As the holidays gently—or perhaps, not so gently—expand your waistline, they inevitably significantly shrink your wallet. Between traveling during this crazy time, entertaining friends and family at your home and buying gobs of presents, the holidays can take a toll on your funds. They may even leave you wishing that you hadn't gone quite so overboard with presents, as reality sets in with an overstuffed credit card bill in January.
We say it to ourselves every year, but it's worth repeating—the holidays are about being together with family, not the gifts. That mantra plays in our heads as we walk into stores decorated from floor to ceiling with sparkly items that beckon you from your sane and budget-conscious-mind into the holiday-crazed parent that spends way too much on toys (that will ultimately be played with for mere days).
Why not "revamp" your Christmas shopping and spending habits this year so that you finish with happy children and less stressed parents?
SET A BUDGET
Work out a realistic number to spend on each person in your family based on your current bank account situation. Once you've picked your number, make sure to keep it in mind (write it down on your shopping list) as you walk into stores that will tempt your often overly generous Christmas spirit. Once you've purchased gifts for everyone on your list, make sure to leave the store and don't linger—it's enough.
DECIDE ON QUANTITY
For some families, it may work better to get your kids a few smaller gifts rather than one or two large and more expensive presents. Especially for little ones, go with less pricey items in bigger quantities—they will be fooled into thinking that they got so many presents! Also, bulky things like tents or play tunnels set up under the tree along with a few other smaller items will help to make a great presentation. The tree will look like it's busting with kiddie-goodies when your children come down from their Christmas Eve slumbers, because even the most conservative moms don't want a sad and bare tree!
MAKE YOUR PRESENTS
I know that this might sound a little ridiculous, as if you don't have enough to do around this time of year. Seriously though, there are a few great ideas for homemade gifts that your kids will love and you will enjoy putting together.
- Homemade Scrapbook
Kids love looking at pictures of themselves and why not create an entire book just for them? Grab a blank journal from the bookstore and decorate it with their favorite things—think ice cream cone stickers and train pictures—and fill it to the brim with pictures of your kids and their family members. You can make separate pages for each family member, which is perfect for kids that live far from grandparents because you can sit and look at your scrapbook when they are missing them. Put the book in a special box and make sure that you leave a few pages blank so that you can fill them in together with your children at a later date.
- Homemade Playdough
Homemade playdough doesn't take long to make and you can customize it! Your kids will love the super cool colors that you can create, and you can add glitter to the playdough or put in bits of confetti. Not only will your kids love the playdough because it will be so much cooler than the stuff that comes from jars, but you can rest easy in knowing that it's not full of gross chemicals just in case it "accidentally" gets ingested. This is a great basic recipe for playdough and you can get natural food coloring to add to it as well.
- Homemade Crayons
We all have tons of broken crayons that are sadly neglected and laying in the bottom of the box. Making crayon chunks is a great use of a plentiful resource and it makes for really cool and colorful crayons that will write in rainbows. Go around the house and collect all of the broken crayon pieces, remove all wrappers and break them into pea-sized pieces. Put the broken crayons into a silicon mold and bake at 400o for five to 10 minutes and cool completely before handling. Craft stores have fun silicon candy molds in all shapes—favorite television characters, hearts, stars, etc. and they will make the crayons that much more special.
Happy shopping and creating this season!
