vsa3janes

We are going the week before Christmas. Bad week to go but only vacation time my DD could get. Anyway I tt my friend who lives in Orlando and she said it is not worth it if you are staying on site because you can get to the parks early and miss the crowds then for rides. Also, the characters usually visit the other parks dressed in holiday attire after the parade. We are not going to spend the extra $40+ for this. We are going to take that money and go to SeaWorld.

Update - The minimum is $35 and I just found out they have a wish list along with their name. So if you pick a name you are to "gift" them from the wish list. I mentioned the limit was a little steep for me and several replied "what can you get for less." Apparently they are not Target clearance shopper. I am bowing out of this gift exchange. I think will make cookies and bring them in for everyone to share the day of the exchange.

Our kids don't have Christmas parties either. I contacted the teacher a few years ago and started giving them a Winter Wonderland party. I use snowmen, reindeer, snowflakes, etc. We have a great time and no one is offended.

My order should be here any day now. The email I rcvd stated 8-10 days from the date of the order.

Best = the first year my DD worked, at 16, she saved her tax refund all year to buy me diamond stud earrings. Worst = A fiber optic rose in a plastic box from an old boyfriend.

I hope you get this wish. What a great gift for the children as well, loving parents. God bless you and your efforts. My wish has already came true, as long as we don't have a bad snow or ice storm that stops the flight, I am taking my DGD to Disney the week before Christmas. I can't wait to make memories with her.

One year I gave my nephew cash and wrapped rubberbands around it to create a ball. First he had the strangest look on his face when he opened it. Then he had a great time unwrapping the layers to see what was inside when I said do you think it is only rubberbands. I gave my neice cash buried in a container of popped popcorn. I found a cute clear container at the Dollar Tree filled it part way with popcorn, put the money inside and filled it the rest of the way with popcorn. Tied a cute ribbon around the top & put it in a gift bag. She also thought it was popcorn. When I told her there was something inside she munched on popcorn while opening her gifts until she found the cash. For my older nephew I took one of the free AOL cd pkgs that you can get at Target and made a small slit, I put a gift card inside and taped the slit with clear tape. He wasn't sure what was going on when he opened the shirt box I wrapped it in. Then was pleasantly surprised to find the gift card. It is really fun to see their expressions when they find something unexpected and aren't quite sure what to make of the "wrappings."

I always did pjs and one gift from me that DD opened on Christmas Eve, then in the night Santa brought the "must have" items wrapped for opening Christmas morning. She is grown now so they are all from me.

I count them as gifts. My DD has always loved to open clothes. Something she didn't see before or something she wanted but may have been out of my price range. Now my DGD loves clothes too. In fact, I have an outfit for each of them included in this year's Christmas gifts.

I like giving a gift to everyone as well. I have protested my SIL trying to pursuade us to picking names forever. I only have 5 nieces and nephews so getting them each something is a joy for me. You could always give them gift certificates wrapped up in a fun way. Kids love to shop for themselves at that age.

I talked to my nephew and his suggestions were; hoodies, jump drive (he said they are great for school work, music and videos), a gift card to a favorite restaurant where he and his friends hang out, a class to something he is interested in (karate, woodworking, art) and movie gift certificates. Hope this helps I have a daughter but I know buying for my nephews has always been a challenge.

Thank you for all the helpful tips.

Thingfling.com anniversary sale is going on now. 11:02 CST

I have purchased items from this site and they have always been high quality and exactly as detailed. But I have never been fast enough to get a mystery buy in my cart and check out before they are gone. If you click on Forum they chat about the items bought. You can also check out past flings on the bottom right hand side. This shows what has been sold and the prices. If it is something you are interested in you can watch future flings for it to come up again. Every fling has different time limits and quanities for the items being sold.

Thank you! I only have one child so it isn't quite as hard for me. It is so easy to buy for her vs the son in law. He is just difficult to please and doesn't appreciate the little things in life. Then buying for my granddaughter is a whole other story - I could keep buying until Christmas Eve, but, make myself stop at a reasonable point. At 8 yrs old she is grateful and excited about everything. Hope you find a comfortable level for you and your family.

Last year the department I work closely with invited me to be a part of the gift exchange. The limit is $35.00. Since I just started the job in October, after being out of work for 11 months, they understood when I thanked them but declined. I made them all a gift bag with chocolate pretzels. This year they are already talking about drawing names again. Money isn't an issue to them since they are young, single and most live at home. I am sorta the office mom so I hate not to particapate, but, this is more than I spend on family members. I don't have a problem telling them the limit is out of my comfort zone but don't want to alienate them by not accepting their offer a 2nd time. Any suggestions? Thanks in advance.

Last year I heard him mention he broken their blender making drinks with ice. So when I saw a Kitchenaid blender on sale for $40 (reg $120) I asked the other 3 people to pitch in $10 and he was thrilled. Thanks to GottaDeal this year he is receiving a Marbolo(?) BBQ set. The others can do their own shopping. Or not.

For my DS this year I am making a cookbook. I asked each women in the family to give me a recipe that was a family tradition or favorite. I made copies and scrapbooked them on pages with that person's photo, then placed them in a 3 ring binder. I mixed in some new recipes I printed from Pillsbury, Kraftfoods, Copykats too. You could do just the printed recipes. Check out this site for printing recipes on scrapbook pages. smilebox.com You can copy and paste the recipes from any site right on to the recipe cards.

For our Brownie's Christmas party we are asking each of them to bring a book. Then we are going to make cards and send them with the books to the local Children's hospital. Teaching the girls to give to others and remember there are those who will not be spending Christmas at home.

I am the head room grandma for my granddaughter's 2nd grade class. The school said they can have a Halloween and Valentine's party but no Christmas/Holiday party. So I contacted the teacher that has children with different learning abilities and offered to give a Winter party. She was thrilled. The students are normally in their "regular" classroom for parties so she doesn't get to see them have party fun. Last year was the first year and we had a great time. We played games, had cookies & milk for snacks and made a snowflake picture frame & reindeer antlers. We didn't have a gift exchange they just took home their game prizes and picture frames. Can't wait unitl this Dec 21st to do it again.

How kind of you to do this for your friends. I was out of work 11 month and then another 8 and none of my friends thought of anything like this. The worse feeling as a parent is to not be able to give to your kids. If you are giving gift certificates to be used on the kids it would be nice if they could arrive in time for the parents to shop and have something under the tree for Christmas. Probably the same thing for food. You could deliver the basket/box the week before with a gift cert for perishable. Then that would take the stress off of them worrying where the food would come from. I think giving it as a surprise is a great idea then they won't feel ackward accepting it.

When my DD was young she opened gifts from Mom "me" on Christmas Eve. Then Christmas morning was all Santa. We would then go to my parents for the day. Now that she is married they come to my house after my DG opens Santa's gifts at home. We exchange gifts, eat breakfast then it's back home for them and me to get ready to spend the day with the rest of the family at my folks.

I shop 12/26 for the next Christmas. I keep a list of birthdates and names for Christmas gifts in a little notebook in my purse. As I buy I write the gift down in pen. If I have an idea to look for I write it in pencil then change it to pen when it is purchased.

My DD and I meet in line at our local Target. We each plan out what we are grabbing and head in that direction when the doors open. One of us meets the other in the back of the store with a cart. We are usually in and out in about 1 hour. I check out the local Hallmarks later in the day for ornaments. And always check out Target in the days after New Years. Last year I stopped by after work and found a clerk unloading pallets of Christmas cookie jars, glasses and other houseware. All were 90% off. It was the mother load!

My favorite is watching people open the gifts I have chosen for them. I put a lot of time into picking just the right thing for each person.