7th Annual Christmas Thread

[MissyBrenda]

Someone mentioned an iPhone app in a previous post that they used to keep themselves organized for Christmas shopping... Does anyone have a specific recommendation on an app that they love? I've just been using the notes on the iPhone, which is adequate, but would love to pretty it up some.

Thanks!

 

[diskids2]

Hi All! So thankful for this thread.....it's EXACTLY what I need to get me into the Christmas spirit this year!

 

[worm761]

Someone mentioned an iPhone app in a previous post that they used to keep themselves organized for Christmas shopping... Does anyone have a specific recommendation on an app that they love? I've just been using the notes on the iPhone, which is adequate, but would love to pretty it up some.

Thanks!

I just use a spreadsheet in my Google Drive and have the Google Drive app on my phone so I can access it while out shopping.

 

[100AcreWood]

I just use a spreadsheet in my Google Drive and have the Google Drive app on my phone so I can access it while out shopping.

I also use google drive for keeping track of my shopping. However, OP if you do a search on itunes under Christmas Shopping or Christmas List you will find a lot of options that look fun.

 

[d's do disney]

Someone mentioned an iPhone app in a previous post that they used to keep themselves organized for Christmas shopping... Does anyone have a specific recommendation on an app that they love? I've just been using the notes on the iPhone, which is adequate, but would love to pretty it up some.

Thanks!

Hi MissyBrenda. I wasn't the poster about using an app, but I use one that I love. I use Santa's Bag on my iphone. I used the free version last year (loved it) and I upgraded to the Pro version this year so I could archive the previous year's info. This way, I have a history of what I purchased from year to year. I'm very happy with it.

 

[LilyWDW]

Got the cousin I don't like a set of bracelets and a fashion scarf from Charming Charlie. Total spent? $20. More then I WANT to spend on her (LOOOOOOOOONG story) but at least it wasn't a ton. Just got lucky on some clearance stuff but she doesn't have to know that.

I spoke to my aunt about my other cousin's gift idea (the one I DO like) and she thinks it is a great idea. So will got for that. She suggested a Khol's gift card which is what I had been thinking as well.

 

[DanniDeer]

This thread makes me so happy! Last year I didn't find it until a few days before Christmas, but I loved reading everyone's posts, especially Christmas Eve after "Santa's visit" and everyone sharing their traditions!

I'm at a complete loss this year for gifts. It is my fiancé and my's first [and last] Christmas as an engaged couple, so I want to do something special. We do really nice things for and give each other thoughtful surprises all year long, so I'm really trying to make gifts more about an activity than "things", and since we're fixing to move across the country in a few years, the less "stuff" the better.

His favorite hockey team is going to be in town playing my favorite hockey team TWO DAYS before Christmas, and it's killing me because that would be such a perfect thing, but it's beforehand and then he wouldn't have anything substantial to open Christmas morning.

I'm all about "themes", too, so I could have done a whole gift basket of sorts, with a new jersey I know he's been wanting, and filling it with other little things. It's killing me that I can't run with this idea.

Any suggestions on a really special date ideas like that? We live like 45 minutes from Disney, but we go all the time, and are contemplating it for our honeymoon, so I'm trying to come up with something else before I fall back on it...

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hi All! So thankful for this thread.....it's EXACTLY what I need to get me into the Christmas spirit this year!

Glad you are here and we can help you get 'spirited"! LOL!!

This thread makes me so happy! Last year I didn't find it until a few days before Christmas, but I loved reading everyone's posts, especially Christmas Eve after "Santa's visit" and everyone sharing their traditions!

I'm at a complete loss this year for gifts. It is my fiancé and my's first [and last] Christmas as an engaged couple, so I want to do something special. We do really nice things for and give each other thoughtful surprises all year long, so I'm really trying to make gifts more about an activity than "things", and since we're fixing to move across the country in a few years, the less "stuff" the better.

His favorite hockey team is going to be in town playing my favorite hockey team TWO DAYS before Christmas, and it's killing me because that would be such a perfect thing, but it's beforehand and then he wouldn't have anything substantial to open Christmas morning.

I'm all about "themes", too, so I could have done a whole gift basket of sorts, with a new jersey I know he's been wanting, and filling it with other little things. It's killing me that I can't run with this idea.

Any suggestions on a really special date ideas like that? We live like 45 minutes from Disney, but we go all the time, and are contemplating it for our honeymoon, so I'm trying to come up with something else before I fall back on it...

Glad you found us again, but earlier! I know you will get lots of ideas for gifts!!!

