One great thing we do is locally there is a Christmas decor swap. Literally it's a bunch of moms that meet at a fire hall. They put out all their old stuff that is still in good condition on tables. And then anyone that brought at least 1 thing can get to pick from anything else. The swap is free the stuff is free. Whatever doesn't get chosen by others can either go back home with you, get donated, or the fire hall stays open and sells the Xmas stuff left at huge discounts then proceeds go to supporting your firehouse.
I am from a family of 7 kids. We each received 8 presents for Christmas. 3 were Santa gifts, the rest were practical gifts, like a new coat, socks a new outfit stuff like that. Santa filled the stocking too. Chapstick, hairbrushes, hairbows, lotion nuts an orange , candy and a lump of coal, just to remind you nobody but Jesus is perfect, to keep trying to do better. Holidays were fun! My grandpa always brought a big box of fanny farmer chocolate and a board game for the entire family, which we would play after Christmas dinner every year.
Keep Christ in Christmas. 🎄 i love and appreciate and cherish the older decorations and ornaments at Christmas. They are unique and not just cookie cutter, mass produced, marketed ornaments. I buy second hand when they are good quality and older, more traditional style. I like the glass ornaments. Or older colored ornaments. I think it definitely makes the holidays more special. Merry Christmas 🎄 to you and your family. 🙏🎄🎀♥️
This is the best advice! Our kids are grown and still decorate our tree with their childhood ornaments. I can't imagine changing out my Christmas tree theme from year to year.
I barely decorate... But something I've clued into, is there's a specific thing that I want, I'll shop the week AFTER Christmas. Stores have HUGE markdowns on Christmas stuff. I buy wrapping paper, even, a year ahead. 😊
I feel that! The push for “more” is real, but we can go in the opposite direction!! I LOVE decorations, but our collection of old decorations from over the years (I also got my husbands childhood ornaments from my MIL)! My kids love decorating the tree and hearing the stories. Every single year! It’s tradition that matters to us, not new and shiny. Thanks girl!!
Yes to all of this!!!! One thing my husband and I said to our siblings a long time ago was, “Let’s give each other the gift of not having to buy gifts for one another and each other’s kids as well.” All of our kids get spoiled by grandparents anyway, so why buy even more?!
When I first started out I bought the cheap shiny ball to decorate the tree. Throughout the years we have purchased new ornaments from travels etc or with names and years on them. Im 61 now and last year I donated all of my plain shiny Christmas tree balls. SO much less to store and my tree is covered in ornaments that all have memories and I love every single one. Although, as a kid, I always got a new flannel nightgown - we never got matching pajamas and I would have DIED if someone would have taken a picture of me/us in our jammies anyway.... not that there was internet back then hahahaha!
We love matching Christmas jammies and buy them after Christmas in the next size. We have paid only $5.00 for them. We begin buying presents for next year in January. If you buy one gift for each child a month, your not going to feel the crunch. We know there are things the kids ask for each year faithfully such as a Nike hoodie, which I have found at Marshall's for as low as $10.00. Christmas is the same date each year. With preparation, it can be so much fun and won't hurt the Pocketbook.
This is all valuable advice. And like all advice you can take it or leave it. No need for anyone to get in a fluster about it. Personally we are blessed to be able to spoil our grandchildren at Christmas. HOWEVER. We no longer buy for our adult children. Could we? Yes. Absolutely. Is it necessary? Of course not. They’re grown people with children of their own. We help out by fulfilling a large proportion of their children’s Santa wish lists. They get individual birthday gifts, but our Christmas budget is solely the preserve of the little ones. It doesn’t mean we don’t love our children just as much as always. It simply means that we give them credit for being mature enough to know that Christmas is not about gifts. It’s about the people you celebrate with and spending quality time with parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. Look after the small people and the rest of Christmas takes care of itself. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season 😊
I do the same thing as grandma. If money is left over, I take the kids to each buy their parents a gift, but the children are the priority. They are only little once
I agree...we have 5 kids and times are hard. I don't expect anything from family because they are struggling too. I do give gifts to my parents because they are on a fixed income and need certain things like shoes, socks and or cash to fill in here and there for groceries.
