I am making progress... I am trying to stick to 3 gifts per person but I keep wondering if this is enough for the kids... For DH and older DS I have 2 of the 3 gifts... I can get free $25 ipod gift cards with points so got 2 of those- one for each. And I have one big thing each for them. For Dh I have $25 of my budget left and for Ds I have $10 left. For DS2 I have 2 smaller presents $35 total, and am planning to complete his quilt for Christmas, but will be getting one more thing for him (probably a DS game he wants). I am going to work with the younger 2 kids tonight on letters to santa, so I can find out what they want most. For DD I have an asortment of things I have gotten over time... but nothing really "wow". She has an early January B-day so i need double the stuff for her. For her B-day she is getting a quilt. I have 2 smaller Christmas present bought for her for $20. I will probably just get her one more present for Christmas, something with a lot of "WOW" factor. Then I will need 2 more B-day presents for her. My dad is making her a wooden kitchen so I am thinking I may go along with that theme for some more of her gifts... pots and pans, play food... I already have a chef hat, apron and pot holder set for her...

Still have my parents, brother, grandma, MIL, DMIL to buy for, but I have ideas for most of them. SIL and I usually go in on something for MIL....

I have cards all bought- got some that I love, last year, 70% off. I have the kids picture all done and just need to print it out, waiting for Walgreens 10 cent a print sale. I will need stamps, but that has been budgeted for.

For teachers and bus drivers, I decided they will all get the same thing. I now have a lot to buy for with all 3 kids in school and older ds guitar teacher... but for most of them (all the ladies) I will be getting Yanke candle minis. My plan is to get them, on sale ($7) at Bed Bath and beyond, using 20% ($5.40 each) off coupons on them and paying with a gift card that I also got for my points- that will pay for almost 5 of them anyhow...

So I am feeling pretty good about things. I am stocked with wrapping paper... I have plenty of decorations. I did see one cute winter (not christmas) thing at Dollar store that I may get, it was a cute snow man for the door...

How are you doing?

Which is a miracle in itself, lol. I ordered some Aeropostle clothes online for my son. The clothing was all marked down, and they had a $20 off a purchase of $80 or more. I had hoped to save the jeans for Chistmas, but I had to give them to him yesterday since he outgrew the ones I got a month ago...yes a month ago!! Actually the bootcut ones seem longer, and still fit him, but not the straight legs ones. He grew, plus I think they shrank in the dryer some. I'm thinking about selling them on ebay since they were only worn a few times. He now wears 28x32, which is an extremely hard size to find. I was hoping maybe he could get away with a 29" waist, but even the 28" is somewhat lose and he wears a belt. The kid is built like Obama, lol.

They want an Xbox in the worst way. They have a PS2, but it's really hard to find new games. I'm thinking they will get one of the cheaper versions...they were looking on line the other day trying to figure out how to buy one for themselves, and told me they wanted the cheaper version, for $200. My oldest is a cynical shopper (must have taught him well, lol). He doesn't want the more expensive model because he says as soon as he gets it, they will come out with a new system.

Since the xbox will be their big gift, I just have to get a few things for each, and I already have some tshirts and a hoodie for the oldest. An itunes gift card and an xbox game should finish him off easily. The youngest, i'm not sure about, but he's easy to buy for.

Hubby's bday is coming up, so I need to think about that as well.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it~~~~~Ferris Bueller

Last year my parents and I agreed to not exchange gifts anymore. We used to buy Christmas gifts for them and they'd buy Hanukkah gifts for us. What a relief, as they are incredibly hard to buy for and none of us needs anything. We'd been trying to go in this direction for years and always met with resistance from them. They still buy Hanukkah gifts for ds. After catching wind of this my sister and parents decided to stop also. She is also much relieved.

Also last year dh and his siblings decided to draw names for gifts for the kids so we just buy one gift instead of 6 now. We haven't done that yet this year. Neither dh nor I have exchanged gifts with siblings for years and years.

Anyway, my son's birthday is in early January so Hanukkah and his birthday fall pretty closely together. He has expressed interest in a couple of specific things - a camera and more Legos. You can never have enough Legos apparently. I found a new digital camera in it's box at a garage sale for $40 (still sells for about $200) and a big new Lego City crane at Goodwill for $20 ($60). Those will be the big gifts for his birthday.

