Comments on: Teaching Your Children To Enjoy A Humble Christmas

By: Jami

Jami — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 16:25:06 +0000

Here it is after Christmas, but still good for thinking about next Christmas! I love all the ideas, and am always looking for new homemade ideas. Here’s what our family does:

1. Our kids are teens now, and we’ve always given them 3 gifts (to represent the 3 gifts from the wise men)and they fall into these catagories: clothes they need, a book they’d like, and a $20-25 dollar item they wanted. They’ve never complained as they’ve gotten older and if they want something more expensive (like an ipod), we give them money towards it and they have to earn the rest. It gets more complicated as they get older and you can’t make them aprons or wooden blocks anymore!

2. For extended family, we all make “family gifts” and some I remember over the years: Italian food basket (homemade recipe book, pasta, homecanned sauce, garlic & wood spoon), Notecards made with children’s artwork, Basket with soup and bread mixes for a dinner, family fun night(basket with popcorn & flavorings, candy, and a game/movie),Personal care basket (homemade soap, bath salts, insect repellent, lip balm, and lavendar sachet). Everybody gets creative in their own way and we’ve gotten wonderful “heirloom” items over the years- even a homemade board game this year!

By: Terri

Terri — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 05:54:49 +0000

This year I took apart an afghan my grandmother made for my father (both deceased) and made lap blankets for myself and my siblings from it. It has lots of family meaning and cost was less than $40 for thread and shipping. I started a blog so siblings could watch the progress since we live thousands of miles apart.
My immediate family got scarves and hats that I made for less than $5 a set, the computer wizard of the family gave coupons for 2 hours of computer work, someone made made music CD’s and picture CD’s for everyone. We spent the whole day sharing a meal and TIME together. It seems that time is the one thing my family never has enough of.
We are not home yet from hurricane Ike, so nobody wanted a bunch of dust collectors. Store bought gifts this year were at a minimum and I think it was our best Christmas yet.

By: Felice

Felice — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 04:10:32 +0000

We started a tradition last year for my new baby (now 21 months) and will continue it (we stole the idea from a friend so i will give her credit ..thanks angie)…but we do J.O.Y. gifts…the J stands for Jesus..so something that will remind him of the greatness of God, O something to play with others and Y for you (him to play with).

So this year…J is silk scarves in rainbow colors for him to hide, play..etc…and to remind him of the beautiful colors god made.

O is two books to share with mom and dad to read with.

and y is a set of wood blocks that are left over pieces sanded and painted from his dad’s woodworking projects.

So we have only spent like $30. he will then get some markers and glow sticks in his stocking from santa….it is our way of limiting and making it special. we are writing all the JOY gifts down to remember them later.

thanks for all the ideas i can’t wait to start another tradition this year

By: Emmajean's Momma

Emmajean's Momma — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 23:20:13 +0000

As a single mom, I’ve learned to be very frugal. As first I felt guilty about her making gifts for friends and family, but everyone always enjoys it! The difficult part now is coming up with new ideas! This year we are making no sew blankets and painting art canvas with hand print pictures. We are also making ornaments and I found a lil wood nutcracker for her to paint for my sister. (My sister is taking her to the Nutcracker ballet this year.) If anyone has ideas for homemade gifts that are still tasteful, please post! I think the other important thing is making a budget and sticking to it all year, even at the holidays. Share the magic of Chirstmas; its better than the gifts! My daughter and I always pick out a few used toys and a few new to donate to children without any. We drive around and look at Christmas lights and just enjoy being together. Also, I do think it’s important to explain things to children. Just today, while at a closing sale, my 4 year old asked why so many places are closing. So we had a discussion about money and savings. Thanks for the ideas too! I’ve been trying to do things to bring Jesus back into Christmas and make it fun and exciting; a birthday cake is the perfect idea!

By: Deanna

Deanna — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 11:53:24 +0000

We buy our kids 2 gifts during Christmas. I save all year for this. We don’t give them anything during the year except for one b-day gift so I let them splurge a little (within reason) I also do this frugally though. I made silk (found on clearance) hankies for my little one to play peek-a-boo with. PVC pipes and fixtures make great tunnels for little cars and my boys prefer these to already made sets. Boxes are also a big hit. One year we got my oldest daughter (then 5) two huge boxes (we had the room then). She had a great time constructing a playhouse and decorating with scrap fabric and so forth. I think she lived in there for a few years. A sewing kit is simple to put together for little girls. Also a teddy bear making kit…take felt cut it up, add stuffing and thread. You can find buttons and so forth for decorating the face, but if you have little ones use fabric paint so it won’t be a choking hazard.

By: The Prudent Homemaker

The Prudent Homemaker — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 02:19:56 +0000

I recently wrote a guest post on Christmas on a Zero-Budget, which you can read here:
http://momsfrugal.blogspot.com/2009/11/guest-post-christmas-on-zero-budget.html

I have some links on there to my site that I’ll link here for your convenience as well.

Home-sewn gifts (including links to free patterns and tutorials, inlcuding several on making clothes over):

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/sewingforless.aspx

Frugal gifts (non-sewing ideas) including links to lots of free printable gifts for boys and girls, wrapping, tags, other homemade ideas, etc:

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/FrugalGifts.aspx

And some ideas for helping others in need when you don’t have any money to spend:

http://theprudenthomemaker.com/helpingothers.aspx

I know my children will be geting some printable paper dolls and toys in their stockings, handkerchiefs made from an old top sheet, dresses made from fabric I had on hand, an apron for one child (all of my other children already have one), new shoes for 2 children, and slips for 2 girls made from fabric I already have.

My parents have asked what my children need, and are getting them some thermals, new pajamas, and slippers.

I have 5 children, with one who has a birthday right before Christmas, so I have lots of sewing to do (for needed clothing; I make most of my oldest daughter’s clothing). I’m glad I bought fabric when it was on sale years back, and that others have shared fabric with me who were no longer sewing.