Christmas Break
I will be taking a blogging break to enjoy the holiday with my family. As I am sure you noticed I have not been posting as much today as the holidays take over. I will have giveaways posting but that is all until Sunday when I will be back with the weekly deals. I wish you all a Merry Christmas and I hope you are surrounded by those you love. Thank you for making this past year a huge success for Thrifty & Chic Mom and I look forward to all the great things the new year has in store. I hope to have LIVE GIVEAWAYS every Monday night. SO far they have been a success and lots of fun for everyone.
Amazon Gift Cards
Need a last minute gift idea? Did you know you can purchase gift cards to Amazon? Not only that but you can have them emailed directly to the recipient so you don’t even have to buy a stamp and card, that is gift giving made easy. I know some people don’t like giving gift cards but in a tough economy I think they are prefect so people can get what they really need. Go HERE to order your Amazon gift card.
Inexpensive Co-Worker Gifts
When it comes to gifts for co-workers it can be very tricky and expensive. At our house we have adopted a tradition that is met with rave reviews every Christmas. I make a tray filled with a variety of homemade goodies. My husband takes the tray to work and sets it out for everyone to enjoy. I usually include a card with a message letting everyone know this is our Christmas gift to them. Typically I fill a separate tin of goodies for my husband’s boss. People really appreciate homemade goodies and with coupons you can do it really inexpensively. Here is a look at this years tray, it was only for 5 people so I individually wrapped the items so they could take some home with them. Other years it has just been a large tray for people to nibble on. Some favorites I include every year that are very easy are:
Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
Nut Clusters: in a bowl mix 1 bag chocolate chips melted, 1 1/2 cups peanuts, 1/4 cup peanut butter. Mix it all together and drop into muffin cups. Let cool in the fridge.
All of these treats take no cooking skills yet people love them!
Giving Back this Holiday Season
During the holidays it can often be hard to give when your money is going towards presents but it is always important to think of those in need. Every holiday we do some things at our house to help our kids get in the spirit of giving, here are a few of them:
- adopt a child, every year we adopt a child and proved them with Christmas gifts. This is a fun way for our family to give to someone who may otherwise have a bleak Christmas.
- Donate blankets and candles to the homeless. My church runs a soup kitchen and in the cold winter months they always need blankets and candles to pass out to the homeless. Every year I clean out my candles and blankets to donate. This is so easy to do because they actually ask you not bring new items since often the blankets and candles only get used once then left behind.
- Donate canned goods and non-perishables to our soup kitchen
- Donate items to the local nursing home. It is also a great idea to make cards and take your kids caroling if they are old enough, the elderly really appreciate it.
- My parents started a tradition of delivering hot meals (holiday leftovers) to the homeless the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas. They drive around with individual hot meals to known homeless hangouts and hand out food. ( If you do this please be careful and do not go alone to unsafe areas)
- Buy a gift that gives back. Companies like Robeez are donating one item for every purchase made. Robeez is giving a pair of shoes to a child through the program K.I.D.S one pair for every pair purchased. They have lots of cute shoes right now I love the thermal booties in pastel pink for my little girl!
- Sign up your Kroger rewards card to benefit your favorite charity. I just found out you can add a local charity to your Kroger card and they will benefit from your shopping! I am adding out churches soup kitchen, just go to Kroger.com and log into your account to add a charity.
How are you giving this season? Leave your giving ideas in the comments section or join the discussion at Twittermoms and check out the great contest they are having.
Cheap Kids Christmas Crafts
My kids love doing crafts and I of course want to keep them as inexpensive as possible. A fun kids craft that my kids enjoyed is making popsicle stick Christmas trees. They are simple and easy enough that my 22 month old made hers and the supplies needed are very minimal. Here are the directions:
Popsicle Stick Christmas Trees
6 popsicle sticks
sequins
green paint
glue
Paint the popsicle sticks green the day before and let dry. Cut the sticks down each one progressively smaller ( kitchen shears work fine). Glue the sticks on to form a Christmas tree. Let kids decorate with sequins. I squirted a glob of glue on the plate so my kids could dip and place the sequins themselves.
FREE Christmas Music from Amazon
Amazon is offering a FREE Christmas music download everyday during the month of December. Today is “Joy to the World” by Casting Crowns. Get your FREE Christmas download HERE.
Wrapping presents cheaply
This time of year we all do lots of wrapping. There are many ways to cut cost when it comes to wrapping presents. Here are a few tips to help you save money on gift wrapping.
- Reuse bags and tissue paper from past holidays. I have a big Rubbermaid bin in my basement full of bags, tissue paper and ribbons that I got with gifts in the past.This is a very easy way to save money on wrapping supplies.
- Use paper grocery sacks. Cut open you paper grocery bags and decorate them with a cute holiday stamp or let your kids draw a picture. Add a bow if you want and you have personalized inexpensive wrapping paper.
- Use part of the gift. If your gift includes a basket or some sort of container display the items in the container and use that as your “wrapping”. You can also buy reusable shopping bags for cheaper than gift bags. Use these bags to wrap the present. Now there are lots of cute bags available, I even recently saw sports team ones at Dick’s Sporting goods for the men in your life.