It's really sad how the prices go up but our elderly are really living by just scrimping unless they have a ton of savings. Many have depleted their savings to adjust for the higher pricing and many are also caring for a Grandchild.
Hi Toni! Your perspective is such a relief to this soul that is burdened by our commmercial culture. Please consider reposting this video at the beginning of November next year (or earlier☺️) so we get an excellent and timely reminder! ❤
Thank you so much for this video!!!! I am NOT a grinch but decor overwhelms me 😮. My family has two birthdays in December so Christmas is always a stretch. We usually put our tree up the day after the first kids birthday and take it down on 12/31. I love to keep the focus on Jesus by having my kids pick a random act of kindness to do for someone. We do it together each week before Christmas. My prayer is that we will be able to pay for a less fortunate family entire Christmas!
I am also someone who decorates starting the day after Thanksgiving and takes it down around New Years. I love Christmas, but it doesn't feel as fun and special if it is up for 3 months.
My kids always get matching PJs, they love it and wear them year-round; the only time they all 3 wear them at the same time is Christmas Day though. Yes, I have a teenager and yes she enjoys the matching pjs on Christmas. I do not get flannel though. I try to get them after Christmas for the next year. We don't get pjs for the adults though.
We did Chinese Christmas or whatever some folks call it. But we bring a female and a male gift. Place it in a bag and write a number on the bag and a slip of paper. Once lunch is over , we draw a number and match it with a bag. (Male and females gift bags are separated into 2 groups). If you want to steal a gift someone has then you can take it or keep the one you opened. Can only steal a gift from someone else 3 times. It’s a hoot but everyone is happy.
I have a two Christmas slipcover pillow cases that I’m making from thrifted fabric for 50 cents each to cover one pillow in both bedrooms. The living room has a decorated tree, and garland with fairy lights. Our dining table has a table runner made by the great grandmother. And we have two large red metal bows that are go on our wrought iron front gates. I store seasonal photos of each of our children’s families and grandchildren behind each other in frames and then rotate them seasonally. It takes about 15 minutes each season to rotate them. But the Christmas ones from years past are the most favorite.
You can thrift Xmas decor which is less expensive and much more fun 😊. My decor is mostly thrifted or things I have had for years and I decorate all over the house. 2 thrifted pencil trees so not to take up a lot of room and I try to keep stuff up off the floor so I can clean around and under easily. I put a small something in my bathroom and a little in the kitchen but not too much because that area is a work area and I don’t want too much in the way. I can decorate earlier than U.S. because our Thanksgiving is much earlier than yours. If I’m doing all the work to decorate I want to enjoy it longer but it will come down between Xmas and New Years.
Thanks for this video and your perspective. When money is tight -- none of the adults in my life even my husband are getting a thing and they know it LOL. True friends and family will not care -- make the season special for your family. I always say drive the kids around to look at Christmas lights, make cookies, have popcorn and watch a Christmas movie you borrow from the library, read books you borrowed from the library etc. In my little town, we have a light parade free, the Catholic church has a huge area filled with decorated Christmas trees free, church activities free, etc. You can make Christmas special without breaking the bank.
I have a narrow profile brown wicker basket that hangs on my front door. I fill it with artificial flowers for each of the 3 seasons we have in Texas. Spring/summer, Autumn and winter. It only requires about 3 stems per season so the 6 unused ones are easily stored. No wreath required.
This whole I have to do it the day after Thanksgiving thing is whatever but this year Thanksgiving is basically a almost week later because of the way 1 November fell so I don’t have the time and the energy to put up all my stuff for one less week, just enjoy your stuff. Just enjoy it whenever you want. We don’t have to stick to the strict things that make our lives harder and make us Explain ourselves put your decorations up whenever you want. No one have to apologize for when they put them up.
Almost all of these tips, I abide by each year. But, I never thought of giving a family gift. I love that! Thank you for sharing, and for the reminder that Jesus is the reason for the season! 🙂
Maybe make a gift, like baking or spend time together for adult folks. Doesn’t have to be costly and could be just time together, like a pot luck and games night.
Our grocery budget over doubled since 2020. Single income. Homeschool mom. Husband off from work because of injury and surgery for about 9 weeks. Work very, very slow for this time of year. It's TIGHT!
