Presents for Christmas

Christmas money is tight, gifts too expensive, your job doesn’t pay enough for the gifts your children want, or grandchildren need. So you’re ready to pull your hair out and hide under the bed. What will you do to make your dollars stretch so you can buy for everyone and still have nice gifts for each member of your family?

First make out your grocery list and put down the approximate prices you will be paying for each item on the list don’t forget the taxes. You don’t want to run short on food for the holidays. Make another list of each person you will be buying for, and up to five gifts that they want for Christmas, this will leave you with some choices. Set a price on how much you want to spend on each gift and person. Think about buying one gift for the entire family instead of a small gift for each person, especially if the family is a large one.

I tend to worry about the children in my family more then the adults, one nice toy, instead of a lot of cheaply made toys will be more appreciated by the parents as well as the children who hate to throw away their toys after a week or two.

If you don’t plan to give them toys, but plan on buying clothes or looking for something different to buy you might think about buying just plain backpacks or book bags. They are a wonderful gift and are easy to personalize with beads, jewels, and cloth paint for very little money. You can recycle old jeans, and blouses; for the girls you can add some lace and ribbon around the fasteners and sides. If you can sew, or knit you can make anything. You can put together shirts, dresses, scarves, hats, or even bedroom slippers; these are just a few ideas. If you are into tie dying buy some white t-shirts, or pillowcases and give them something different and unique. If you are still unsure, what to do, start a piggy bank for each child, and put your spare change in each bank at the end of the day up until Christmas it may be a small gift, which may bring big results, in this way they might find they like the idea of saving money, and will add to it as they grow.

For adults or teens who will be entering college or going out on their own soon, in your family, knit or crochet a blanket or a cozy for those who love to sat and read or for children who are working long hours doing homework in their bedrooms. You can always buy pillowcases and needlepoint their names on the edge individualizing the pillowcases for each person. You could choose to buy tablecloths, coffee table and end table covers. Let your mind go wild and be creative. Do they collect something special? You might look for items you may never have bought before, like books, hats, small nick knacks. Many of these items won’t break your bank account, and they will consider these items very special.

Board games and puzzles are a nice gift for the entire family. You might find the family you are buying for has a favorite movie or classic Christmas movie that the whole family loves to watch on television each year, look for it at the stores, buy the DVD so they don’t have to change their schedule for one particular night to watch the movie.

Another idea might be artwork for their walls if they are into original paintings or unique art to put on their walls. You may find they have a favorite local artist, and artists are always looking to sell their work, many at a lower price, during this time of year.

Whichever way you decide to spend your money, have a great Christmas season and enjoy your family time together. Spending time with your family and friends is what makes a fantastic Christmas, remember gifts are an added pleasure; the best gift you can give and get is the gift of love and time spent with your family.