… make your wallet smile!
Now that Thanksgiving is over here in Canada we can turn our attention to Christmas and having a frugal Christmas doesn’t mean being cheap it means being wise with your spending choices. It is possible to have a frugal Christmas and also have tons of fun! Trust me we do it at our house and fun is something we definitely do have.
The pressure from retailers and our children and family members can be overwhelming to say the least. Every where we look there is sparkling lights and decorations galore. Even grocery stores become a treasure chest full of offers and sparkling wrapping paper and chocolates.
The problem is that if you really take a look at the offers they are not really bargains or good deals at all. The buy one get one, 1/2 price sale is only good if you need two of the same item otherwise you are draining your purse on something that is not needed. These offers are great if you have a large family but if you don’t it isn’t really a good deal.
My best advice to stick to your frugal Christmas and most important stick to your budget. Also a frugal Christmas can be fun because it takes the away the taxing shopping away and puts a little creativity back into your life.
The Tree:
The most economical is artificial tree but I know some people love buying and cutting their down their tree every year. For us we use an artificial tree mainly due to allergies. Yep, I am allergic to Christmas trees, talk about humbug!
The Decorations:
So many thrift stores sell Christmas decorations and you can find some real treasures this way. Also if you have small children there is no greater joy then seeing their faces light up when they have made some Christmas decorations and you have proudly displayed them on the Christmas tree. Let’s face it even if you don’t have small children we all love to colour and what is more fun then spending time together colouring to ornaments for your Christmas tree.
Talk a walk through a forest and grab some pinecones and either dry them out and use them or spray paint them various colours to makes your decor. Add a little glitter to them to help them sparkle up any decor.
A favourite for ornaments among children are dough ornaments or even cinnamon dough ornaments. As a matter of fact this year we were unpacking our Christmas decorations and we found two cinnamon dough ornaments that were over 15 years old and both still smell wonderful and are in great shape. I highly recommend them.
For any candles you use… just use plain ones and add a ribbon it really adds a finishing touch. And here is my placemat idea for Christmas. Last year I hosted a table at church where we decorate for the adult Christmas banquet and I didn’t have anything that matched so I went out and wrapping paper was on sale at Zellers and I am always on a budget. So I purchased some wrapping paper for $2 and that did 8 placemats for my table and it matched so nicely. I will hunt up the pictures I have of it.
Card & Wrapping tips:
One of my favourite things to do is to go to the local paper and buy the end of roll newsprint. They sell them really cheap. I use it as wrapping paper with some red and green yarn instead of ribbon. If newsprint is left over I just use it for my kids to draw on afterwards. Or if you want to have even more fun get out the pants and stamps and let your children decorate the paper for you.
For cards I recommend making them yourself or using a family picture and printing it and sending it out. I find most people just end up throwing out their cards. I know for my family I don’t I keep them and scrapbook them every year.
Gifts:
I know for me, I have entered contests online and ended up winning some amazing gifts for my family. Not to mention these were gifts I by know means could afford to buy for my family. So bonus all the way around. Also if budget is a problem or as I say what budget, I have no money so therefore no real budget but that means I have to be very creative in what I do and can buy.
Making your own gifts from things around the house you already have. Bath bombs, Epsom salts for the tub, hand lotion, personal care items you name it. I watch the sales like crazy to get what I do get on sale and not to mention combine coupons too! Save, save, save!
I almost forgot we limit the number of gifts we give to people. We usually don’t buy for the adults because well they really don’t need anything and it is not in the budget. Secondly each one of our children only gets 4 gifts, a want, need, something to read and something to wear.
CONGRATULATIONS!
You found our hidden Scavenger Hunt!
This means you get to enter our contest to win an aden + anais bamboo swaddle set! Three luxuriously soft swaddles in gorgeous floral and feather prints. They’re breathable to prevent overheating, large to make swaddling easy, comfortable, soft, and great for so many uses other than swaddling – burp cloth, tummy time blanket, stroller cover, etc.
Want to win a set of 3? Let us know below, what you’re doing to celebrate and enjoy the month of November! That’s it! You’re entered. Winner will be drawn November 9th. Contest is open to both US and Canadian residents. Good luck!
22 Responses to Have yourself a frugal little Christmas
Great post, Annie! Love it! Ummm…Halloween hasn’t even arrived and I’m seeing Christmas stuff at the stores already! LOL!