Christmas is actually the 12 days after Christmas day. Hence the 12 days of Christmas. Just saying it's celebrating the birth of Christ you can never do that to much. Since I'm Canadian I decorate Nov 15 take down Jan 15 yup 2 months of Christmas oh ya.
We are being really mindful now of what we buy for Christmas, and also how much of it! We have had our current tree for a few years now and we won’t be buying another one for a long while. We also aren’t buying any new ornaments this year because we have plenty already! So many of them have special meanings tied to them (for example my little cousin picked one out when she was a toddler, it was like £1 and we use it every year! She’s 9 now and always enjoys seeing it on our tree. We figure out the things we generally need (this year it’s a new tartan blanket for our sofa and a few new decorations) but once brought those should last upwards of what, maybe 5-10 years? It saves so much by just using the amazing things you already have ❤
I do not think you have to buy any of those things you mentioned but it is also ok to do them if you can and want to. Instead of adult gifts, we are taking our entire extended family both to a local all you can eat steak restaurant in town. Spending time as an extended family is an amazing gift. One thing we do is all the families plus the grandparents chip in for one gift per child in the trended family. Instead of getting five gifts from aunts, uncles and cousins plus grandparents, we pool all our money. So each child gets a larger gift from that side of the family. These kids all get gifts from their parents or Santa, whatever their family does. And maybe from their other side of the family. But only one gift from the other side. Each family chips in what they can afford to and the grandparents donate $20/ grandchild. Then the parents work hard to get one gift for each grandchild child. We also do not equate the same amount per child. The toddler is thrilled with their $23 fisher price little people set while a teen is getting a $60 video game. The idea is to make each child very happy. The one family which could not chip in any money, donated all the wrapping paper and chose to host a wrapping session. It has worked well and no family feels overwhelmed with a bunch of small junky gifts.
One thing is we also do homemade gifts. We grew up this way. Two of the kids is getting a hand made wooden doll bed for their American girl doll. My daughter is one of them. Grandpa makes the bed. Grandma and some of the aunts made mattress pillow sheets and a doll quilt. So that amount of money collected for those two little girls is now allocated to the others because the doll bed, while basically free , is priceless gift. The girls will be over the moon with this gift. And all made with stuff from home or little cost. That enabled us to buy Lego set, drones, and video games for their others. As well as spending a little less for the baby and some others. One of our artist nieces got a plastic tote of good painting brushes and paints. I had extra blank canvases (10) at home and threw them in. Others had new art supplies and donated them. So that gift was low cost as well. Again each child is utterly thrilled, gets a gift they really want and can use, and no clutter or small gifts that were tossed in a month or even a week.
37 years ago my husband and I for our first Christmas had a real tree with free ornaments that we got from readers digest. They came with a subscription that one of our parents gifted us for Christmas
I just let my daughter pick out one new ornament every year. We hardly ever get new decorations unless maybe it went really cheap on clearance occasionally. Storing all that stuff for the year is crazy to me.
I got my kids matching Christmas pajamas at a Kids resale event in September and I probably paid $3 for each kid! They are second hand but that’s ok with me!
Oh my goodness, this is lots of good advice! About 3-4 years ago I really wanted a wreath but like you said, they’re SO expensive and my other problem was that I could find nothing pertaining to JESUS so I made my own! My ribbon was on clearance and I attached dollar store ornaments/pieces to it that was all about JESUS; it costed me definitely no more than $15 and that’s pushing it, and I intend on using it until it falls apart! I do get matching Christmas pajamas for the kids 🤣 BUT I got them on sale and I sized up, so 2 of my kids have had the same pjs for 3-4 years and my 2 year is now in his second year (I happened to find identical ones on clearance when he was born!) and we may even get another year out of all of them! I know it’s to each his own but I do find it so hard to spend crazy amounts of money on things that will be used for 4-6 weeks out of the year.
