free christmas?

[transformed]

dh is in school until Dec so we wont have $ for Christmas this year, and I was just curious what you would do with 2 small children and a 6 yr old that is free for the holidays?

(They will get presents from other family but just nothing to exchange with eachother.)

I wanted to start thinking now because perhaps I can start looking for materials.

(And I dont knit. )

[Logan's Mom]

Its hard to say for the 6 year old (my son is 3.5) but for the little ones --- I'd find a big huge box and make it a playhouse.

Not sure where you are located, but car dealerships who do a large wholesale collision parts business have BIG boxes that the bumpers (they tend to ship 3 in a box) and such fit into. Don't be shy, just ask -- they gotta get rid of the stuff somehow. We got one for our son and he loved it. You could definately dress it up with crayons, markers, perhaps some fabric for the windows. I'm gonna guess the 6 year old would play in it too. Wouldn't be a long lasting gift but pretty fun stuff if your little.

[natural_mama89]

To really give you any advice I would need to know what sort of materials you have on hand. I have a lot of craft supplies and fabric on hand, as well as power tools and scrap wood, etc. I may be able to make some things you would not. Are you oppsed to learning how to knit or crochet? It is not that hard to learn if you have yarn and either a crochet hook or knitting needles.

[transformed]

Originally Posted by natural_mama89

To really give you any advice I would need to know what sort of materials you have on hand. I have a lot of craft supplies and fabric on hand, as well as power tools and scrap wood, etc. I may be able to make some things you would not. Are you oppsed to learning how to knit or crochet? It is not that hard to learn if you have yarn and either a crochet hook or knitting needles.

i am not so crafty. I have power tools - tons of them. I could learn to knit but we live in FL so projects would have to be easy, and weather appropriate. (Sweaters are sort of a waste. as are hats....scarfs....)

[phatchristy]

Here are some things I thought of doing:

Making a garland out of popcorn

Making our own cinnamon ornaments (there are recipes for it...cinnamon is pretty cheap at Sam's club)

Baking Cookies (they LOVE my gingerbread girls here) and decorating

I'm also a floridian...can't wait to get out of this jungle season!

[1growingsprout]

Originally Posted by transformed

i am not so crafty. I have power tools - tons of them. I could learn to knit but we live in FL so projects would have to be easy, and weather appropriate. (Sweaters are sort of a waste. as are hats....scarfs....)

there are more to crafts then what you wear... i live in az but crocheted up some play food for my little kids last xmas.... you can crochet 'stuffed' animals... blankets... etc... capes and robes for dress up clothes along with hats and crowns can be made from extra fabric.


also right now there are tons of back to school sales and you can stock up on crayons paints paper etc and use those as 'art supplies' as xmas gifts.

[LaughingHyena]

Last year in our advent calender I put little notes with things to do together. Things like making paper chains, decorating the tree, making mince pies. We had some days off where I put in a couple of treats. Also I only put the note in the night before, so I knew it was something we had supplies (and patience) for.

Maybe the kids could make and exchange gingerbread men or something else edible.

[BetsyS]

Making an art bucket from the back to school supplies is a great idea!

I'd start now stocking up on groceries here and there for baking during Christmas, as well as treats for stockings. My kids are really deprived and rarely get treats from the grocery store. That means stockings are really easy. A 3 pack of juice boxes, a box of goldfish, and some lifesavers, and they are in heaven! LOL. Sometimes, you can find coupons/sales to make these things cheaper.

Last year, at the beginning of the season, I made a list of about 25-30 activities to do during the Christmas season. They were simple (ride around and look at lights; read 2 Christmas books), a little more complex (bake cookies), and a few real highlights (our local free symphony, an annual trip to the tree on top of Macy's, etc). We picked one thing every day, to really extend the Christmas season. It was a lot of fun, and I plan to do it again.

In our family, my kids are pretty easily overwhelmed with a lot of "stuff". So, we try to stretch it out anyway. And, they are only 3 and 1, so they are just figuring out that certain people give them certain toys. Mostly, it just becomes all the "Christmas toys" as one big mish-mash.

So, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Make it more about the experience of Christmas and the season, less about the stuff.

