Making the Holiday Season Inexpensive

It's really easy to stray from your budget around the holidays especially if you have kids. I belong to a mommy board where we were collecting ideas on how to make Christmas to be no cost or low cost. Here are some of the ideas.

• One family decided to get books from the library to wrap. The ideas that each family member has to take the time and pick books for the others that they think the receiver will really like. (If you do this, don't forget to return the books by their due dates otherwise this no-cost idea can get expensive.)
  
• Giving home-made cloth napkins as a gift. It reduces the amount of paper napkins and paper towel usage. What a "green" idea!
  
• Do a toy swap with another family who has similarly aged kids. Especially young kids do not care if the toy is used as long as it's new to them.
• Buy used toys or items on Craigslist.
  
• Re-gift. It may be controversial but if you include a nice note why you are sending a used present, the receiver will appreciate it.
• Attend the local holiday activities. It makes the season special yet it doesn't cost any money.
• Give away gifts in cloth bags instead of wrapping them. It's another wonderful "green" idea.
• Reuse gift wrapping including tissue paper and gift bags. This can save you a chunk of money not mentioning it's another "green" idea.
• Make it a goal not to buy anything new. Stores are arranged to entice you to buy stuff you don't need. It's really hard to resist the temptation so this way you can avoid going into stores altogether.
  
• One year give frames for grandparents where they can store the grand kids' artwork. The following year you can then just have the kids make something special for them to put in that frame. Grandparents will love this!
  
• Make salt dough ornaments with the kids. It's a wonderful family activity. You can then either use the ornaments yourself or gift them away. Here is one salt dough recipe: 1 cup flour, 1 cup salt, 1/2 cup water. Roll out and use cookie cutters to cut. Dry for 48 hours before decorating.
  
• One mom likes to pick up the $1 bags from Target for her kids. Children love bags and they can be used in a lot of ways.
• Another mom has this wonderful tradition of making "reindeer food." Using a babyfood jar, layer oatmeal, sugar and colored sprinkles. Then write out this poem. "Sprinkles on the lawn at night, The moon will make it sparkle bright, As Santa's reindeer fly and roam, This will guide them to your home." Then give some away as gifts and keep some for the kids to decorate the snow with it on Christmas Eve.
• Here is another homemade ornament recipe that sounds very intriguing: Make a dough consistency from the following 1/2 cup cinnamon (buy it bulk!) 1/2 cup applesause and 1-2 Tablespoon of white glue. Give it away with the following poem: "Hang this in your kitchen, or maybe on your tree, and every time you get a whiff, I hope you'll think of me!"
• Make your own "finditgames." recycle a plastic bottle and clean it well. Dry it inside with a hair dryer. Make a list of any small items to use and put them inside the bottle. Example list of items: rubberband, birthday candle, puzzle piece, tiny dice, coin, etc.) Put a funnel on the top of the bottle and pour in a little rice. Shake and then add more rice or lentils, wild rice or beans. Add enough so the objects are well hidden but make sure you shake them well so they are not sticking together. Close the bottle and you can either decorate it or leave it as is. The game is to find everything on the list by shaking the bottle and looking through its sides. It makes a great travel toy.
• Make your own gifts such as cloth/reusable shopping bags. They are easy to make if you have a sewing machine and they are wonderful "green" gifts.
• Make your earth friendly play dough and give away as gifts. Mix in saucepan over low heat the following: 1 cup flour (not self-rising), 1/2 cup salt, 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1-1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar. Dough is ready when it rolls into a ball. You can add different things to it to make it smell wonderful: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lavender flowers, rose petals, essential oils. For different colors you can add food coloring. The kids can mix in the dry stuff themselves. For liquid ingredients you can massage yourself a bit first.
  

Don't forget to give back during the holiday season either.

• Let your kids put together a box of his old toys to give away to kids in need.
  
• Gather all your clothes that you don't use anymore and give them to friends or donate them.
• One family gather together the night before Christmas and decide where to donate some money. It doesn't have to be a large amount.
  
• Do a volunteer day or night.
• Deliver cookies in your neighborhood.
• Donate your old artificial tree to Girl Scouts. They do a Festival of Trees where the troops make ornaments, decorate the tree and donate it to a needy family.

I would like to thank everyone in my February 2006 board for the ideas and giving me permission to share them here.