I just wanted to show you all our healthy snack alternative for Christmas day nibblies. Just point the children at the “Christmas tree” table and let them snack away. Even if they are full before the big feast, at least it’s healthy food. Plus it looks cool too!
Filed under: Celebrations, events & festivals (Christmas, birthdays etc.) | Tagged: Christmas on a budget, Christmas tree snacks, family friendly food, healthy eating, menu planning | Leave a comment »
Christmas morning - great anticipation!
The dust has almost settled and the Christmas festivities are over for another year. The house has not yet recovered and neither have the children (a big tidy-up and a few early nights are required!) but everyone is enjoying relaxing and exploring their new gifts.
As we sit back and think through how Christmas went this year, I encourage you all to make yourself a few notes for next year. A bit of a Christmas debrief if you like. Perhaps keep them with the decorations or somewhere you know you will remember to check them. As the Christmas decorations first hit the department stores ridiculously early, use this as your reminder to get out that list and plan ahead for all the things that you want to do with your family and won’t get to without some up-front preparation.
Pick any headings that are helpful to you, but some of the things we will be thinking through are:
"I know I'm not supposed to touch but...."
Our finished Jesse tree
Filed under: Celebrations, events & festivals (Christmas, birthdays etc.) | Tagged: advent, Christian Christmas, Christmas gifts, Christmas on a budget, Christmas traditions, Jesse tress | Leave a comment »
Photo: David Pascoe
When it comes to Christmas gifts for siblings it can be a little overwhelming when there are many brothers and sisters to buy for. We often get the children to make gifts and that works well for older kids but the younger ones are a little limited in what they can do. None of the children buy gifts for the adults, they make cards and small craft gifts like Christmas tree decorations.
I like the idea of the children working so that they can give gifts to each other. It then becomes a sacrifice as they spend money that they have given up time and energy to earn or give up time and creative effort to make something. I am hoping this will help in our quest to get them to think of others at Christmas time rather than themselves.
We have previously gone out shopping with the children and attempted to find suitable small gifts that the children can afford for each other, however the logistics of this is becoming difficult and we can’t always find appropriate items they can afford. The solution: Mummy’s Christmas Shop.
I don’t know the original source of this idea, but it is very simple. I gather together a bunch of small gifts that are appropriate for each child in the family. Just before birthdays or Christmas, each child takes a turn to visit Mummy’s Christmas Shop and buy something they like for their siblings. Items are not priced so that I can use a sliding scale; cheaper for the littlies who’s earning capacity is small and a little more for the older children (up to what I paid for them) who are able to earn a reasonable amount of money.
I have told them about the Mummy shop and everyone is keen to start earning money so they can start shopping. (I’d better find some stuff to put in there!) I do the rounds of all the discount variety stores ($2 Shop, Red Dot, Crazy Clarks and the like) and collect anything that is suitable. I also know that it is likely that the gifts will be in the right price range if I buy here, although the quality is often poor so I am careful not to buy toys that will break quickly.
Some ideas so far:
Girls
Boys
Toddlers
I would love to hear your ideas and suggestions for inexpensive gifts so please leave a comment.
Filed under: Celebrations, events & festivals (Christmas, birthdays etc.) | Tagged: $2 gifts for children, $5 gifts for kids, birthday presents, cheap gifts, Christmas gifts, Christmas on a budget, large families, siblings | 1 Comment »
angathome 