I never buy adults Christmas gifts. Unless I’m out and just happen to see something someone would love and isn’t expensive. And my husband gets whatever he needs for himself. So I will stuff his stocking with treats and stuff 🤷♀️ And that’s that
Too late, bought new items more natural items, white bowls can use all year, big deer, few nutcrackers.had to get new stockings, mice got the old ones. Getting Rid of a lot of the theme things. Keeping my mom's n aunts crochet carolers, snowmen, trees. Using my yard of cedar, pine, pinecones. Bathroom is sage green towels with white hand towels ( normal colors in there)
I didn't get mad and I hate mean so I would not be mean. I watch videos like this because I am interested in how other people do things. I have a set of dishes that is a service for 8. They have beautiful poinsettias on them. One of my childhood friends gave them to me. They were her mom's who I knew and loved. So they are priceless. I have my mom's nativity set that's probably as old as I am. My whole family keeps the tree and Nativity set up until January 6th for the epiphany/3 Kings' Day. I have ornaments that range again from as old as I am (62) to whatever new ones we got this year. I went to the Boardwalk for my birthday with a few friends and husband-- 2 of the friends whose mom's dishes I have. We got matching ornaments for our trees to mark the day. One of their birthdays is the same as mine and one is the day after. We've been together since I was 5. Time spent like that is everything, and it's nice to have a bauble to remember it by. Now that I have rambled on I will end by saying no matching Christmas pjs and no other new decor. Thank you for sharing your ideas. Same to you guys in the comments 💚❤🤍
I do have a couple of family members who get upset, huffy, and puffy when you don't get them anything for gifts when they believe gifts are expected, especially during Christmas. My stepmother always leaves pretty much Halloween and Christmas decorations up everywhere thru her house all year long. But I'm more like my dad I don't like to decorate for the Holidays that much, hardly ever do. I believe there is other ways to show your Christmas spirit thru other things like watch holiday movies and giving your kids simple usable gifts and setting out cookies and milk for "Santa" on a Christmas cookie tray (my youngest child is 2 years old going on 3 years old on January 2nd 2025) that's how my household celebrates Christmas
We don’t go crazy with Christmas. We spend 30-50 on each kid and we do fun things like watch a movie and drink cocoa or go look at lights and make a treat to enjoy. We try and focus on Jesus and blessings others. ❤😊
My sister, mom and MIL swapped out decor through the years and now that my mother and MIL have passed the things that were theirs are very special. My grown kids OD on nostalgia and family traditions so we don’t buy new decor they would be devistated. Also we don’t always exchange adult gifts if someone is having a difficult time. I think there is so much over consumption now a days that it is difficult to see through all that. You just put it all into perspective for us. I love your channel and really like seeing what you get your kids for Christmas. You make it work!!!
We do not decorate our tree in the fashion. Ours is 95% special ornaments. And maybe 5% glass ball ornaments. Most of our decor came from the dollar tree
What we do as an extended family is fill stockings. So my sisters and adult daughters all buy 5 of their favorite thing and we fill each other stockings. Last year i brought 5 fuzzy socks and placed them in their stockings. Its a fun and inexpensive way to give to each other without spending alot. The men do the same thing. We love it
I think it's a preference but I would never do that. Our family doesn't follow the trends like everyone. We are unique and do what we feel projects our individualism...Just like all the collaboraters on TH-cam using gingerbread because it's a trend, it s over done in my opinion!
100% agree with all of this. We don't do any of these things. We made an agreement with the adults in the family that we wouldn't buy for each other so we can all save money. We also don't do stockings or an elf or any of that. We get a real tree that we decorate with the same decorations every year, and we hang a few extra strings of lights around some of the windows. That's it. And now the super controversial thing- we don't even buy gifts for our kids. They get gifts from grandparents, and that is more than enough. We used to buy gifts, and a few days later, the kids wouldn't even be able to tell you what they got if you asked them. What we do now is a lot of memory making. We make cookies from scratch, we read all the Christmas picture books, we build a gingerbread house, we tour the lights, and we cut down our own tree. We have a very full and beautiful Christmas as spend almost no money, except the tree that generally costs less than $50.