For Hanukkah traditionally you give kids gelt, which is money. He's young enough to want gifts over money so that's what we do, one per night. I have a new set of Shel Silverstein books that I've been saving until I thought he was old enough back from when I did the children's book of the month club. Also a couple of brand new erector sets of the Eiffel Tower and Empire State Building I bought at a garage sale for $6. I also have more Legos both with and without boxes, but not new. At this point he still doesn't care if they're new as long as they're complete with the instructions. One is a very cool castle with all sorts of knights and a dragon. The others I still need to check to make sure they're complete. I have to do that soon so I can get replacement pieces from Lego if they aren't. I need to check the gift stash, there may be other things that I'm forgetting. I just remember that the last time I looked I decided not to buy anything else unless it would be for next year.

Although dh and I don't generally exchange gifts, I'd like to buy him one of those beige vests with all the little pockets on the front. He's wanted one for years for when he's shooting things for work and I'm going to surprise him if I can actually find one.

This year dh and I volunteered to organize the Hanukkah Sunday school party so we'll have food shopping to do for that but will be reimbursed.

I never want to know how much money we put into legos over the years! The guy who invented legos is one of the welathiest people in the world, as he never made the company public, so it's quite a family fortune at this point.

My 12yo still plays with them, but less and less all the time. My oldest has a bunch that he put together years ago, and sit in his room, as models. I really want to gather them all together sometime and build a massive item with all of them, lol. The funniest Malcolm in the Middle episode ever was the one where Hal and Dewey filled an entire room with lego buildings, etc.

I was never so lucky as to find any at thrift stores or yard sales. I did recently find one in a box that I never gave to my son, and it was not something he was interested in anymore (a sea creature). I sold it on ebay for more than I paid for it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it~~~~~Ferris Bueller

I think a lot of kids leave them together to display. The big find this summer was at a garage sale where I found one tiny set in the box and asked if they had any more. It was earlier than the subdivision sale opening time listed in the paper and I was one of the first at that particular sale. The lady said she was trying to decide whether or not to sell the rest and would ask her son. Her college age son came out and said to sell them, and he had about 15 or 20 models in an underbed box all assembled and a bit dusty from being displayed. From the dates on the instructions he probably had them displayed 8 or 10 years! They all have their instructions and those are the ones I need to disassemble to make sure they're all there. For $20 or $25 I don't mind washing and sorting them. You're right though, they're pretty hard to find secondhand. I was really lucky with the crane set at Goodwill. I can't figure out why it was donated at all except maybe Target doesn't carry it anymore? It was factory sealed shut and I've since opened it to make sure it's all there.

I've never seen that Malcolm in the Middle, I'll have to watch for it. They show it every night on some cable channel and I've been watching it on and off lately. I love that show.

I asked dh what he wanted for Christmas and he said nothing. Then I told him that I already had money saved for his gift and he said that he wanted some more computer memory. He happily said so you have it saved, then can I buy it now? I said yes. So he picked his own gift and he is happy. He always wants something electronic so I just tell him how much he can spend and he takes it from there.

My mom wants quality pictures of us and then money for a frame because it has to be shipped. We won't go to a photo studio. We'll just use dh camera on the tripod. I would like dh to color my hair between now and then.

My stepdad is easy to buy for get him a bass pro shop card.

My great nieces appreciate gift cards to Target.

Dh's family, we pick names at Thanksgiving. We will buy for dh's dad whether we pick his name or not. We all do that.

So, it is looking pretty complete. Everyone is saved for, but I will not buy the gifts until closer to Christmas in case some of these stores go out of business like last year.

2catsmom

That is the whole point of the 3 gift deal...to teach your kids reasonable limits. It also gives you the opportunity to tie in the Wise Men and their gifts. Besides, with their grandparents and others buying for them, there will be a huge pile of wrapping paper when you're done opening them.

Speaking of wrapping paper, I've noticed it walking out of thrift stores apparently as quickly as it goes in. If anyone needs paper, look for it here. I inherited a huge pile when MIL died and probably won't have to buy paper again for a couple of years.

I'm feeling good about Christmas. We are giving DS ca$h to apply toward a season ski pass. I plan to get him a $25 vanilla and lavendar Yankee candle (with 20% off coupon from BB&B). I will also make him some goodies--probably a pan of frozen lasagna. Last year, when he and his ex were still together, I did "dinner and a movie"--a whole homecooked dinner plus a Hollywood Video gift card--and it was a huge hit.