 

[theworldneedscolor]

Hi all! I am glad to find this thread again. It's been fun, and such a help, to be apart of this group for the past two Christmas

Tonight I'm going to sit down and start making a list of ideas. I'm at college this year, so I have less money than previous years. But I also don't have the time or resources (such as a sewing machine, craft supplies, etc) to make homemade gifts. So we'll see what I can come up with!

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hi all! I am glad to find this thread again. It's been fun, and such a help, to be apart of this group for the past two Christmas

Tonight I'm going to sit down and start making a list of ideas. I'm at college this year, so I have less money than previous years. But I also don't have the time or resources (such as a sewing machine, craft supplies, etc) to make homemade gifts. So we'll see what I can come up with!

welcome back!!! We will try to get some ideas thought up for you!

 

[DanniDeer]

Hi all! I am glad to find this thread again. It's been fun, and such a help, to be apart of this group for the past two Christmas Tonight I'm going to sit down and start making a list of ideas. I'm at college this year, so I have less money than previous years. But I also don't have the time or resources (such as a sewing machine, craft supplies, etc) to make homemade gifts. So we'll see what I can come up with!

Pinterest is your friend!!

 

[MissyBrenda]

I just use a spreadsheet in my Google Drive and have the Google Drive app on my phone so I can access it while out shopping.

I also use google drive for keeping track of my shopping. However, OP if you do a search on itunes under Christmas Shopping or Christmas List you will find a lot of options that look fun.

Hi MissyBrenda. I wasn't the poster about using an app, but I use one that I love. I use Santa's Bag on my iphone. I used the free version last year (loved it) and I upgraded to the Pro version this year so I could archive the previous year's info. This way, I have a history of what I purchased from year to year. I'm very happy with it.

Thank you so much, ladies!! I searched for Santa's Bag and found it immediately. I had searched for Christmas list and hadn't come up with anything I was thrilled with. It looks like this will be an awesome app to use, and have already loaded all my recipients!!

Our big Christmas gift to our 7-year-old daughter is a dollhouse for her American girl dolls. We're going to get the PAX wardrobe system from IKEA (found this idea on Pinterest!), and it's only going to run $250 or so. I can't wait, because right now, all accessories and furniture are all over her floor. Not messy or anything, just everywhere. She's also asking for a Zoomer, which I'm a little leery about - anyone have one and want to give an honest opinion?

My husband is such a big kid at heart. Right now, we only have the Wii gaming system. Disney Infinity 2.0 is coming out with all the Marvel characters, but won't work with the Wii. So I think I'm going to break down and buy the Wii U for him, along with Disney Infinity 2.0 of course. I would look at other systems (PS3 or 4, or Xbox), but we already have so much Wii stuff that can be used with the Wii U, that I thought this would be the cheapest route. Thoughts? Should I stray from Wii? It's a big expense, so don't want to regret it later...

Thanks again!!

 

[lyncecelia]

Thank you so much, ladies!! I searched for Santa's Bag and found it immediately. I had searched for Christmas list and hadn't come up with anything I was thrilled with. It looks like this will be an awesome app to use, and have already loaded all my recipients!!

Our big Christmas gift to our 7-year-old daughter is a dollhouse for her American girl dolls. We're going to get the PAX wardrobe system from IKEA (found this idea on Pinterest!), and it's only going to run $250 or so. I can't wait, because right now, all accessories and furniture are all over her floor. Not messy or anything, just everywhere. She's also asking for a Zoomer, which I'm a little leery about - anyone have one and want to give an honest opinion?

My husband is such a big kid at heart. Right now, we only have the Wii gaming system. Disney Infinity 2.0 is coming out with all the Marvel characters, but won't work with the Wii. So I think I'm going to break down and buy the Wii U for him, along with Disney Infinity 2.0 of course. I would look at other systems (PS3 or 4, or Xbox), but we already have so much Wii stuff that can be used with the Wii U, that I thought this would be the cheapest route. Thoughts? Should I stray from Wii? It's a big expense, so don't want to regret it later...

Thanks again!!

I got a WiiU for DH a couple years back. We love it, and would play it more if we had time for video games recently. WiiU also didn't do as well in the market place as other systems, so it'd probably be the cheapest option. I love that you can continue playing if someone wants to watch the TV with the little hand held device .

 

[tiff211]

We do Great Wolf for Christmas every year. Gifts arent as large because we put money into the trip. We bring a small tree and gifts are what Santa leaves under that and in stockings,but the kids also look forward to getting home to see what Santa has left there while they were gone. It started one year with jars of pickles and has included full size bags of thier favorite chips or boxes of the cereal I wont buy. No more gifts just fun food that puts a smile on thier face and gives them something to snack on when we get home. Just thought Id share that idea.