My husband and I are wearing the same matching pjs as last year, and sized up for our 2 year old. I am squeezing my pregnant belly in them and refusing to buy the next size just for one morning 🤣
I'm a long time fan of your channel and I love everything you show. But honestly this video came off with a shaming vibe and I couldn't finish it. I love that you are trying to help people save money and that they don't have to do the next trend. I have 30+ trees I decorate, starting in November and taking down in January. Every room in my house is decorated. I buy most things on clearance and thrifted. It's not in trend but we live in a Christmas wonderland all winter. It's an anti-consumerism video which is great but it definitely has shaming vibes for those that can afford things and do have special things for just one month
I definitely didn’t mean to shame at all. It was all in fun (and I have a sarcastic personality, that I do understand isn’t always appreciated) and just to encourage those who don’t have the money that certain things can be skipped. I did say a few times in the video that it’s ultimately up to you and of course you can do what you want. I’m sorry if it came off offensive, bc I didn’t mean to do that. I’m sure your Christmas wonderland house looks beautiful. ❤️
Blessedly I don’t have worry about any of this x-mas stuff anymore… Now that I know the truth about the holy data and all the pagan evils of this fake holly day… But it’s hard…it’s all hard and all the things you speak of are right and true… But maybe consider ding it. ALLLLL out…opt ours an read your your Bible instead :)
We did Chinese Christmas or whatever some folks call it. But we bring a female and a male gift. Place it in a bag and write a number on the bag and a slip of paper. Once lunch is over , we draw a number and match it with a bag. (Male and females gift bags are separated into 2 groups). If you want to steal a gift someone has then you can take it or keep the one you opened. Can only steal a gift from someone else 3 times. It’s a hoot but everyone is happy.
One great thing we do is locally there is a Christmas decor swap. Literally it's a bunch of moms that meet at a fire hall. They put out all their old stuff that is still in good condition on tables. And then anyone that brought at least 1 thing can get to pick from anything else. The swap is free the stuff is free. Whatever doesn't get chosen by others can either go back home with you, get donated, or the fire hall stays open and sells the Xmas stuff left at huge discounts then proceeds go to supporting your firehouse.
That’s a great idea!
We bought our matching pjs at targets 90% off clearance after Christmas! Family of 6 was 14.00 total!
Whaaaat?!?!!! That’s amazing! 🥳❤️
Yes!! We bought for $3-5 each at Target. 21.00 for a family of 5.
I am from a family of 7 kids. We each received 8 presents for Christmas. 3 were Santa gifts, the rest were practical gifts, like a new coat, socks a new outfit stuff like that. Santa filled the stocking too. Chapstick, hairbrushes, hairbows, lotion nuts an orange , candy and a lump of coal, just to remind you nobody but Jesus is perfect, to keep trying to do better. Holidays were fun! My grandpa always brought a big box of fanny farmer chocolate and a board game for the entire family, which we would play after Christmas dinner every year.
This is so lovely ❤
Did not know Fannie Farmer made chocolate. I just know that name from the cookbooks
Perfect!
Keep Christ in Christmas. 🎄 i love and appreciate and cherish the older decorations and ornaments at Christmas. They are unique and not just cookie cutter, mass produced, marketed ornaments. I buy second hand when they are good quality and older, more traditional style. I like the glass ornaments. Or older colored ornaments. I think it definitely makes the holidays more special. Merry Christmas 🎄 to you and your family. 🙏🎄🎀♥️
This is the best advice! Our kids are grown and still decorate our tree with their childhood ornaments. I can't imagine changing out my Christmas tree theme from year to year.
I barely decorate... But something I've clued into, is there's a specific thing that I want, I'll shop the week AFTER Christmas. Stores have HUGE markdowns on Christmas stuff. I buy wrapping paper, even, a year ahead. 😊
Yes!!! The week after Christmas is great to stock up on wrapping paper too! 🥳
Yep. We picked up dozens of rolls several years ago from Walgreens...9 and 13 cents per roll!
I feel that! The push for “more” is real, but we can go in the opposite direction!! I LOVE decorations, but our collection of old decorations from over the years (I also got my husbands childhood ornaments from my MIL)! My kids love decorating the tree and hearing the stories. Every single year! It’s tradition that matters to us, not new and shiny.
Thanks girl!!
Yes to all of this!!!! One thing my husband and I said to our siblings a long time ago was, “Let’s give each other the gift of not having to buy gifts for one another and each other’s kids as well.” All of our kids get spoiled by grandparents anyway, so why buy even more?!