DD needs new boot-length boots. She LOVES boots, so this will be a hit. Her Wii game box has always had problems that her dad wouldn't deal with when it was under warranty. I am thinking of buying her a new one--don't laugh, with her money. She gets ahead of what Medicaid allows her to have, and she will never know the difference. This allows me to buy her a big third gift, although I'm not sure what it will be. (The Wii would be the wow gift. We would take the other one to the cabin).

For DH, I am at the usual loss. It will be hard to top his birthday gift, which just tickled him. He can't find the corner without help, so I bought him a Garmin Nuvi 205 for $130-something at Best Buy. It was a huge hit!

I'm going to be easy to buy for this year. I desperately need a new computer and I'm fine with a desktop and only need the CPU. Also, I've got an old maple secretary desk-chest that I grew up with that is in desperate need of refinishing. I also have a place for it, both in this house and in the cabin, too.

I'll bet your husband would love accessories for his new GPS toy. Off the top of my head, I know that you can get GPS dashboard mounts, car chargers, and carrying cases. There are probaby more do-dads that I don't even know about!

$$ is tight this year too and I could choose not to buy for the teachers/bus driver. However....one year I bought the teacher a bottle of Bath & Body Works antibacterial soap (or lotion) in a Christmas scent. It was a HUGE hit!! I'm hoping to get some homemade gift bags done this year for the soap.

Just an idea -- they are on sale right now 3/$10.

They have the purse sized hand sanitizers in different scents, 2 in a package for $1.00. I bought several sets in lavender & will make my own label on the laser printer.

is a great idea for small gifts. Everyone at work uses this stuff all the time. It would work well in stockings also. Great idea Penny, thanks for sharing.

I feel embarrassed that I can't keep my house clean (maybe I should stay off the internet, ha ha). But seeing there is only 7 weeks to Christmas that must mean only 3 weeks to thanksgiving and I've got to get my house in shape since my siblings come here on thanksgiving for dessert!

Besides my house issues, I have no gift ideas for my kids. But I love the 3 gift idea and highly recommend that is the limit.

I'm lucky that we usually buy gift cards for dh's family and don't exchange with my adult siblings. Have to ask mom what useful gift she would like this year and all siblings go in on that.

I did purchase my Christmas Cards from a charity so while that costs more, it does help the charity. And I went to post office and purchased holiday stamps. Since my dd is a girl scout I did purchase teacher/bus driver gifts from the girl scout candy/nut sale - again helps girl scouts as well as having those gifts purchased. The GS fruit slices are very tasty and hopefully ok for people with food allergies.

So thanks for the reminder that we've got 7 weeks!

I have done all my grandkid's presents online. I got free shipping and some discounts by looking for coupon codes. woohoooooooooo! I started with the 3 gifts only idea 2 years ago. It has been wonderful.

I am having a hard time with my kids as they are all adults. I wanted to get my oldest the new one-cup coffee maker...it was 119 bucks! and the one serving coffee packs are 25 bucks for 15 assorted coffee flavors. Yikes!

I will figure out things they need, but I wish I was done. I still have to get the pass around gift for Christmas eve too...hmmmmm.

Honey tells me he is finished. He made Texas shaped clocks, with 40% off coupons for the works, they cost less than $5.

I am still in the thinking stage - hopefully I'll THINK of something soon!

I do have popcorn bowls and a couple of movies for the little girls.... but that's it.

But this year I'm taking the easiest route ever. My dad and sister are getting herbs I grew and pepper sauce I brewed and bottled. Each of the 4 kids (my 2 girls, my son-in-law, my stepdaughter) are getting visa gift cards in the amount of $50 each, plus a Starbucks gift card for $10 and a coupon from restaurant.com. Hubby is getting a $500 dive computer, I'm getting that free for having worked at the scuba shop. The kids are chipping in and buying him (us) tickets to see his favorite comedian in January. I'm making BFF Heather a quilt. The only person I'm not sure about is my mom. I'll check clearance sales and try to find her a new hummingbird feeder. If that doesn't work maybe I can get her some Christian fiction from paperbackswap.

I guess I can say I am done

As to kid's gifts, we always did three plus stocking stuffers until they were older and then it was often only one but that one was a big one.

Myra in West Texas