I love this idea! We are taking our first Christmastime vacation. DD9 is the only one who still believes in Santa so she wanted to know will he still come if we aren't there. I don't know if he goes to the hotel where we are staying, if he still goes to house....He hasn't responded to my texts yet, lol. I told her I was going to text and ask him.

 

[gracer9977]

Hurray for the new Christmas Thread. I buy gifts all year long but now that we are getting closer to Christmas I need to start getting them all organized.

My list of who I need to buy for:

My immediate Family:

Husband
Daughter
Son
Dog

My extended family:

Mom
Dad
Sister
Brother
Brother in Law
Niece(16)
Niece (10)
Nephew (2)
Uncle
Uncle

Husband's family:

Mother in Law
Sis in law
Sis in law
Sis in law
Sis in law
Brother in law
Brother in law
Niece (21)
Niece (12)

My son's teacher
My daughter's teacher
Bus Driver
Husband's Secret Santa
My Secret Santa

We buy theme gifts for my husband's family and this year we are going to buy these really cute Face Mugs by Uncommon Goods. They have 6 different colors so we will get one for everyone. The nieces will get gift cards. No idea what I am doing for my family yet.

For my kids though my son wants the new Marvel Infinity that is coming out this year. He got Skylander SwapForce last year.

My daughter really wants the Anna and Elsa Animator Dolls. I am hoping, hoping, hoping they restock them on disneystore.com as we get closer to Christmas. My DD loves these dolls. She has Aurora, Mulan, Merida and Belle so far but she really wants Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Rapunzel all of these dolls are not available right now. I will continue to stalk the site and hope any or all of these show up again.

For now though I just need to figure out what I already have and get it organized.

Looking froward to watching all the planning and goals made and met from now till Christmas.

 

[Disney Mommy 3]

Hurray for the new Christmas Thread. I buy gifts all year long but now that we are getting closer to Christmas I need to start getting them all organized.

My list of who I need to buy for:

My immediate Family:

Husband
Daughter
Son
Dog

My extended family:

Mom
Dad
Sister
Brother
Brother in Law
Niece(16)
Niece (10)
Nephew (2)
Uncle
Uncle

Husband's family:

Mother in Law
Sis in law
Sis in law
Sis in law
Sis in law
Brother in law
Brother in law
Niece (21)
Niece (12)

My son's teacher
My daughter's teacher
Bus Driver
Husband's Secret Santa
My Secret Santa

We buy theme gifts for my husband's family and this year we are going to buy these really cute Face Mugs by Uncommon Goods. They have 6 different colors so we will get one for everyone. The nieces will get gift cards. No idea what I am doing for my family yet.

For my kids though my son wants the new Marvel Infinity that is coming out this year. He got Skylander SwapForce last year.

My daughter really wants the Anna and Elsa Animator Dolls. I am hoping, hoping, hoping they restock them on disneystore.com as we get closer to Christmas. My DD loves these dolls. She has Aurora, Mulan, Merida and Belle so far but she really wants Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Rapunzel all of these dolls are not available right now. I will continue to stalk the site and hope any or all of these show up again.

For now though I just need to figure out what I already have and get it organized.

Looking froward to watching all the planning and goals made and met from now till Christmas.

Back to the thread! Sounds like you have half the people planned for and that's half the battle right there! LOL!! Our Disney store isn't huge, but it does have a lot of those Animator dolls all the time, so I am sure they will be back in stock. Maybe call customer service and ask…they may have a restock date for you.

 

[PrincessKTBugg85]

So excited I found this thread! I'm hoping I can get some good ideas for gifts this year! It's just me and my darling husband this year... No kiddos yet :/. We always do it up big for each other since it's just the two of us

Here's who I'm shopping for:

Hubby: ideas are: apple watch, a really nice watch for special occasions, clothes, shoes, back massager, trip somewhere (maybe to Napa/Sonoma or Seattle ... Depends on my work schedule though) mandolin slicer, ninja bullet, new refrigerator (a gift for me and him lol)

Mom and Dad: this year was their 25th wedding anny and they've always wanted to go to Hawaii... I'm looking at maybe getting them gift cards for flights and letting them stay at Aulani through DVC

Sister (14): she just wants clothes and concert tickets

Brother (23): he's also graduating from college two weeks before Christmas... When we were younger I promised that when he graduated from college I would take him to Disney World. I'm thinking of giving him a little money for graduation and then for Christmas giving him a card with our itinerary printed out and a US map inside, along with tickets for disneyworld. I'll probably add some road trip snacks and games. I'll put everything in a little box inside of a big box. It's kind of a joke between us.

