Christmas Presents

[mema]

I usually spend about $10 each and get them craft items or a book. Normally I hit the school sales and get crayons, markers, etc, but this year I forgot all about it. I plan on ordering books from my dd scholastic!

[MrsSteinel'sHouse]

I usually have the kidlets make an ornament for their parents We are using the glass ornaments this year and painting inside them. Simple, pretty and loved by my parents. It is really neat to go to the house of a child you watched over 10 years ago and see all the ornaments from my house still going on their tree.

[Auntie'sHouse]

For $5 I go to Walmart with a scan **** and put together a bunch of pictures that were taken of their children doing different activities, field trips or holidays in a book-like photo album. The parents adore it.

[Candyland]

For $5 I go to Walmart with a scan **** and put together a bunch of pictures that were taken of their children doing different activities, field trips or holidays in a book-like photo album. The parents adore it.

Fabulous idea!

[avaross09]

I usually prefer to give chocolate or cookies baskets to all the kids because almost all kids love them any time.

[dave4him]

Probably not,cant really afford it

[littlemissmuffet]

I used to, but starting this Christmas I am no longer giving gifts. Each family will get a holiday card and that's it. My reasons? Exact same as BlackCat's!

[mom2many]

I just do something small. Usually a book and g/c to the neighborhood ice cream parlor & spend around $15 total for each child.

Last year I made fleece scarves for everyone and got them each gloves too. I made no sew fleece blankets for the babies & toddlers.

I have also done art supplies in the past too & the kids love that.

I have 8 kids---sometimes 10 if I have P/T too, so I need to keep it to around $15.

[bunnyslippers]

I have been mulling this over all day today. Last year, I made every child/family a homemade cookie mix in a mason jar and a copy of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.

This year, I think I am making each child a no-sew fleece blanket. The kits at Walmart are about 12-15 each, and they have some preferred characters on them (spiderman, disney princesses, etc.) I am also going to buy some blank stretch canvas and have each child make a handprint christmas tree, reindeer or santa as a gift for the parents from the children.

I am intrigued by this glass ornament that you paint inside...more info, please!

[kitykids3]

I usually do too. About $10-15 per kiddo. Some years they get a stocking filled with little goodies from Oriental Trading. I also get them a birthday gift. I make them personal, depending on their interests at the time. With 9 kiddos, it does become a little expensive, but I love doing it. Plus, I have awesome families that really appreciate it. Their kids don't 'expect' things or have lots of toys. Plus they're always making thank you cards and holiday/birthday cards for me. We also have an annual Christmas party and Easter Egg hunt. We're like a little extended family with mutual respect, so I really like doing it.

[lovemykidstoo]

Just curious while we're on the subject everyone's families buy them gifts. Mine always have. One of my mom even brought be a Halloween treat. They were 2 soup kits from Harry and David. One was tortilla soup and the other was tomato basil. Cannot wait to make them.

[Countrygal]

I bought the dc kids small presents last year (under 10), but this year I bought presents for the daycare instead, which I am going to wrap and we will open them all together as presents to ourselves for at daycare! I have all pre-schoolers, so I think they will be able to understand that the presents stay at daycare and are for everyone to play with. This way I was able to get a couple of toys that were a little bit larger and more useful.....

[LK5kids]

I tend to go to Walmart after Christmas and stock up on clearance toys. Then I have a variety of nice things to pick from the next year. I suppose they are $5.00 after markdown. I've also always had a birthday box. It's filled with things from the dollar store and love it and so do the kids. I also have fun scouting dollar stores for fairly good quality things. Simple, fun, and affordable.

[LK5kids]

I bought the dc kids small presents last year (under 10), but this year I bought presents for the daycare instead, which I am going to wrap and we will open them all together as presents to ourselves for at daycare! I have all pre-schoolers, so I think they will be able to understand that the presents stay at daycare and are for everyone to play with. This way I was able to get a couple of toys that were a little bit larger and more useful.....

Good idea!

[spud912]

I love how we are all so different and it works well for each of us. I admit, I am a huge gift giver. I love giving things to people and spend a lot of time trying to come up with something creative and thoughtful for each person. I give to everyone....it's just who I am. I give gifts to neighbors, strangers, parents, the children, my family, my extended family, friends, ex-coworkers, etc.

I try to limit the costs but I find those closest to me tend to get more. It may limit our savings every year, but it fills my heart with happiness to think of everyone and plan something special. I try to limit the cost of daycare children's gifts to $20 (usually a $10 toy special for the child and a stocking filled with $10 worth of stuff that's identical for each child).

For those who I am not particularly close to, I give a tin of homemade baked goods. I absolutely love to bake so I usually end up making a variety of about 5-10 different cookies/candies. Each recipe makes about 2 dozen or more of the item x 5-10 different recipes = a lot of goodies. I don't usually eat much of it and neither does my husband, so we end up giving most of it away.