN History membership (it includes the history museum, other museums, various mansion tours - super fun stuff), going out to a restaurant of your choice….

My side of the family is really small. All of the adults draw names. Then we get gifts for the kids.

My husband's side of the family is HUGE! This year only the children are drawing names. I really wanted to organize a family portrait session with the entire family to give to my MIL. I know she would love it, but we can barely get some of the family to agree to a date to get together for Christmas, so I feel like it might be hopeless! My MIL has been wanting a photo of just her and my FIL, so I'm going to give them a certificate to have me take some photos of them. ;)

I don't ever make gifts. It's a good idea, but it's too stressful! lol I love being crafty but finding the time is hard.

As for exchanging gifts with my husband, they always include the kids. As in, we will give my husband presents from the kids & me. ;)

Wow - I always post such long threads! I really enjoyed reading everyone's responses. :)
 
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