Bianca and Bernard
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2015
I know its so early to even start thinking about this... In all honesty I normally start much earlier than this... and with how this year has went, how will this effect you how you budget and shop?
For my family the adults- Everyone get a box, a bag, and a stocking... and in each one there are several gifts... Grandkids are different. My family they love their stockings... so I spend alot of time picking out the little stuff, which can add up very quickly... so I am consistently watching for deals on Gift Cards, and scouring in clearance areas, or deeply discounted items that they can use.. I will not buy things just to fill the stockings, that is a total waste of money... I buy things that I know that they use or want... and of course they get their favorite candy tucked in as well...
So last week I started officially picking up Christmas gifts...
My friend and I were out shopping and made a stop in BAM, Books a Million... I love to go in there and just browse around, lots of good stuff... They were having a really good clearance sale on kids books, I picked up 4 books for my grandson who is 5 - 2 Star Wars, 1 Spiderman, and 1 Dino... for 15.00 dollars, one of the star wars books was priced at 28.00 bucks... so I feel really good about what I got for the price...
My friend bought like 6 or 7 books for her grand-kids, and it was just under 30.00 bucks for her purchase... She was pleased as well, as her grand-daughter is reading a series, and there were 3 books from the series in the clearance section... so she was like score...
I went to Kohls, and found several pairs of jeans for my Grandson...and they were a good price, and when I asked about the return policy as they were for Christmas, I was told 90 days.... another associate said 120 days, and another 180... I thought that at Kohls you could return anything with the receipt at anytime? has this changed recently... I decided not to buy them, as I could not get a clear picture of the return policy ... In the clearance area I did pick up several shirts for myself for fall, and winter, which in Florida means light weight quarter length sleeves, with my Kohls cash and the discounts I spent 23.00 bucks for 5 shirts, which I thought was pretty dang good...
I have picked up several items for my DD for her stocking... mostly hair accessories, and I think a fancy nail file with a case...
So has anyone else jump into the Christmas shopping pool?
I bought DD#2's family gifts already. She is getting the 1st 4 Harry Potter books, illustrated version, and I got her a handmade Porg with a BB8 hat from Etsy. SoIL#2 is getting 2 Jim Butcher books, a set of watercolor pencils, and a 3 pack of watercolor paper pads. DGS#2 is getting several Lego movies, some erasable workbooks, 2 packs of little racecars, some magnetic games (tic tac toe, for example) and some 'can you see' type card games. (DD requested these types of gifts, in lieu of regular gifts, so that they will be new for their long long plane ride to Okinawa; they are celebrating for the adults at the end of October, so their stuff can get packed and shipped with the movers then, and DGS will have his celebration right before they leave, so around the beginning of December.)
I have not purchased DD#1 family gifts yet. I am buying those this month. DGS#1 is getting a gift card (request). DGS#3 is getting 2 Lego sets (Toy Story) and a Lego movie. SoIL#1 is getting 2 Butcher books, DD#2 is getting a couple of piano music books, and then we're getting them 2 garden gnomes for a couples gift (relating to their interests of course).
DS is just wanting $$, so no need to buy early, haha.
DH and I forgo buying gifts for each other; we get what we need when we can afford it. We're trying to pay down debt, so limiting our shopping budget is the plan. He is buying a new SSD for my computer, and maybe a new video card; IDK what he needs, but he'll get something.