[SleeplessMommy]

I would focus on the activities not the gifts. My son gets significant fun out of popping popcorn or making holiday cookies. One grandparent does enough shopping that we hardly need to. (big toy, little toy, filled stocking)

It is the parents who really have expectations about Christmas being big. When DS almost 3, he opened his first present (wooden peg and hammer toy from Grandma, bought at the thrift shop). He was so interested in that toy, he did not want to open present #2. When we handed him #3, he said "enough". Our big present to him, the Duplo train set was still under the tree. We saved it for his birthday in Feb.

[annethcz]

Do you sew? It would be pretty easy to make capes or dress up clothes for Christmas, even repurposing clothing that has been stained/outgrown. I've also made pajamas for my kids for Christmas for several years.

[MommyKelly]

A lot of great ideas!

What about bean bags. Easy to make, and you can do a lot of games with them. HM playdough with some cookie cutters or other "tools" easily found at the dollar store.

[EviesMom]

If you're looking for things for them to give one another, I saw a nice idea once where the kids each chose books for one another at the library. Sure, they have to go back to the library, but on Christmas morning, you get to snuggle up with the family and have a surprise story read to you. You could do the same thing with a music CD and/or a DVD too. I think it's nice with the "the thought is what counts" idea, because they're still doing choosing and careful consideration of what one another would like.

[LilMama23]

Can the kids bake each other presents? You could spend some one-on-one time with each of them in the kitchen and they can bake little cakes or cookies for each other and then wrap them up any way they want.

[zech13_9_goforgold]

When I saw your title, I thought about a tradition my church has to have a "free Christmas" for the people in our community. It's like a garage sale with no money exchanged. You can just come and pick you gifts and/or things you might need.

Anyway, about your actual thread, I really like the cardboard play house idea. We loved making those as kids and would chose where we wanted the window to be and where the door should go. Also, do your kids have barbies, playmobel, cars, anything like that? My mom took fridge boxes and created both play mats and backgrounds for our toys to drive on. For example, we had the playmobel camping set, so my mom pained the boxes to have a river, mountains (on the background)....

[transformed]

Originally Posted by zech13_9_goforgold

When I saw your title, I thought about a tradition my church has to have a "free Christmas" for the people in our community. It's like a garage sale with no money exchanged. You can just come and pick you gifts and/or things you might need.
.

Ok, stop right there. Now my wheels are turning.......Can I pull something like this off? If not on a large community scale, at least on a small scale with a few friends.

I love it.

And I love this thread.

I feel all warm and fuzzy.

[Bookworm715]

Originally Posted by Logan's Mom

Its hard to say for the 6 year old (my son is 3.5) but for the little ones --- I'd find a big huge box and make it a playhouse.

Not sure where you are located, but car dealerships who do a large wholesale collision parts business have BIG boxes that the bumpers (they tend to ship 3 in a box) and such fit into. Don't be shy, just ask -- they gotta get rid of the stuff somehow. We got one for our son and he loved it. You could definately dress it up with crayons, markers, perhaps some fabric for the windows. I'm gonna guess the 6 year old would play in it too. Wouldn't be a long lasting gift but pretty fun stuff if your little.

We used to get refrigerator boxes to use as forts. They were SO fun!!!!!

I have a lot of practically-free ideas: stuff to make and decorate cupcakes or cookies, trinkets from the 99 cent store, etc.

Maybe you could start saving random things like paper towel rolls, scraps, etc and have art supplies to create projects with.

[goldfishkate]

Originally Posted by transformed

Ok, stop right there. Now my wheels are turning.......Can I pull something like this off? If not on a large community scale, at least on a small scale with a few friends.

I love it.

And I love this thread.

I feel all warm and fuzzy.

YES, YES Swaps are great! My friends and I from our local parenting forum have swaps at least twice a year. Everything from clothes, to household stuff to toys, to you name it gets swaped for free. Everything left at the end is picked up by one of those donation pickup services so we don't have to haul it to the thrift store ourselves.

[Staceyy]

There are a lot of internet freebies you can send for, for children. Go to Google and type "children's freebies" in the search box. They make great stocking stuffers.

[phathui5]

I'd post on freecycle for things my kids like. I've gotten Legos for ds1 there before.

[AngelBee]

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