This November I am going to enjoy my family.As a mother of 4 ages 24-4 and 2 new Grandbabies(One born last night) I know the importance of loving and supporting my children at any age.
November is the beggining of the Holiday season,a time to focus on sharing the joy of friends and family and helping others. It is a beautiful and joyous time of the year.
Great tips Annie! This year, in order to be frugal yet fair, our family is doing one big Secret Santa across the country. We’ll make sure we ship early so we can get by with standard shipping rates and I always love to wrap in either the cartoon section of the newspaper or plain paper or paper bag decorated by yours truly! Twine, ribbons and bows always give a special touch. Happy Frugal Christmas!
… I think I can say that now that Halloween is over, right?
Listening to Christmas music (After Remembrance Day, of course)!
We will be spending time together as a family, waiting for the snow to come (hopefully not too early) as last year we barely had any. Can’t wait for my two year old to go play on the snow hills this year and my 7 month old to experience snow for the first time.
Wow! Never expected to find the Scavenger Hunt on Annie’s post. It’s a great post by the way Annie. We’re planning to dig out the winter dishes and give the house a thorough cleaning so come December 1 we can get everything decorated.
Thanks for the helpful suggestions, Annie. Now that my son is a little older we’ve been having a lot of fun with arts & crafts time, especially making things related to the stories we read. This month I want to take walks and incorporate the things we find outside (leaves, pine cones, etc.) in our art projects.
To enjoy the month of November, my family will be likely making snowmen, at least if the weather continues as it has been. Also, we will hopefully be cooking up the wild meat my husband brings home from his hunting trip. Annie – I like your idea for limiting the gifts. My family does a practical exchange for the adults, and we’ve agreed to only buy for the nieces and nephews who are also god children. (I have 15 nieces and nephews, 4 of whom are my godchildren, so it still adds up.)
I am supporting the men in my family through Movember! I will also celebrate my little one’s baptism.
Great Post Annie! for the month of November we have lots of family celebrations -Its my birthday and my Mums turning 70 this year so its all about Mums -when does that ever happen LOL!
Have a great November!
This November I am going to celebrate my mother who survived a bad stroke last year.
Woohoo I found it!!! I would love to win the set of 3! The month of November will be all about getting ready for our first baby. We’re expecting… 8 weeks left! November will also be spent getting completely ready for Christmas since I’ll probably be much much too big to move comfortably around in stores to shop in December. hehe
I will be starting my homemade Christmas gifts and preparing for my daughters 5th birthday party that I will be hosting at home in the “old fashioned” way (games at home) instead of going to a party centre. I will also be supporting all my Movember friends (and giggling at how silly they look with mustaches!). Happy November!
I’ll be celebrating November because after finally healing from my c-section, and being sick for a month with the latest being bronchitis, I finally feel ready to get out there with baby and see the world. I have been cooped up way too long, and am looking forward to enjoying maternity leave with my baby.
I can’t even believe it is November already! We have quite a few of the normal festivities in store this month like decorating the house, celebrating Thanksgiving, and prepping presents for Christmas. I can’t wait!
I Will be getting ready for DECEMBER! I have my girls bday on the 1st expecting our new baby a week after her bday! And also trying to get ready for christmas, so i will try enjoy my month preparing, getting ready and waiting anxiously this month!
gonna need to relax as much as i can this november.
I will be celebrating 3 of my family member’s birthday. 2nd is my sister’s, 8th is my brother’s, 26th is my Mother’s and 28th is my Grandma who would have turned 100. Its also a great time to start listening to music and getting ready for Christmas. Love this time of year!
Great tips! Thanks we have a very tight ‘budget’ as well and Christmas has been weighing on my mind. November will be all about family time, we have two boys (18mths and 2 mths) so we will be taking time to relax and enjoy each other
This November we are celebrating my son’s second birthday! My family is also looking forward to putting up our christmas tree as we do every year on the American Thanksgiving and watch the Dallas Cowboys play. We’re huge fans! Besides that, we will enjoy all the Christmas music!
Just want to thank everyone for the lovely comments and so glad you found the Scavenger Hunt post!
For November I am going to attend some local church bazaars who doesn’t love them at Christmas and go to tree lighting ceremonies in my new city.
Just going to see what Toronto has to offer for November and for the Christmas season!
To celebrate this month of november we will be putting up the christmas tree and throwing a princess birthday extravaganza
november is when we start our christmas crafts. by the end of the month we’ll have the tree up. ours is artificial too as i am also allergic.