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BS: Christmas on a budget
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Zany Mouse Date: 02 Dec 06 - 10:29 AM Huh! It looks like my Christmas is cancelled too, Micca. I'm going into hospital on the 21st for an op and will be in the High Dependency Unit for 5 days after that. Happy Christmas! Rhiannon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Liz the Squeak Date: 20 Nov 06 - 04:24 AM Good idea Bunny, there are my Christmas cards sorted!! LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Bunnahabhain Date: 19 Nov 06 - 10:53 AM Another good one for inexpensive presents are nice photos you've taken yourself. It costs next to nothing to get them printed up to a decent size. You can do a 8x12" print, and do a mountboard frame for it for less than two pounds each. Assuming you have a camera, and time. Photoshop is also useful. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Diva Date: 18 Nov 06 - 07:01 PM Can't imagine they would be Mrs Duck..... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Mrs.Duck Date: 18 Nov 06 - 04:53 PM I bet the directors of farepak aren't scrimping on their own christmas! And Micca you're always welcome to share ours! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Diva Date: 18 Nov 06 - 06:25 AM everyone I know is of the same mind, can we cancel christmas this year..or at least move it to february!!!! Actually its a huge problem for folk with small weans and not much cash......the kind of folk that rely on the likes of the farepak hampers.... We are lucky in that we have the wit and resources to turn it round into a decent celebration |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Micca Date: 14 Nov 06 - 04:08 PM I suspect ,thanks to recent events, Christmas has been cancelled anyway |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Zany Mouse Date: 14 Nov 06 - 12:57 PM Careful, Sal, you could end up with a Yule Folk Festival!! Rhiannon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: the lemonade lady Date: 12 Nov 06 - 12:27 PM Steve... that's a good idea, but I have just moved into a little cottage in the middle of nowhere and I'm not that keen on going away from it. Does anyone want to come here and do something in the middle of nowhere with me? Walking, singing, drinking.... need i go on? Sal |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Liz the Squeak Date: 09 Nov 06 - 04:48 PM My inlaws managed to halve their Christmas list this year.... their youngest son, his wife and their 4 children have all moved to St Helena! Because of the long time to get anything out there (average 2 weeks, can be 6 in bad weather), the box went last month! If anyone wants any bay leaves for gifts, decorations etc, let me know - we have a 15ft bay tree that needs its bottom branches trimming. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: MBSLynne Date: 09 Nov 06 - 03:40 PM Gosh, how much does it cost to do that sort of thing? I'm fascinated by all this stuff and would love to have it done. I'm not sure how far they can determine the different European strains...do you know? This is worth a separate thread I think Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: mg Date: 09 Nov 06 - 02:14 PM We don't exchange many gifts except for the young children. This year I will make a donation to charity in my family's name and also I am going to get gene-coded to determine my mother's ancestral line through National Geographic Genome project. We will see how the Cornish line comes through..although perhaps I should consult with my brother who did the geneology...I don't think it was her mother's mother who was Native American...Cornish and Welsh on my mother side of the family but also German etc. Father's side is all Irish -- Black Irish --- that should be interesting. It goes back 10,000 years so we could not resolve the Spanish Armada question though. mg |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: MBSLynne Date: 09 Nov 06 - 09:38 AM Yes Sally, that's one of the reasons we stopped sending Christmas cards about six or seven years ago. It's an excuse only to get in touch with people once a year, people give cards to all the neighbours in the street when a) They hardly knjow each other and b) it would be much nicer if they went round and SAID "Happy whatever" instead of sticking apiece of paper through the letter box, it wastes trees, it puts money in the pockets of the very people who are ruining Christmas by it's commercialism. It got so silly...we had a list of over 100 people to send or give cards to. So one year we told everyone we were stopping the whole Christmas card thing and instead would give a donation to one of the homeless charities, whihc we have done every year since. Someone I know, since his wife died and his kids have grown up, spends his Christmas helping out at "Crisis at Christmas" or one of the other similar charities in Birmingham. I've always vowed that, once my kids had gone I would do the same. He gets a great deal of joy and satisfaction out of his whole Christmas and, hopefully, so do a lot of people