floridasun5

Since I've seen many here say that they have a bunch of other kids to buy for (neices, nephews, friends, etc.) and with the way the economy is, I'm hoping we can come up with some CHEAP gift ideas. I didn't see a thread solely for gift ideas, but if I missed it, please just let me know. I have 3-4 extra kids to buy for this year and unfortunately barely have enough $$ to buy for my own daughter, so I'm trying to come up with some ideas for cheap gifts in cost, but not cheap gifts in quality that the parents would know we didnt spend a lot. Would like to keep it around $10 per kid. Right now, I have a: Girl - 8 Girl - 5 Boy - 3/4 Possibly (depending upon whether dh makes us buy a gift for her or not) Girl - 20 Can we start some ideas here please?

Add me to the list of another who hates dealing with this year after year. I am an only child and my dd is an only child, however has a large family and of course we are expected to buy for them all. They only have my dd to buy for, but yet as of now, I still have 4. Its not too much and not nearly as many as some people, but it still adds up quickly and takes away from my family as we don't have a lot of money either. I've always had to spend at least $30 on each kid, plus shipping costs, but I'm still looking for cheaper ideas.

I still dont know if I am going out this year yet as I really only need 1 or 2 things and am waiting to see the ads, but if anyone else is in Altamonte Springs, FL or around Orlando/ N. Orlando let me know.

DD (15) got an Xbox with Rockband and Spyro that she hasnt stopped playing since Christmas! So, I would say that is the favorite by far. She loved everything, but the things that are sitting right now arent toys anyway and just Bath & Body Works stuff, perfume, etc.

Luckily I dont have to cook this years Christmas dinner :) So, later on today, I will just be making some dips for tomorrow to take to my parents house and prepping my french toast for breakfast, but thats it!

Didnt forget anything, but I still have to run out tomorrow to pick up some cookies or something for a party we are going to tomorrow night and have to run an errand to pick up my shoes from the cobbler. Hopefully the roads arent too bad!

I agree with one of the other posters about your MIL also being your family. It almost seems as if you are thinking of her as your dh's family instead of all one family since you are married. However, I do understand how someone can be very hard to deal with, condescending and just a pesky person as I have one in my family. Before I moved away, I used to have to put up with it also on holidays. The only suggestion I can think of is that if your dh or MIL is insistent on being with you on Christmas this year, just make it known and kind of take the lead of the day...dont let her try to ruin things. You can, in a nice way make return comments when she says something that makes you look bad in front of others, or you can steer your own children towards what you want them to do. Just because there is a person at a party that doesnt know how to act, just remember that she is at YOUR house, and YOUR children are the ones that you have control over, as well as the way you react to things is completely up to you! I dont tend to be quick witted myself, however I did just want to give the suggestion so maybe you can practice lol or think of some rebuttals should she start on you personally. It doesnt have to be in a nasty way, but I think if you stand up for yourself and either make a joke out of things or brush it off with a quick witted comment, she might stop. Kind of like trolls that eventually give up when they realize their antics are being ignored! LOL Good luck and just remember that it will be all over soon for another year!

Most stuff was pretty easy to find, except I had to go to 3 different Target stores to find a pair of boots for my daughter. Otherwise, everything was readily available, just had a hard time finding good deals on some of the items.

I dont think I would necessarily confront the gift giver, but you could either make a joke out of it if you regularly talk to the girl. Maybe laugh to her about it and hopefully if she is a nice enough person, she should offer to fix it for you. If you dont talk to her, maybe you can also tell another co-worker, even make a joke out of it and they could relay the information back to the gift giver. Otherwise, if not, I would just write it off as a bad gift exchange. We had a $30 gift exchange at work, where people always buy something for $30, usually gift cards. I only got a $20 gift card this year. Just wrote it off as no big deal and spent my $20 yesterday lol

Many years ago when I was a teenager, my aunt had given me A HANGER for Christmas! YES, 1 HANGER! LOL Now, it was one of those hangers that are for pajamas, lingerie, etc. as in it was padded, wrapped with satin and had the ribbon around it? You know the ones Im talking about. I guess they are sold individually because I got ONE! LOL

A Christmas Story! Santa Clause is a good movie, however A Christmas Story is a classic! We leave a Christmas story on tv all Christmas morning while opening presents, eating breakfast, etc.

A Christmas Story The Santa Clause

Home Alone A Christmas Story The Santa Clause Jingle All the Way

I'm sure I'm "off" from the true tradition of hanging stockings to be filled by Santa :) but stockings in my house are usually an after thought or something that I add in only when I find that I have a bit of money left over after buying presents. So, in order to ensure that I dont stress out my dd and dh and they have to fill me a stocking as well, I wont hang the stockings until after everyone is in bed on Christmas Eve or first thing in the morning when they get up. So, I then let dh and dd open their stockings and have a bit of fun while I get everything together (bags, camera, make coffee, etc.) I'll be heading on this week to pick some new stockings and things to fill them and then will just keep everything in a bag until Christmas eve.

Im looking for this too but dont want to pay $200 for it and I dont trust a lot of the ones on ebay as you never know which are imports or not. I think Im just going to wait until closer to Christmas to see if it goes down. Stores might start getting desperate a few days before to get rid of the products :)

I came across this gift idea this morning after browsing gifts.com trying to find one last unique thing for my 15 yr old daughter. She lives and breathes for her ipod and also has a bass guitar that she is learning. For those that are familiar with the Apple and iPod logos/signage, this site: www.ipopmyphoto.com will take any photo and turn it into one of those iPod type signs with the ipod image and whatever caption you want! I took a photo of my dd playing her bass and sent it in with a caption, so she'll have a nice, unique and personalized poster for her wall! Check out some of the sample photos...really cool. Hope this helps someone. :)

This is the parents year for Christmas dinner so I dont know what they are making, but we will just be taking some dips. Prime rib sounds good though! Its always a hit here in my house, but I usually reserve it for New Years :) Christmas morning here at home is a baked french toast as well

I dont think that sounds excessive at all! Dont pay attention to what others say. Sounds like your kids will have a great Christmas!

Can you make it with just Godiva coffee? I dont know if it is like the Starbucks Frapuccinos that have milk in them, but it is essentially just strong brewed coffee and milk. A lot of stores sell Godiva coffee and you can I'm sure stop by a Godiva boutique and pick some up or even order it online. It's worth a shot and better than nothing if you cant get the bottled coffee :)

That's very sweet of your kids! :) I hope they have a great Christmas and enjoy their surprise gift even more.

YAY! I LOVE Elliott! This is the first freebie that I have wanted to download. Thanks!

Uh oh, I shouldnt have opened this thread LOL I'm a huge BE fan. Off to shop now

Fabulous deal! Set of black cami pajama set Free ballet slippers Free fragrance coffet - $10 off anything code I got from a previous order $28.68 total! Happy dance! LOL

Oh geez, I dont even want to think about it LOL I think my total budget for Christmas was about $3,000 and I know I've bought myself a few things as well and only have 3 things left to buy. Luckily we had a good month in November for pay LOL

The only thing on dd's (15) wish list was an Xbox and Rockband 2 for it. Got her the Xbox, mom got her the Rockband. Other than her wishlist, I have gotten her: Bath & Body Works gift set Harajuku perfumes iPod accessories Movie tickets Ugg boots Bunch of stuff from Hot Topic Hot Chocolate gift set Spyro Game Simpsons DVD Digital photo frame key chain I think she'll have a nice Christmas