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The $0 Holiday Challenge

53K views 624 replies 253 participants last post by  kedwards313 
#1 ·
Anyone want to join me in a "make do with what you have" holiday challenge?

This doesnt necessarily mean spending absolutely no money, but as little as possible, definition to be decided by the individual.

We are really poor this Christmas. Heck, we are really poor every Christmas. DH is in the restaurant biz as a waiter. Sept, Oct and Nov are really slow, december is better, but we have a lot of make up to do, and jan and feb are awful. So, we have very little to work with.

So, some people make gifts, but you have to go out and buy supplies, and even that part isnt feasible. And then, okay you have the gift made, and now you have to decorate the house, provide a wonderful meal, cookies, and wrap and ship presents. Oh, wait, now every chairty in america is tugging on your heartstrings, making you feel horribly guilty and terrible about yourself since you cant even quite provide a good Christmas(good by media standards, anyway) for your family, let alone stuff for anyone else. And then "everyone" (which is ussually comprised of writers from their comfy homes where their holdiay is secure) tells you to remember that the holidays arent about giving they are about family, blah blah blah, and yet, they dont tend to give up their fab holiday.
rant ends

Anyway, I do intend to sign up on the holiday fairy swap here on mdc, but from my end, I want to really do the holiday well without feeling guilty, burntout, overextended, or like I didnt do "enough"

Anyone want to join me? We can post our successes, how we made gifts from dryer lint and wrapped them in a pumpkin shell dried in such a way that it was beautfiful enough to make Martha Stewart cry red and green tears!! We can hold each other accountable when we want to break down adn blow the rent money ona last minute trip to Goodwill and Toysrus. We can support each other when we are feeling poor bc of what others are doing. We can post reactions of recipients of our gifts.

Anyone up for it?
 
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#204 ·
Well I finally finished the balaclava, and wrote a story for dh to illustrate for dd ("Esmerelda and the Christmas Monster").

Now we want to make her a memory game -- the kind with the cards you lay out and turn over. But I can't think where to get stiff heavy material for the cards. I don't want to use foam, and I don't want to use cardstock (because I know dd will destroy anything bendable, surely if unintentionally). Any ideas?
 
#206 ·
not sure if this was mentioned or not..
we saw on a kids show last night a neat craft idea..
to make juggling balls you need some balloons, some rice and some saran wrap

put about 1/3 of a cup of rice in to a small square of saran wrap, twist the ends up so it looks like a ball... cut the end off an unblown balloon and stretch it over the saran wrap ball of rice.. cut the end off another balloon and stretch it over the ball again to cover it.

They look great and were cheap and easy to make. we are giving them to my nephew for christmas.
here is a link with pictures

Tanja mama to Raven,Jakob,Ben and baby Maiya
 
#208 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by eminer
But I can't think where to get stiff heavy material for the cards. I don't want to use foam, and I don't want to use cardstock (because I know dd will destroy anything bendable, surely if unintentionally). Any ideas?
Our local school supply store laminates for a cheap per foot price. (And I'm imagining index sized cards, which would not require many inches - even a whole set). I laminated the lists for my I spy bags and attached them with binder rings in the corner of the bag. They are very sturdy.
 
#209 ·
i am hyper vigilant about balloons ever since we took an infant cpr class with our first and the instructor told us how hard it was to help a child who was choking on a balloon. it gets stuck and is much harder to dislodge than the odd bit of hotdog or grape. if y'all do the balloon balls (which look very cute btw) just be sure no little'uns can get to 'em, 'kay?

we're working on stuff here -- did some bread dough ornaments and picked up some cheap frames at joann to paint. hope to get to that soon. painted a tote bag for grammy's b-day at the end of nov and that went well...
 
#210 ·
I freak out about balloons too!!
For small lamination, I just using packing tape.
I found a piece of scrap fleece in the extra bin at Joanns. It had army trucks on it. It cost 85 cents and was the PERFECT length to make a scarf for my friends twleve yo ds. I grabbe dit bc I wanted to make a scarf for my 6 yo, but when I got it home, I noticed the army trucks and couldnt do it.
 
#211 ·
Quote:

Originally Posted by beanma
i am hyper vigilant about balloons ever since we took an infant cpr class with our first and the instructor told us how hard it was to help a child who was choking on a balloon. it gets stuck and is much harder to dislodge than the odd bit of hotdog or grape. if y'all do the balloon balls (which look very cute btw) just be sure no little'uns can get to 'em, 'kay?

we're working on stuff here -- did some bread dough ornaments and picked up some cheap frames at joann to paint. hope to get to that soon. painted a tote bag for grammy's b-day at the end of nov and that went well...
Same here, i always warn people about the dangers of small children and balloons. These juggling balls i made for my 8 year old nephew.
T
 
#212 ·
beanma- can you share your recipe for the bread dough ornaments? i want to do this to make a hand print ornament, but someone told me plaster of paris is easier. but i don't have any pretty molds, and don't think you can shape plaster of paris, so i'm a bit up in the air w/ this idea.
any suggestions from more experienced mamas?
 