who otherwise would have totally awful Christmases Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Zany Mouse Date: 09 Nov 06 - 06:12 AM I tend to think of it as "Winter Festival" which covers everything. We celebrate it in grand style but as a traditional thing, rather than as a religious thing. I celebrate Yule quietly but that is my religious festival. Steve: You could start a Winter Festival Festival for those who can't face the family 'fun'. Rhiannon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Schantieman Date: 08 Nov 06 - 06:24 PM Brilliant ideas Liz & Lynne! (I haven't bothered to read any further up the thread.) Nostalgia ain't what it used to be either, Sally! Why don't we find ourselves something worthwhile to do at Christmas? (or, as a devout atheist, I ought to call it something else but....) We could go sailing for example? Any other hardy souls want to come?? Steve |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: the lemonade lady Date: 08 Nov 06 - 05:41 PM Wow Zany, join the club. I refuse to do christmas anymore because it ain't what it used to be. I always buy things for others that i'd rather keep for myself so, bugger em, that's what I say. Save your money and relax. I don't send any cards either. Well maybe one or two to people I really care about and can't get to see. Why do we need to send cards to those we don't see. We can just phone. Why only remember them at Christmas? We should be in touch all year round. Yeah grumpy old woman, but that's cool! Sal |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Donuel Date: 08 Nov 06 - 03:04 PM Sell the gift of giving on Ebay. Describe your item as a family in need of Christmas and people willing to spice up your holiday in any kind hearted way they can. You get Christmas and the buyers get a warm feeling of giving Christmas Cheer. Ebay will be pissed and want their 10% of the good will under threat of court action. Send them 10% of a nice warm feeling. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Zany Mouse Date: 08 Nov 06 - 02:35 PM Just a thought - instead of Christmas cake, which can be rather heavy with all the other christmas fare around, try the sultana cake from the Yorkshire Farmhouse Cookng thread. Cheap and quick and easy to make. Yummy! Rhiannon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: MBSLynne Date: 08 Nov 06 - 08:06 AM We've tried to bring the children up to celebrate Christmas (or Yule, which is what we are actually celebrating) as a family day. We have no relatives close enough to go and visit so we stay at home for the whole day, apart from, perhaps a walk after dinner. The children still get more than is good for them, but a lot of it is small things I've collected as I've seen them or thought of them all year. Unlike many of their friends, their 'main' pressie is usually about £25, not up into the hundreds. They have never seemed to be envious of others and are always delighted with the small things they get. I have a Tesco clubcard and save the three-monthly vouchers to buy any extras in the food line for Christmas. We splash out on a bottle of bubbly (though it's usually Aussie sparkling, not French champagne). I make the cake, pudding, mincemeat, mince pies over the two or three months before the event, so spreading both effort and cost. I have a savings card in the local butchers and put .50p a week on it. I think our single biggest outlay is a haunch of venison from a local farm. We give pressies to only a very few people, and then we keep the cost under £10 each, or under £5 for some friends. I have made presents in the past but find it hard ot find the time at the moment. We don't have a Christmas tree. I cut willow and make a "Yule Arch" under which we put the pillow cases and presents. We use the same decorations year after year including a lot of the things the kids have made at school and proudly brought home each year. It always amazes me how much people seem to buy each Christmas. Their supermarket trolleys are loaded to capacity and some people seem to have two. Love Lynne |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Liz the Squeak Date: 08 Nov 06 - 03:11 AM Morticia - thank you, yes... it 'went down' as well as its subject matter, it's behind me now as I type, and gets commented on often by visiting 'Catters. I've lived through a few lean years myself, and nothing was better than the gifts my grandmother and mother made themselves. As for decorations.... We had a lean year at church some time ago - no spare money to buy flowers or anything for Christmas and folks were prepared for a bleak and bare looking service. Being a bit of a traditional Christmas/festival nut, I gathered a whole load of ivy and pyrocantha (firethorn) from various gardens (many were pleased to get someone else to trim it), bought some nuts, garden wire, oranges and cinnamon sticks and grabbed a glue gun. The nuts were glued together with a wire stem and varnished, the oranges were sliced and dried in the oven and the cinnamon sticks were tied in little bundles with a curly ribbon. We made the greenery into swags and wreaths, dotted