How is the increase in prices in general effecting your holiday budget?

[1growingsprout]

DH and I decided back in January to have a 'homemade' christmas (2008). Meaning anyone who we would send a 'present' to is getting something homemade. It can be a blanket, scarf, emb. towels etc. With the cost of fuel and groceries rising daily i am more and more pleased with our decision.
I scarf and hat set costs me $3 or so. A blanket, depending on size can be $20 max.

For Mothers Day the kids painted me picture frames $1 each and paint (Free)
For Fathers day I am going to have the kids paint wooden birdfeeders for DH,
I get tons and tons of craft store coupons so the supplies are very inexpensive.

When we give to other kids for bday parties they usually get art supplies and a handmade t-shirt. (shirts are $2 at michales add some paint or emblishments and they love it) I can also get little socks and embelish them with ribbon, beads etc. little girls love them. hair bows/clips the same.

We have also decided to get our kids one item each and one family item for xmas. We will be asking for memberships and class fees from family and friends.

This is not only about $$ finances but about the large amount of 'stuff' we seem to be drowning in.

How has the recent increase in prices overall changed your plans for gifting at christmas and through out the year?

[ShaggyDaddy]

hah what holiday budget?

This year hopefully we will have a much more simple christmas than last year. It was really stressful traveling with the toddlers and stuff... being on a deadline for a 1500 mile drive, with 2 kids who cannot sleep at all in motel rooms was not an intelligent choice.

[velochic]

We will still fly back to Turkey to see dh's family, probably via Spain (for less than a week) this year. It really doesn't affect us because one of our priorities is saving money for this annual trip. We don't really do gifts. A few for dd and none for the adults.

[holidaymama]

I'm so glad you brought up this subject...I am going to start a thread about Frugal Holidays and gifts....is that ok? There was a great one last year.

We are most certainly having to plan out Xmas as we live in TX and our family is in MN. Last year we went home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas...our Xmas tickets where a gift from my parents. This year we have four tickets to fly (baby is now 2...shucks)

We have an excel spreadsheet that I formatted for different savings goals. I just have one main savings account, but I personally divide it in the spreadsheet. Anyway, we are saving 200 a month for our flight (should be about 1200) and hoping my parents offer to buy one or two of the tickets...otherwise, our gift money will have to come out of our other budgeting factors such as clothes and entertainment and house repair.

[1growingsprout]

Originally Posted by holidaymama

I'm so glad you brought up this subject...I am going to start a thread about Frugal Holidays and gifts....is that ok? There was a great one last year.

We are most certainly having to plan out Xmas as we live in TX and our family is in MN. Last year we went home for both Thanksgiving and Christmas...our Xmas tickets where a gift from my parents. This year we have four tickets to fly (baby is now 2...shucks)

We have an excel spreadsheet that I formatted for different savings goals. I just have one main savings account, but I personally divide it in the spreadsheet. Anyway, we are saving 200 a month for our flight (should be about 1200) and hoping my parents offer to buy one or two of the tickets...otherwise, our gift money will have to come out of our other budgeting factors such as clothes and entertainment and house repair.

have you priced tickets yet? I flew from AZ to MN/STPL and my price was $375 one way, rt was $750... this was 1 stop over in denver. DH has round trip tickets leaving next week, coming back in august again for $650ish...
fuel surcharge, baggage charge etc its not worth it anymore...

yes go an start the 'frugal holidays' thread...

[stretchmark]

I hadn't thought about this yet.
I guess since I sent out a plea to all the relatives to not buy us anything they probably won't expect anything.

[superstella]

Our holidays haven't really been affected yet. As for Christmas holidays, we decided right after Christmas last year that we're not doing presents this year so no pressure there! For Mother's Day/Father's Day type stuff we've always done homemade (I love those kind best anyway!) so no changes there.

[KariM]

Honestly it probably won't have any impact.

We already have a small per person budget for our immediate family and gave homemade gifts to extended family and friends.

Last year we gave carmel corn and peanut brittle.

I'd love to do more handcrafted gifts for my kids, but since I homeschool and co-sleep I honestly don't get any time to sew when they AREN'T around.

[MonkeyPrincess]

Originally Posted by KariM

Last year we gave carmel corn and peanut brittle.

Care to share the recipes? :

[neetling]

I buy all year long. I have about 15 presents put away. I found a local store that still has (awesome) stuff from last Christmas priced at 75% off. I bought 2 tart warmers and a candle warmer originally priced between $25 and $50 each. THe same store had some cloth dolls my girls like B1G1 free, I gave my daughter one for her birthday recently and put the other away for my other DD for Christmas. They also had a Shining Star (online toy stuffee thing my kids want) in the 75% off area. I also regularly shop Amazon.com's toy outlet and place an order if I find $25 (for free shipping) worth of things I want.

I wish I could knit or crochet, then I would make and send gifts to family.

My kids are still young so they aren't into terribly expensive stuff yet. I also go to slickdeals.com and look for big sales and stock up when good deals are posted. I recently bought 2 webkinz for $6 each with free shipping.

[jentilla]

I buy early, like July, and I think we're getting a dollhouse for the kids as a joint present and then some smaller homemade stuff. Everyone gets homemade: knitted cotton dishcloths, napkins, sugar scrubs, and I think we're going to do picture books for the grandparents.

[KariM]

Originally Posted by MonkeyPrincess

Care to share the recipes? :

I'm upstairs right now, but will try to remember to pull out my binder and post them later on today when I use the other computer!

[VisionQuest]

I don't really have a budget but plan to shop more mindfully, as in, a couple of nice things per person and not a bunch of junk just to make Christmas look big.

I really wish my dh's side of the family would draw names, but all they did the year we tried that was complained.

[MaddieMay]

Originally Posted by VisionQuest

I really wish my dh's side of the family would draw names, but all they did the year we tried that was complained.

Would they be up for a grab bag? We do this with a couple different "branches" of our extended family each year. It's so much fun and a great alternative! Each has a price limit-our grab bags range from white elephant to about $10 depending on the family. Some of the larger ones are guy/girl and some are all together. The order in which we choose is different each year and we allow "stealing." It's a blast!