More Simple Christmas

I love Christmas.

My children love Christmas.

I don't love the price tag or the consumerism of it all.

The Gifts!

This year the gifts (read: toys!) are being kept to a minimum. I also asked family members to cut back or to not send anything. We have too much stuff and too little space. 

That being said. I did brave Walmart on Black Friday for 30$ Lego and Duplo sets.  Blocks are the hot thing at my house. 1500 Legos and 200 Duplos for 30$ each?! I couldn't pass up the price. I also got a small character table as a combined gift for them to build on. This is to keep the Legos out of the living room as the baby is mobile now!

Those were their main gifts (from you know who.)The baby got two 5$ Fischer Price toys. The rest of their Christmas is either homemade or bought with Swagbucks or other deals.

All three are receiving a book (a yearly tradition.) One bought with Swagbucks, one bought on deal on Black Friday, one bought at a store closing for a quarter.

All three will receive a blanket. The oldest two were kits bought at Joanne's with a coupon and a gift card I won at their grand opening sale. The baby's is a large receiving blanket made from fleece bought on Black Friday for 1.49$ a yard.

Santa fills the stockings and its usually candy ( which has been the Friday Freebie at Kroger a lot *wink*) and other small items bought throughout the year on sale/clearance including .50 cent crayons and.25 cent paint sets.

For our (large) extended family the gifts are the combo of Swagbucks bought items, homemade gifts, or homemade treats.

The Decorations!

I buy all of the wrapping paper, bags, tissue paper, decorations, etc. on clearance the week after Christmas. I re use as much as possible. Hobby Lobby near us has a lot of stuff in the Christmas section including tape, tissues, scrapbook stickers, etc. that I use all year long and it's so cheap!

The children each get an ornament each year. This is a tradition. This year we will just be doing personalized monogramed ornaments. This is my mother-in-laws business so it will be very cheap.

I bought a Fischer Price Little People nativity set in January to help tell the Christmas story and is a hands on activity for the kids. We put it up yesterday and the children love it! and it's sturdy!

Our tree two years ago. My boy was so little!


Food!

We eat at various family member's home for the holiday and bring a dish to each. I keep costs down by shopping sales and stocking up when prices are at the lowest. Baking items go on sale in December!

I keep a stocked pantry so I'm able to make lots of items without additional shopping.







I was in no way compensated by any brand names/companies in this post. All opinions are my own.