the oranges, sticks and nuts around them in a decorative manner and had the loveliest smelling church that year! Total cost was about 12 hours labour, £2 for 10 huge oranges, £3 for a big bag of hazelnuts and almonds. The most expensive item was the cinnamon, a massive £4.50 for a box of 20 sticks. Result was 5 tidied and trimmed gardens, 4 x 6ft swags, 5 wreaths, 3 arrangements, 2 happy arrangers and 125 impressed parishoners at Midnight Mass. And even better - I rescued the nuts and fruit, and will be using them again pretty soon! If you are willing to spend time and thought, rather than pounds and pence, you can come up with the most amazing things. LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Zany Mouse Date: 07 Nov 06 - 01:15 PM I've just come across this site: http://organizedchristmas.com/article80.html There are one or two excellent ideas there. I particularly like the bean soup idea. I'm gradually getting there - well the planning at least. I hope everyone else is. I was shocked to discover it is only just over 6 weeks away! Rhiannon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: JennyO Date: 07 Nov 06 - 10:26 AM I gave a certain friend of mine (a Mudcatter) some fluffy lavender bedsocks a while back - but there was a story attached to those, related to a former Mudcat thread ;-) If I get moving instead of sitting around here so much, some of my friends might get lemon curd and mint sauce for Christmas this year. I'd make pesto too, but I don't think the basil will be ready in time. I really have a very limited budget this year, so some sort of creative thinking is going to be required. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST Date: 07 Nov 06 - 10:18 AM If the people in your family haven't already discovered those fuzzy-wuzzy super-soft socks for laying around in your jammies....wrap up a pair for everybody. They have given more people a thrill for less money, it's incredible. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: katlaughing Date: 06 Nov 06 - 11:23 PM We adults still by presents for one another, partly because three of siblings never married ro had children, so we are their only family. Also, partly, for me at least, because I like to make meaningful gifts. Usually they pertain to something I have been working over the past year: jewellry when I was making it almost full-time; a copy of my book the year it was published; this year the ancestors' photos; one year I made CDs of our family singing Christmas carols which was recorded in the 1950s plus one of my grandma reading to us back then. It turned out pretty neat and didn't cost much. My kids gave "chore vouchers" one year. Worked well for all involved. Last year, my niece sent me one long, white, cotton men's sock. It was wrapped up with a pretty bow and a note to call her. Included was a small vial of lavender oil. She instructed me to buy some rice; fill the sock with it; put a few drops of the oil on it; warm it in the microwave and apply to whatever part of me was achy...usually my neck and shoulders. I couldn't believe how soothing and relaxing it was! I still sleep with it handy as it is just right for my neck when it is too tight. she learned about it from her midwife and used it for her lower back. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST,mg Date: 06 Nov 06 - 07:19 PM If you have small children, keep them at home, at least in the morning, let them enjoy things there, don't drag them hither and yon to visit multiple groups of relatives. Let relatives come later in the day to your house, visit people nearby later on, or use the week after Christmas to make social calls. It is too hard on the kids, and too stressful for parents. If there is a divorce situation, don't drag them around excessively. Perhaps they can spend Christmas morning with Dad and Mom can take them the next day for a special event, and switch every year or whatever. mg |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Rasener Date: 06 Nov 06 - 04:31 PM We normally go away for christmas. That way we don't get sucked up into visiting family and feeling guilty. That way they don't buy for us, and we don't buy for them. However this year as my Mom is on her own and disabled in a nursing home, we will join her at the nursing home. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Desdemona Date: 06 Nov 06 - 04:03 PM I've very often made foodstuffs for gifts: sweet breads, muffins, fudge, marmalade, etc. Most people already have enough "stuff" cluttering up their houses, and something homemade that can be eaten is usually very welcome. In addition to not breaking the bank, I find it infinitely more pleasant to spend those pre-holiday evenings in the warmth of my own kitchen, rather than in the crowded, soul-crushingly muzak-laden commercial maw of the local shopping mall! ~D |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Bee Date: 06 Nov 06 - 03:53 PM I'm a gift maker, particularly for adults. I've made fancy warm scarves with beaded ends, sewn winter hats, painted canvas mats, earrings, amomg others. For kids, especially when they hit that hard to guess what they want stage, I'll often fold a twenty with the 'face' up and frame it in a tiny dollar store frame. And if there's just two of you, you can have the grocery butcher cut your turkey in half so you have a more sensible amount left over. