Christmas for the grandkids ?

Money is tight  right now. I have an electric bill that I'm trying to get paid down with some help from a family member and I just hope I can give my 2 grandkids a few nice  things for Christmas. I think if I can't I may not be able to face them.

So my question is this; are you going all out for Christmas this year or are you on a very tight budget too ?

Do you have a michaels or AC moores by you? They have nice crafts for $1 or so each which they would like, depending on their ages

Have you ever heard of FREECYCLE?  The Freecycle Network[emoji]8482[/emoji] is a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It's all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. Each local group is moderated by local volunteers (them's good people). Membership is free.  A friend of mine got a free VCR and free children's tapes for her grandkids last year.  People list things every day that they want to give away, and you just have to answer quickly (email) and then go pick the items up.  Here is the link to the main organization, and you can put in your city or town or else browse the list to find one near you.  http://www.freecycle.org/

You could give them the gift of time....meaning, spend time with them. I'm not sure how old your grandchildren are. Ours are young enough that they like to spend time with us. For now, anyway.

Last year, we promised our grandchildren that, in addition to their gifts that they opened, we would take them to two places. We took them to Inner Harbor in Maryland for the day about 3-4 months ago and we had a great time. We spent the day together touring the Harbor and then we took them to dinner before coming back home. We actually spent the money when we took them and I created an "Inner Harbor coupon" to give to them on Christmas. So we were able to spend some time with our grandchildren and give them something fun to do and it really didn't cost anything right at Christmas because we did it months later.

We also promised them a trip to the Crayola Experience in Easton, PA. Again, I created the "Crayola Experience coupon" for them for Christmas, but we took them this past summer, so we actually spent the money when we took them. It gave them something to look forward to later on in the year, even though it was, technically, a Christmas present in a way.

In addition to the gifts that she opened, I gave our DIL some coupons for "time" and these were for babysitting. We went down and spent the day with the grandchildren while our kids were working. We'd go to the park and I'd pack a bit of lunch for us. We'd bake cookies together and when their parents came home we had fresh cookies with our supper. Plus we actually made supper for everybody, so they had fun doing that, too. We went down to stay with them one Saturday and ended up doing some gardening with the children, planting flowers and a few veggies. Our granddaughter and I made pizza for dinner that day. 

Not sure what we're going to do for them this year. Their parents are good about keeping their Christmas wish lists down to a low roar for us, so we don't go overboard too much. But they're our only grandchildren and they're young yet (grandson is 7 and granddaughter will be 5 in December.....two days before Christmas actually) and we don't have many people to buy gifts for anymore, so we do tend to spoil them a little bit. We will try to find two "adventures" to take them to as well as some gifts to open.

Winchester those are lovely ideas for Christmas gifts and I will be storing them in my memory to use when I become a Nanna, ( youngest only got married in Sept and oldest hasn't got a fella). So they maybe there for sometime yet.

We're on a tight budget this year but self-imposed. We're trying to save and plan for our wedding next year (God help me), plus our electric bill just came in and so on. Our Christmas is adopting and saving another cat, who'll be home with us in December. That's expensive enough.

You know, spending time with my grandparents was always more exciting than even presents, to be honest - mine would do things with me and take the time to be with me the way my busy parents couldn't. If you can maybe do some fun and cheaper excursions - at home movie night with gourmet popcorn/fun snacks, making and eating cookies or pie together, and so on. The gift of time is one of the best things I had as a kid. And it has made me into the person I am today, for which I am extremely grateful.

Don't be afraid as well to bargain bin hunt and scour some freecycle places for some good gifts. People buying me books was what ALWAYS hit it off well for me as a child, and you can pick up books for cheap used on Amazon.

Yes, we are on a tight budget. We went to a big toy sale on the weekend and I got my daughter 2 toys, 3 books, play dough and 2 gifts for a cousins kid (we draw names) and spent $46. I got my daughter a couple of other books, which were a ltitle pricey ($10 each) but she loves them and they are discontinued so I wanted to get them before they are completely gone. I also got her some wooden blocks and a couple toys from The Wiggles because she loves the show. Those were a little pricey, but the smile on her face will be worth it. I'd rather my husband not get me anything and our daughter be happy. 

I also have a hydro bill that I am trying to pay down. I got a big chunk of it paid, then the new bill came in. It's less than it was before though. I just need to get it caught up and then financially things will be a lot better.

Draco said:

Do you have a michaels or AC moores by you? They have nice crafts for $1 or so each which they would like, depending on their ages

Click to expand...

Boy is 17 and girl is 13 and yes there is a Michaels near

My mother works with the younger teen girls at our church and they are all into these bracelets made from leather cord and washers.  I'm not sure how to describe them other than that; but they may have kits for them or at least supplies.  If you can get a paper on a Sunday; they usually have a coupon in their flyer each week.  

I'm not sure how tight your budget is; but I recently found a sterling silver heart necklace with a sapphire (my niece's birthstone) for $20 on Amazon.  They've had some really good sales lately.

I'm no help with boys.  My 16 year old nephew gets cash or gift cards from us.  MIL takes him to pick out something in a certain price range.  So he might get a couple shirts or a coat.  It's kind of up to him; it just has to be in the range she says.  I think she does like us; budgeting so much per kid.  We stopped giving gifts among the adults in the family years ago when the number of grandkids kept climbing.  I've found small things for MIL and SIL before too though.  It just depends.  Plus; your always allowed to spoil your mother!    But it helps keep the cost of the gifts down too.