Planning for the Holidays – GIFTS

We have 5 kids. Yep 2 girls and 3 boys. Ages (2)dd7, ds8, ds10, ds12. So you can imagine what their lists look like. Well maybe not since I have one who’s top gift of all time (and 3 years running) was a baby goat, but you get my drift. Pretty much the girls want anything that’s pink and purple.  The boys want electronics or stuff for the outdoors. So with 5 kids how do we afford all of their stuff? Spread it around. They each have so many grandparents, aunts and uncles and who’d forget myself and Santa Scott?!

So Santa Scott and I have been doing most of our shopping online. The big stuff has been searched out and believe it or not Ebay has had everything we’ve wanted pretty inexpensively. The kids are all sharing big items this Christmas. Of course I’d love to tell you what they are, but I don’t think Santa Scott would appreciate that all to well.

As for all of those little things, of course there will be stocking stuffers here (oh yeah I need stockings!) and maybe an outfit for them all. As for all of those Wii games and Hannah Montana movies, that’s up to the Grandparents, aunts and uncles. Our kids are with us every other weekend, then my 3 kids live here and his 2 live with their mother. Needless to say its always hard to figure out what to get for them here verses what their other family gets them. If they get an expensive PSP here, can they take it to the other parents home? It really depends on that child for us. This year we are trying to make a home for his two kids here. For so many years they haven’t had a place to call home with their dad for many reasons. So most of their things will stay here this year so that they will have their things to come home to.

So enough about the kids already! LOL! We adults want presents too right? But what happens when things change and your mixer breaks just before you make your son’s birthday cake in November? Well Santa Scott decides that your old enough to know that the Kitchen Aid will be here next week because you will need it before December 25th. Yeah its one less present to open under the tree, but hey Santa Scott is awesome! We are planning on getting married and the camera that I wanted went out the window for Christmas. It just isn’t in the budget when I really need rings, so that was scratched off the Christmas wish list and put back on the Amazon wish list.

Scott found a truck on Monday, so for the most part that’s his Christmas. I do have a little something else up my sleeve but its really not all that much considering. He is a very happy boy about his truck and just left for a 3 hour trip to work in it! I pray that he makes it alright.

My mom is thick into the wedding planning. So we’ve decided to help make that a little easier for her with a great ‘device’ we are all using right now. You will have to wait to find out what that is of course but I know that she will enjoy it.

As far as everyone else, I don’t know what they will get but there will be a lot of homemade fudge going around. Teachers, brothers and sisters and their mates will hopefully have a sweet tooth. I have been making fudge for a while and get the tins from the thrift stores to package them. I’ve enjoyed this a lot and so has everyone else.  We will have some little odd and end gifts that this won’t work for, but I don’t like to give gifts of clutter. I will be trying to give things that can be used like movie tickets or gift cards for restaurants for the others on our gift list.

I hope that our planning strategy helps, and I will be working on a list of clutter free gifts soon, so come back to check on that. Also I have a giveaway ending on November 8th.

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