free christmas? - Page 2

[tryingforbaby]

At our church we have a lot of children from the neighborhood. Most with very little household income. Last year a friend of mine organized a Christmas Closet. From September to december the children won tickets to go shopping in the CC. All the items were donated. Nothing was purchesed. People donated anything from clothing to decorations to kithen utensils. The only request when taking the donations was that it had to be in giftable condidtion. After the children shopped many adults also shopped. Many of use have things around our house that we don't use or need.

Another fried of mine made her kids piggy banks one year. for treats she made brownies. she also gave them things they use everyday but made it look like a really cool gift. She took a sand bucket and filled it with a wash cloth and soaps.

I also remember when I was about 6 years old and all I wanted was a box of Rainbow brite cereal! something my mom never bought. If you are on food stamps use it to your benefit!

[zech13_9_goforgold]

What a good idea, tryingforbaby! I remember when my dad was in grad school (and we were poor), the church brought food by the house. My favorite part was the elf cookies. Maybe you could give your kids treats that they wouldn't normally get.

[Chloe&Coop'sMom]

Not free, but you might want to check Target if you have them in your area. They have summer stuff on clearance and I bought ds a Fisher Price Bubble Mower this morning for $2.24! He'll be stoked on Christmas morning when he sees it! They had tricycles for $10, sidewalk chalk for .25 and so on...

[Sailor]

This isn't free, but do you have a Dollar Tree in your area? Or 99 cent store? My cousins who are ages 3, 5, and 7 get a HUGE kick out of those necklaces/bracelets/sticks that light up. I think they call them glow sticks? You sort of snap one, shake, and it lights up for 24 hours or so. They have like packs of 10 of them at the Dollar Tree near where I live. Great stocking stuffers.

If you sew, the sky is the limit. You could take clothing you no longer want and re-sew it into something else - from dress up clothes to quilts to stockings to bean bags. I've made tic tac toe games out of bean bags. You could do chess that way as well.

I agree about the playhouse out of a big box idea. All you need is some paint, possibly some decopauge stuff, and scissors. I remember one year my aunt got her daughter this fantastic play house. I come over 2 days later, and the kid is playing inside the box that the playhouse came in!

[EarthyMamaofDaisy]

You can make homemade Christmas ornaments. I just saw a craft in a magazine where you tie little sticks together in sort of an asterisk shape and bind it around the center with jute, yarn, or whatever. Also if you buy the round white coffee filters you can fold them over and over again in half until you have a skinny triangle and cut out shapes and when you un-do it you have a beautiful snowflake! You can also pain them with watercolor paints before you un-do them.

[quest4quiet]

The box fort has me reminiscing...one year for Christmas, when we were small, my Mom filled a refrigerator box with helium filled balloons and wrapped it. It is still the most memorable gift my siblings and I have ever received. We did end up making it into a fort.

We just tried an idea from that family fun mag that was awesome. You take a plastic water bottle and cut the bottom off. Fasten a damp washcloth around the bottom with a rubberband. Dip the washcloth end in dish soap and blow through the top. It makes these really cool bubble snakes.