I know what you're thinking. Why is Paige talking about Christmas before Halloween? I know. I cringe when I see all the holiday decor out this time of year too, I really do. But this post is more from a financial standpoint and I have a few tips that I want to share with you now, so that you can have the most effective holiday possible in terms of shopping and planning. If you have any additional tips, tricks, and good ideas, leave them in the comments below so other people can learn from you too!
My number one tip is to always be "shopping" but not always spending. My kids are still at the age where they don't really give "Christmas Lists". There might be one or two things they actually want, but Derek and I are still doing a majority of the choosing ourselves. So starting around this time of the year, I'm looking online for what the new toys are this Christmas, and browsing freebies2deals.com daily for awesome deals on things I think my kids will love. We typically only do about 5 gifts each for the kids for Christmas, so once I find 5 awesome deals on things they'll love, my shopping is done.
Since my kids don't give lists still, I think back to what toys they loved playing with at friends houses, or with cousins. When we were with my in-laws in Idaho for a couple weeks last month, Jay loved playing Guess Who with his cousins and grandparents. So that's something that I'm going to be keeping my eye out for while shopping this year. Jay is also crazy about legos, so chances are, he's going to be getting one of these $6 lego sets from Walmart.
And if there is a soap box that I have for Christmas, it's this: just because a toy is popular isn't a good enough reason to buy it. I mostly started having this thought last year when Hatchimals became such a huge thing. No offense to anyone who actually bought one, but I don't see the thrill. You spend $60 for a Furby to crack through an egg, but the egg is only a one time thing. So then your left with a talking stuff animal that will drive you crazy for six months until the batteries die. I would much rather spend that money on something like a new bike, an indoor trampoline, or a fun adventure to a children's museum or the zoo.
And if there is a soap box that I have for Christmas, it's this: just because a toy is popular isn't a good enough reason to buy it. I mostly started having this thought last year when Hatchimals became such a huge thing. No offense to anyone who actually bought one, but I don't see the thrill. You spend $60 for a Furby to crack through an egg, but the egg is only a one time thing. So then your left with a talking stuff animal that will drive you crazy for six months until the batteries die. I would much rather spend that money on something like a new bike, an indoor trampoline, or a fun adventure to a children's museum or the zoo.
On the same note, who else is disappointed every year when your husband gets you an awful gift for Christmas, but you didn't really know what you wanted either? Gift giving used to be so stressful for Derek and I because Derek would just want to get me something expensive, but then I wouldn't like what he got. Last year I started this thing where throughout the year, if I found something that I liked online, I would just email him the link to said item, and then by the time Christmas got here, he had a running list from the entire year of about 20 different things I'd like. Then he'd pick a few things to buy, and it was still a surprise because I didn't know which things he would actually pick. Last year wound up being the best Christmas (except for our first year married when he got me my first DSLR!) because things were still a surprise, but they were things that I liked! Now if I could get Derek to do the same thing for me, my life would be even easier.
I used to struggle getting presents for my partner as he doesn't have a lot of interests, and whilst he'll like anything I get him, he won't necessarily get a lot of use out of it, so I did exactly what you did: all year long, whenever he mentioned something he might like, I wrote it down and by this month I had a full blown list of great gift ideas to get him - which, by the way, I have already done! I LOVE getting my shopping done early so anything else I get closer to Christmas is an added bonus.
ReplyDeleteI, on the other hand, always know exactly what I want, so he doesn't need to worry about thinking of a good gift 😂
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