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Morticia Date: 06 Nov 06 - 03:18 PM I can only reiterate on the home made gift front, I have done everything from prettified jars of chinese spices to home made pot pourri, from sloe gin to hand painted glasses, from framed cross stitches ( one year I did some with an illustrated first line of the folk song the reciever liked to sing......I think it went down well). I agree that sometimes they probably work out even more expensive but how satisfying to give and, hopefully, to recieve. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST Date: 06 Nov 06 - 02:33 PM If you know some people associated with local productions and it is in your power to get free or discounted tickets to a play or concert in the dead of January, wrap same up in teensy weensy packages with itsy bitsy bows, and in a card promise to babysit the rugrats that night. You can give a memorable experience which leaves no clutter behind. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Zany Mouse Date: 06 Nov 06 - 01:20 PM These are some great ideas. I used the 'voucher' system when I was younger as I have millions of sisters with zillions of children/brats. They all longed for babysitting vouhers. Most of the little buggers went to boarding schools so their parents weren't really geared up to looking after them during school holidays. More ideas please. Keep 'em coming. Rhiannon P.S. Well done H! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: The PA Date: 06 Nov 06 - 11:49 AM My husband is one of 7 brothers and sisters, all married with children, so years back we suggested that we only buy for the children not the adult, and then only up until they left school at 16 or 17. The look of relief on the faces of the adults was amazing. Now as the years have gone on the children are older and there are less and less to buy for, so we all meet at a different house each christmas and cook something to take for dinner. This eases the burden of all the shopping and cooking and everybody says they really look forward to meeting up at Christmas instead of dreading it as some families do. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST Date: 06 Nov 06 - 11:30 AM Good idea, Alice. Homemade gifts can wind up inadvertently blowing the budget because nuts, chocolate, etc. ingredients, as well as wrappings, jars, tins, and cards aren't cheap. Many a frugal housewife has gotten sucked into a Martha Stewart vortex and been nickel-and-dimed to death while trying to save money. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Alice Date: 06 Nov 06 - 10:23 AM My son doesn't expect a gift. He knows he has everything he really needs. I have one friend that I give to each year because I know how she struggles. I buy her baking ingredients, chocolate chips, brown sugar, walnuts, etc., because I know she wants to be able to bake for her family and friends for Hannukah and have something to give as a gift. That helps her more than if I bought her anything else. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Becca72 Date: 06 Nov 06 - 09:32 AM We have a fairly large family and a few years back decided that we would no longer buy gifts for the adults. Now only the kids get presents and it's much easier to manage. I also exchange gifts with a couple of close friend and we have given ourselves a $10 spending limit. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: My guru always said Date: 06 Nov 06 - 08:59 AM Already written on the list Zany as per your instructions!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: bfdk Date: 06 Nov 06 - 08:29 AM One idea to give to elderly relatives who maybe aren't as agile and spry as they used to be; a gift voucher for some kind of help around the house or garden. This could be a card divided into sections, and each section saying what it can be exchanged for - 1 x window cleaning, 1 x lawn mowing, 1 x car wash by hand, 1 x snow shoveling or whatever comes to mind. If you've kids, let them decorate the voucher(s). I've used this idea a few times in my student days, and it has always been well received :-) Best wishes, Bente |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 06 Nov 06 - 12:16 AM I don't spend much as I don't have a family! Well, my brother & his family live interstate, & my sister lives in Kuwait. Over the spending season, I tend to hide from the heat & sit around eating prawns (shrimp, yum, my To-me-From-me pressy) & listen to music etc. I buy a few token pressies for friends, & make cards, pressies & decorations as gifts. I give my 11 year old niece & 15 year old nephew a small pressy & a gift card from a department store as I don't what they want. I don't want to make the same faux pas my aunt made with my teenaged brother decades ago! The last time I got a list fom my sister-in-law my 8 year old niece & 12 year old