Husbands family:

Two brother in laws, their wives, sister in law and her husband and baby, three nieces and one nephew. Mother in law and father in law.

I'm not really that close to them so I don't know what to get them. I'll probably just let my husband decide. They usually just do small gift exchange.

 

[Happiest mommy]

I'm glad to see some of you guys have started with some gifts, honestly I have no clue this year and if I had my choice I would love to go away, family issues are stressing me out and then they come over to the house on Christmas like its all good anyway I really love reading the posts here
I went to Kmart yesterday to do a retun and they have Christmas trees all set up and aisles of Christmas decorations I really was'nt feeling that yet especially seeing it next to the Holloween costumes it gets earlier every year lol!
On a side note they still have really good clearance stuff in the Toy section so check it out.

 

[MomToOne]

I love this idea! We are taking our first Christmastime vacation. DD9 is the only one who still believes in Santa so she wanted to know will he still come if we aren't there. I don't know if he goes to the hotel where we are staying, if he still goes to house....He hasn't responded to my texts yet, lol. I told her I was going to text and ask him.

I've traveled every Christmas to my parents since I adopted DD14 13 years ago. Here's how I handled it once DD was past her very early years and could stand a bit of delayed gratification: I setup all the Santa gifts under the tree one evening ahead of our trip after she was asleep, and took a picture of it all. I then put it away again, staged somewhere nearby but where she wouldn't find them. Then, on the day we left, I would put DD out in the car, get her all buckled up and settled in, then say "Oh wait! I forgot to do <fill in the blank> - stay here one sec and watch everything while I take care of that!". I'd then run back in the house, QUICKLY pull everything out and put it back under the tree, arranged the same way as in the picture - it amazing how fast you can do this when you have to . I'd then print out a copy of the picture, and have Santa leave it on the tree at my parents along with a note saying "Didn't want your Mom to have to struggle to get these home - so this is what is waiting for you there!" (I would leave some gifts unwrapped, so she could possibly spy some of what she got; others were wrapped.) Santa would leave just a stocking filled with some great stuff there at my parents, and sometimes one or two smaller gifts under the tree (all of which could safely fit in a carry on suitcase - I've had the airlines lose my luggage at Christmas too many times, so I don't risk checking her gifts - clothes are fine, we can be dressed in whatever, but not gifts! Shipping ahead can be problematic too, as I learned one year when our flight and all flights for the next two days were cancelled because of a major storm, leaving us 2000 miles away from the gifts - so carry on only!).

This method actually helped our Christmas some, because we exchange presents with my family on Christmas Eve plus we exchange gifts with family friends at a large gathering on Christmas day. DD gets tons of gifts between those two events, so when she received Santa gifts on Christmas morning too, it was a recipe for extreme overload and that would usually lead to a meltdown on Christmas Day sometime. By delaying the Santa gifts, things were more spread out so there wasn't so much overload, plus she had a reason to look forward to going home!

To this day, she has no clue how I pulled it all off She loved it all, and never felt cheated.

Now that she's in on the Santa secret, we just do Santa under-the-tree gifts the weekend before we leave. She likes being able to brag to her friends at school that she got her stuff early Santa still brings a stocking to my mother's on Christmas (dad died a few years ago ), filled with lots of great stuff - I do an AMAZING stocking, if I do say so myself! - she really looks forward to that, and it seems to give her (and me) the sense of tradition for Christmas morning that we all want!

 

[worm761]

This thread makes me so happy! Last year I didn't find it until a few days before Christmas, but I loved reading everyone's posts, especially Christmas Eve after "Santa's visit" and everyone sharing their traditions!

Any suggestions on a really special date ideas like that? We live like 45 minutes from Disney, but we go all the time, and are contemplating it for our honeymoon, so I'm trying to come up with something else before I fall back on it...

Here is my date night ideas Pinterest board: http://www.pinterest.com/disneybug/date-night-ideas/

As for my Christmas gifts:

DH: no clue though he did say he wants the new Disney Infinity 2.0

DS18: I have the mustache T shirt from Frontierland and new chopsticks for his stocking. He is going to Disney World in early December with his grandpa so I am thinking of helping him fund that as an early gift.

DD4: I have 4 outfits for her dress up trunk and an Elsa blanket.

Dad: no clue to be honest.

MIL/FIL is left to DH to do.

SIL and nieces/nephew: I do a family gift because no one is ever able to tell me what to buy for them. So this works better for me. I just need to come up with one. Last year was a dinner (pizza kit) and a movie (Redbox gift cards).