- Buy your holiday wrapping supplies in January. If you plan ahead you can pay pennies instead of dollars and be all set for the coming year.
- Check you local dollar stores for great deals if you want holiday themed paper or bags right now and don’t have any already. This will save you money if you must buy some.
I hope these tips will help you save money on your holiday wrapping this year. If you have any other great wrapping tips please share in the comments below.
For more money saving ideas check out Staples Holiday Center, and to join in the money saving discussion go here.
Deals for Busy Moms This Holiday SeasonCheck out This Week’s Deals!
About this TwitterMoms Blogging Program
Advent Calendar Crafts
Last year I shared my homemade Advent Calendar idea and while I loved the idea my lack of craftiness came through in the execution, so this year I am trying a new twist on the advent calendar. This year I will once again hang a garland with 24 mini bags or boxes (I am hoping to find tiny wrapped presents to hang in the garland). Inside each box will be a piece of paper giving the location of the days treasure. I have decided to do it this way because the weight of items became an issue last year and while small candies work well I really don’t want to go that route this year. Instead each day I will have a craft, book, game or other fun activity planned that will teach them about and/or celebrate the Christmas season with a candy treat on Sunday only. The paper will tell them where to find the supplies for the days activity, which I will have hidden somewhere wrapped in a box so they get to open a present. Here are some of the activities I have planned so far:
- Christmas coloring pages
- Christmas books
- Make Advent calendars ( see list below)
- Holly wreath cookies
- Christmas cutout cookies
- Make ornaments
- Make peppermint bark
- Make nativity scene pieces
- Put on a Christmas Play
- Christmas music
- Bow Christmas Tree Craft ( make a large Christmas tree out of bows)
- Bow Wreath Craft
Here are some other creative Advent wreath crafts I found on the web.
Christmas Tree Paper Advent Calendar
Christmas Activities with Kids at My House
Watch Dora’s Christmas Carol Adventure Dec. 6 on NickelodeonFavorite Holiday Activities with Kids
It’s almost time for Christmas and I am already filling my calendar with our yearly Christmas family traditions. Each year we look forward to activities with extended family that are always a fun, festive and memorable. Here are our favorite holiday traditions:
- Gingerbread Houses: Every year we make gingerbread houses with my side of the family. The houses are made of graham crackers, frosting and lots of candy. It really ends up being more of a candy eating festival than a true house decorating contest, but we love it. My family has been doing this for 25 years and I don’t plan on letting the tradition stop.
- Christmas Cookie Decorating: Every year with my husbands side of the family we decorate Christmas cookies. My mother in law makes holiday themed cut outs and makes home made frosting. We always have fun making creative cookies and of course eating them.
- Cutting Down A Christmas Tree: Every year we cut down our own Christmas tree, this is an adventure that always produces fun memories even though we live in a big city.
- Pictures with Santa: Every year we get our picture with Santa at my dad’s Christmas party. The pictures with crying kids are worth a thousand words and will make for some funny conversations as my kids get older. I always say take the picture as tehy are don’t wait and see if they get better. The pictures are real and express how my kids honestly felt about Santa… terrified!
- Baking Christmas Goodies: I love to have my kids help in the kitchen. We always make lots of goodies to give away to friends and family during the holidays and my kids love helping ot make all the goodies.
- Wildlights at the Zoo: We are lucky to have an amazing holiday lights display at our zoo called Wildlights and we go at least once every year. We already went this year and it was breathtaking. I can’t wait to go back.
- Lights at Night: Every year we take a walk around our neighborhood one evening to enjoy all the beautiful Christmas decorations. We usually try to do it after a new snow, everything looks beautiful under fresh snow and the stillness of a cold winter night with the lights is just magical.
What activities do you look forward to doing with your kids every Christmas?
This is part of the Dora Christmas Carol contest at Twittermoms
FREE Christmas Planner
If you are feeling unorganized and overwhelmed by the holidays I have a fantastic freebie for you. Executive Homemaker has a fantastic Christmas Planner that is completely FREE to download and print out. It has great features like:
- Party Planner – Organize December birthdays, Family Picture, Parties, and gifts to have on hand.
- Family Gift Planner – Keep track of gift ideas for each person in your family year round.
- Extended Family Planner – This worksheet will help you make gift giving to your extended family easy!
- Friend Gift Planner – Keep track of the smaller details like: Goody plates, Teacher gifts, and Emergency gifts.
- Memory Planner – Quickly keep record of the wonderful memories you had with your family this holiday season.
In my Best Christmas Ever series I talked about having a list for gifts and this would be a great place to do it!
Best Christmas Ever Part 4
If you have any other great ideas for non-traditional Christmas gifts please share them, we would all love to know.
Best Christmas Ever Part 3
This is my first attempt at vlogging so please be kind. It is late, I am tired and the bags under my eyes are very obvious! I hope to be doing more vlogging in the future and I promise I will get better at it. For more of my Best Christmas Ever series you can go HERE , HERE and HERE.