When I first started out I bought the cheap shiny ball to decorate the tree. Throughout the years we have purchased new ornaments from travels etc or with names and years on them. Im 61 now and last year I donated all of my plain shiny Christmas tree balls. SO much less to store and my tree is covered in ornaments that all have memories and I love every single one. Although, as a kid, I always got a new flannel nightgown - we never got matching pajamas and I would have DIED if someone would have taken a picture of me/us in our jammies anyway.... not that there was internet back then hahahaha!
We love matching Christmas jammies and buy them after Christmas in the next size. We have paid only $5.00 for them. We begin buying presents for next year in January. If you buy one gift for each child a month, your not going to feel the crunch. We know there are things the kids ask for each year faithfully such as a Nike hoodie, which I have found at Marshall's for as low as $10.00. Christmas is the same date each year. With preparation, it can be so much fun and won't hurt the Pocketbook.
This is all valuable advice. And like all advice you can take it or leave it. No need for anyone to get in a fluster about it. Personally we are blessed to be able to spoil our grandchildren at Christmas. HOWEVER. We no longer buy for our adult children. Could we? Yes. Absolutely. Is it necessary? Of course not. They’re grown people with children of their own. We help out by fulfilling a large proportion of their children’s Santa wish lists. They get individual birthday gifts, but our Christmas budget is solely the preserve of the little ones. It doesn’t mean we don’t love our children just as much as always. It simply means that we give them credit for being mature enough to know that Christmas is not about gifts. It’s about the people you celebrate with and spending quality time with parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. Look after the small people and the rest of Christmas takes care of itself. Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday season 😊
I do the same thing as grandma. If money is left over, I take the kids to each buy their parents a gift, but the children are the priority. They are only little once
I agree...we have 5 kids and times are hard. I don't expect anything from family because they are struggling too. I do give gifts to my parents because they are on a fixed income and need certain things like shoes, socks and or cash to fill in here and there for groceries.
It's really sad how the prices go up but our elderly are really living by just scrimping unless they have a ton of savings. Many have depleted their savings to adjust for the higher pricing and many are also caring for a Grandchild.
Hi Toni! Your perspective is such a relief to this soul that is burdened by our commmercial culture.
Please consider reposting this video at the beginning of November next year (or earlier☺️) so we get an excellent and timely reminder! ❤
Thank you for the encouragement! ❤️
Thank you so much for this video!!!! I am NOT a grinch but decor overwhelms me 😮. My family has two birthdays in December so Christmas is always a stretch. We usually put our tree up the day after the first kids birthday and take it down on 12/31.
I love to keep the focus on Jesus by having my kids pick a random act of kindness to do for someone. We do it together each week before Christmas.
My prayer is that we will be able to pay for a less fortunate family entire Christmas!
I am also someone who decorates starting the day after Thanksgiving and takes it down around New Years. I love Christmas, but it doesn't feel as fun and special if it is up for 3 months.
I know plenty of people who like to have it up for a long time, which is fine for them. But I get claustrophobic and want my living room back! lol 😂
I love your shirt, you look beautiful. Your new haircut and highlights are amazing. I love the gifts😘
Thank you so much 🥰🥰🥰🥰
My kids always get matching PJs, they love it and wear them year-round; the only time they all 3 wear them at the same time is Christmas Day though. Yes, I have a teenager and yes she enjoys the matching pjs on Christmas. I do not get flannel though. I try to get them after Christmas for the next year. We don't get pjs for the adults though.
That’s awesome your kids all love matching like that! ❤️ even the teenager!
We did Chinese Christmas or whatever some folks call it. But we bring a female and a male gift. Place it in a bag and write a number on the bag and a slip of paper.
Once lunch is over , we draw a number and match it with a bag. (Male and females gift bags are separated into 2 groups). If you want to steal a gift someone has then you can take it or keep the one you opened. Can only steal a gift from someone else 3 times. It’s a hoot but everyone is happy.
I have a two Christmas slipcover pillow cases that I’m making from thrifted fabric for 50 cents each to cover one pillow in both bedrooms. The living room has a decorated tree, and garland with fairy lights. Our dining table has a table runner made by the great grandmother. And we have two large red metal bows that are go on our wrought iron front gates. I store seasonal photos of each of our children’s families and grandchildren behind each other in frames and then rotate them seasonally. It takes about 15 minutes each season to rotate them. But the Christmas ones from years past are the most favorite.