nephew wanted strange stuff I'd never heard of, including CDs that had explicit lyrics warnings. As I'm too old to go thru all that again, I just send them $50 each. What a mean aunty - ya should buy kids zillion dollar stuff, sez the advertising industry. Nope, sez I, I prefer giving money to charities who can put it to better use. Tho I do a little for the Retail industry, as I normally manage to buy myself a few tiny christmas decorations to go with my tiny 6 inch/15 cm. tree. sandra |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST Date: 05 Nov 06 - 10:08 PM garg, what a lovely idea! I'll have one of your candles! Please deliver in person. your secret admirer |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST,.gargoyle Date: 05 Nov 06 - 09:58 PM Celebrate Kwanza, or a Festival of Lights.
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 05 Nov 06 - 08:51 PM "I make a lot of hot sauce from scratch to give to friend" I scratch a lot - how do you make the sauce? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Donuel Date: 05 Nov 06 - 08:03 PM Go on Holiday savings time. (a little invention of mine) What you do is celebrate Thanksgiving on Christmas, on Valentines day you have a modest Xmas, on Easter you have Valentines day etc. Everything is marked down quite nicely this way. By the time the holidays come around again you will have Halloween on Thanksgiving when no one comes to take your candy so you get to keep it all. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Zany Mouse Date: 05 Nov 06 - 05:38 PM It was more of a general query for all Catters who are hard up this year (there seems to be rather a lot). My tip is to avoid the more expensive fare like expensive cakes and bake simple ones at a fraction of the cost. Make your own pressies, bakes, etc are always an acceptable gift and can cost pence to make. More ideas for cheap pressies would be good. Also, reach an agreement with friends that NO gifts are exchanged, We try this every year but somehow it never works out. This year I'm standing firm (are you listening H?). You're right about time being the best gift of all. Let's hear more ideas. Rhiannon |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Mrs.Duck Date: 05 Nov 06 - 05:02 PM Luckily we have never exchanged gifts with friends and as close family know the predicament we're in they won't expect anything this year. The children will make something nice for Grandma and Grandad. Santa has secretly been visiting Nettos and Aldi stocking up on cheap but interesting stuff for the littlies. The family will all be at home and if there isn't quite so much to eat this year we'll cut the added cost of Rennies and Alka Seltzer lol |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST Date: 05 Nov 06 - 05:01 PM Ebay, sell things that are kicking about that you no longer want. Skipy |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: katlaughing Date: 05 Nov 06 - 04:22 PM Homemade gifts are the best. This year, (bet, close your eyes!) I hope to have all of the heirloom family pictures (g/grandparents, homesteads, etc.) on CDs to give to all of my siblings and their kids as well as my own. One year I had a big garden with lots of gourds. My kids were just babies and I ahd no money. each eprson got something made out of a gourd: a rattle, a teaset (not very practical, but decorative), a pipe, and windchime. Write and illustrate a story. One friend told me she wrote eulogies for each of her family members. She'd just read "Tuesdays with Morrie" and was inspired to tell them NOW what she would share on their passing. They loved it. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Rasener Date: 05 Nov 06 - 04:17 PM When I lived in Holland, my wifes family always drew a name out the hat. There was a limit on the amount spent. Also everybody had to name 3 presents that they would like within the price stated. A list would be made for all the family with the 3 choices against each name. We indiviually drew a name from the hat, and we didn't tell anybody who we had drawn. We would then look at the list and see what our selected person wanted. It worked brilliantly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: dianavan Date: 05 Nov 06 - 03:36 PM Yesterday, I sat down with a friend and we created dozens of hand-made Christmas cards from scraps of paper, etc. Pack chai spices in a jar and put a bow around it. Make Christmas tree ornaments - a wonderful keepsake. As for the kids, make cookies. Keep it simple and stress free. Your family will remember the atmosphere long after the gifts have been forgotten. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: GUEST,wordy Date: 05 Nov 06 - 02:32 PM Without trying to be facetious, can I suggest that you ignore the whole mad, overhyped bollocks that is today's "buy me" Christmas and just spend time with those you love. Time is the best present any of us can give in the modern day. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Christmas on a budget From: Clinton Hammond Date: 05 Nov 06 - 02:16 PM We're making wine, and will be baking cookies... Always a BIG hit! |