#213 ·
the bread dough ornaments we made were basically like these :

http://jas.familyfun.go.com/arts-and...&craftid=10671

it's a 4 to 1 ratio of flour to salt and then enough water to make it stick together, but not be too wet. you want it on the dry side, but enough wet so it holds together. we used christmas cookie cutters to cut out shapes then baked at 250 or so for a long time (i think my dough was too wet) and painted the next day. they were pretty fun, but the dog has already eaten one!
 
#214 ·
We used plaster of paris. You can shape it when you get the powdered mix stuff, because you can just add the right amount of water to get the desired consistency. And it turned out much lighter weight than the Salt dough ones.
 
#216 ·
bumping with this tip:
If you have a kid who likes to build and create things, you can put together a pvc pipe(or copper pipe if you are freaked out about pvc) kit for around $10. Lowes sells pipe fittings, a ten pack for under $2. You can get a pack of elbows and a pack of tees. Then, you can buy a 10 foot long pipe for around the same price, and cut it down. If you want, you can paint it al different colors. Then, they have a cool building kit. I saw something similar in one of the sensory catalogs, with just a few bells and whistles, for $80! We are going to put together a kit for our 6 yo, who loves k'nex and legos. This will give him a different medium
 
#219 ·
So, how did the gifts go?
Ours went well. DS really liked his book: Ishga, wonder cat from outer space. He has been acting it out all day

The other books went well. the joke book was good. I also made felt stories that were enjoyed. My ds wass not crazy about the Spy kit. I made him one out of a pickle jar and he hasnt been that impressed. Next year, I will make one out of a bag and use bean bags beads. I used rice. I will give it to my youngest ds.
we are going to do one of the gifts for epiphany.
The Holy Frijoles were appreciated

I am going to start soon making gifts for next year!! I have so many great ideas thanks to this thread
 
#220 ·
It went well here too! We usually limit gifts to about 3 on Christmas (and then some shared ones) but I just realized today that we gave each kid 5
: I think I was over-compensating because we didnt' have any money.

The desk was a huge hit
It's in her room now and she spent a lot of time today sitting at her desk drawing pictures to hang on her wall.

She loved the doll and is going to sleep with it again tonight


She loved the scarf I crocheted.

She loved the cape I made.

She always appreciates books
Even used, slightly dinged books from the thrift store :LOL

As for ds - that's a different story :LOL Did I mention he's 2?


He didn't like the doll and threw it down.

He put on the hand me down Eyeore slippers and grinned for about 10 seconds. Then declared they "don't fit anymore" and took them off. Hasn't worn them since.

He wouldn't put on the cape.

Declared he "hates books" :LOL Not true, but that's what he says when he doesn't want something at that moment.

He does seem to like the hand me down Kapla planks we got. He's built a few things and enjoys having me build some stuff. I really like them too.

We also gave them a joint present of a bean bag game. Dh cut circles out of foam core board and wrote 1 on the big one, 5 on the medium and 10 on the small. DD likes it and has played with dh a few times. DS just likes to throw the beanbags around
 
#221 ·
i made truffles and granola for my family and friends, and they were a HUGE success.


I also made my family fairies using dd's hand print. Also a success.

DD got a felt board from me, and the rest were trades, which were great.

This thread has been so great for me! i'd like to see it archived.

 
#223 ·
i cut a triangle for the body, hand prints for the wings, and a circle for the head. i used yellow for the head, to represent the return of the sun, and flowers on the body, (bc i had that, plus it is to welcome the return of the sun also), and purple for the hands w/ a neeting material over the hands to give it a more magical look. Then i made a wand and put that on her hand. It looks like an angel, but it is a fairy.
 
#226 ·
What... yawn... Am I still in the situation where I HAVE to do the $0 thing again--- Shoot, I guess tis the season... I am rubbing my eyes- ready to party on with the $0 idea again..

I was at my super cool, yet super classy friends house the other day (we do a playdate every tuesday
) and she has these cloth towel rings for the table- they were done all in beads and looked like butterflies- very cute- Maybe I will take a photo next week and post it. They look spendy but easy to make- yk?

But, no one in my family uses cloth napkins.... But hey, at least it is a gift right?
 
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