This year for our Christmas gift giving, we are doing things a little bit differently. Let’s face the facts. We have 5 people and a LOT of animals living on one income. We get by, but things are usually at least a little tight. Christmas is the hardest time of the year to make ends meet. There are always unexpected expenses, worthy charities, Christmas parties that require presents, extra food to buy. The list is endless. Something around here always seems to break in December too!
Anyway, Christmas shouldn’t be stressful! It is about celebrating the birth of Jesus, NOT about showing off who bought the biggest gift for whom. With that in mind, Eric and I started talking about the idea of a gift challenge between the two of us, but we soon decided to expand it to the rest of the family as well!
We will not spend more than $10 per person on Christmas Gifts
Now, I’m sure that Santa will bring the kids a few things, but I’m talking about gift giving between family members. We decided to lay out some ground rules, so I thought I would share them and hopefully get some accountability from my readers!
The Rules:
- Only $10 will be spent on each family member.
- We must record our expenditures (for accountability and for fun)
- Creativity is a must!
- Bartering, haggling, recycling, re-purposing, couponing, & thrift shopping are encouraged.
- We will use materials we have at the house already to make gifts as much as possible
Our goal is that no one will feel left out or deprived of a Christmas by our financial limitations. Rather, we hope to make memories and form an even stronger family bond through the process of making thoughtful gifts for one another.
I plan to post updates and pictures of the things I make for the children, and I’ll post Eric’s gifts after Christmas, so he won’t see them. Would you consider joining us by making your own gift giving pledge?
I think this is a great idea! We are not doing this exactly, but I am trying to make lots of our gifts this year. I am signing up to follow you to see what all you do.
Thank you MamaHen! I would love to see what you are making for Christmas! I am working on a post about my ideas so far (well, at least the ones I can share on the internet without ruining Christmas!)
Thank you for linking up with the Clever Chicks this week; I hope you’ll join us again!
Cheers,
Kathy Shea Mormino
The Chicken Chick
http://www.The-Chicken-Chick.com