Toni, great advice! 😊
You can thrift Xmas decor which is less expensive and much more fun 😊. My decor is mostly thrifted or things I have had for years and I decorate all over the house. 2 thrifted pencil trees so not to take up a lot of room and I try to keep stuff up off the floor so I can clean around and under easily. I put a small something in my bathroom and a little in the kitchen but not too much because that area is a work area and I don’t want too much in the way. I can decorate earlier than U.S. because our Thanksgiving is much earlier than yours. If I’m doing all the work to decorate I want to enjoy it longer but it will come down between Xmas and New Years.
I did my Christmas stuff from Estate sales during spring n summer when no one wanted the things.
I enjoy watching ur xmas video ever year 😊
Thank you! 😊
Thanks for this video and your perspective. When money is tight -- none of the adults in my life even my husband are getting a thing and they know it LOL. True friends and family will not care -- make the season special for your family. I always say drive the kids around to look at Christmas lights, make cookies, have popcorn and watch a Christmas movie you borrow from the library, read books you borrowed from the library etc. In my little town, we have a light parade free, the Catholic church has a huge area filled with decorated Christmas trees free, church activities free, etc. You can make Christmas special without breaking the bank.
Absolutely!!! I agree with all of this! There are so many fun ways to make Christmas special! ❤️
I have a narrow profile brown wicker basket that hangs on my front door. I fill it with artificial flowers for each of the 3 seasons we have in Texas. Spring/summer, Autumn and winter. It only requires about 3 stems per season so the 6 unused ones are easily stored.
No wreath required.
Tony I just love this lol!!! I was laughing through it all! So so much truth😂❤
This whole I have to do it the day after Thanksgiving thing is whatever but this year Thanksgiving is basically a almost week later because of the way 1 November fell so I don’t have the time and the energy to put up all my stuff for one less week, just enjoy your stuff. Just enjoy it whenever you want. We don’t have to stick to the strict things that make our lives harder and make us Explain ourselves put your decorations up whenever you want. No one have to apologize for when they put them up.
Absolutely! We can all do whatever we want in our own house 😁
No one is keeping score. Have a good Christmas season! ❤️
Almost all of these tips, I abide by each year. But, I never thought of giving a family gift. I love that! Thank you for sharing, and for the reminder that Jesus is the reason for the season! 🙂
Good advice! When my kids were home and my budget was tight this is exactly what I did.
Maybe make a gift, like baking or spend time together for adult folks. Doesn’t have to be costly and could be just time together, like a pot luck and games night.
Our grocery budget over doubled since 2020. Single income. Homeschool mom. Husband off from work because of injury and surgery for about 9 weeks. Work very, very slow for this time of year. It's TIGHT!
The PJ thing is interesting. We got ours for $5 a piece and my kids (all teens) actually asked for them.
Christmas is actually the 12 days after Christmas day. Hence the 12 days of Christmas. Just saying it's celebrating the birth of Christ you can never do that to much. Since I'm Canadian I decorate Nov 15 take down Jan 15 yup 2 months of Christmas oh ya.
We are being really mindful now of what we buy for Christmas, and also how much of it! We have had our current tree for a few years now and we won’t be buying another one for a long while. We also aren’t buying any new ornaments this year because we have plenty already! So many of them have special meanings tied to them (for example my little cousin picked one out when she was a toddler, it was like £1 and we use it every year! She’s 9 now and always enjoys seeing it on our tree.
We figure out the things we generally need (this year it’s a new tartan blanket for our sofa and a few new decorations) but once brought those should last upwards of what, maybe 5-10 years? It saves so much by just using the amazing things you already have ❤
I don't think you're a grinch 😂 I agree with everything you said
Thank you! ❤️
I do not think you have to buy any of those things you mentioned but it is also ok to do them if you can and want to. Instead of adult gifts, we are taking our entire extended family both to a local all you can eat steak restaurant in town. Spending time as an extended family is an amazing gift.
One thing we do is all the families plus the grandparents chip in for one gift per child in the trended family. Instead of getting five gifts from aunts, uncles and cousins plus grandparents, we pool all our money. So each child gets a larger gift from that side of the family. These kids all get gifts from their parents or Santa, whatever their family does. And maybe from their other side of the family. But only one gift from the other side. Each family chips in what they can afford to and the grandparents donate $20/ grandchild.
Then the parents work hard to get one gift for each grandchild child. We also do not equate the same amount per child. The toddler is thrilled with their $23 fisher price little people set while a teen is getting a $60 video game. The idea is to make each child very happy.
The one family which could not chip in any money, donated all the wrapping paper and chose to host a wrapping session.
It has worked well and no family feels overwhelmed with a bunch of small junky gifts.
I LOVE this idea! How cool!!!! ❤️
One thing is we also do homemade gifts. We grew up this way. Two of the kids is getting a hand made wooden doll bed for their American girl doll. My daughter is one of them. Grandpa makes the bed. Grandma and some of the aunts made mattress pillow sheets and a doll quilt. So that amount of money collected for those two little girls is now allocated to the others because the doll bed, while basically free , is priceless gift. The girls will be over the moon with this gift. And all made with stuff from home or little cost. That enabled us to buy Lego set, drones, and video games for their others. As well as spending a little less for the baby and some others.
One of our artist nieces got a plastic tote of good painting brushes and paints. I had extra blank canvases (10) at home and threw them in. Others had new art supplies and donated them. So that gift was low cost as well.
Again each child is utterly thrilled, gets a gift they really want and can use, and no clutter or small gifts that were tossed in a month or even a week.
37 years ago my husband and I for our first Christmas had a real tree with free ornaments that we got from readers digest. They came with a subscription that one of our parents gifted us for Christmas
We are bringing back homemade holidays at our house, many gifts handmade and today's project is making a cardboard house garland with my preschooler❤
I just let my daughter pick out one new ornament every year. We hardly ever get new decorations unless maybe it went really cheap on clearance occasionally. Storing all that stuff for the year is crazy to me.
Thats sweet! I actually try to get my kids each one new ornament every year, but they’re usually thrifted too. ❤️
I got my kids matching Christmas pajamas at a Kids resale event in September and I probably paid $3 for each kid! They are second hand but that’s ok with me!
That’s an incredible deal! 🥳
I just realized that the majority of my christmas decor is from my parents & in-laws. But I over did the gifts for my kids this year. 😅
That’s sweet! I love the sentimental items from our parents and in-laws. Not everyone has that!
Love your perspective. Thank you!
Same on pretty much everything you said!! Same girl, same...
Yes! 🙌
Oh my goodness, this is lots of good advice!
About 3-4 years ago I really wanted a wreath but like you said, they’re SO expensive and my other problem was that I could find nothing pertaining to JESUS so I made my own! My ribbon was on clearance and I attached dollar store ornaments/pieces to it that was all about JESUS; it costed me definitely no more than $15 and that’s pushing it, and I intend on using it until it falls apart!
I do get matching Christmas pajamas for the kids 🤣 BUT I got them on sale and I sized up, so 2 of my kids have had the same pjs for 3-4 years and my 2 year is now in his second year (I happened to find identical ones on clearance when he was born!) and we may even get another year out of all of them!
I know it’s to each his own but I do find it so hard to spend crazy amounts of money on things that will be used for 4-6 weeks out of the year.
I never buy adults Christmas gifts. Unless I’m out and just happen to see something someone would love and isn’t expensive. And my husband gets whatever he needs for himself. So I will stuff his stocking with treats and stuff 🤷♀️ And that’s that
Too late, bought new items more natural items, white bowls can use all year, big deer, few nutcrackers.had to get new stockings, mice got the old ones. Getting Rid of a lot of the theme things. Keeping my mom's n aunts crochet carolers, snowmen, trees. Using my yard of cedar, pine, pinecones. Bathroom is sage green towels with white hand towels ( normal colors in there)
That’s ok! Sounds like you got what you needed and what you could afford. Nothing wrong with that. 😁
I didn't get mad and I hate mean so I would not be mean. I watch videos like this because I am interested in how other people do things. I have a set of dishes that is a service for 8. They have beautiful poinsettias on them. One of my childhood friends gave them to me. They were her mom's who I knew and loved. So they are priceless. I have my mom's nativity set that's probably as old as I am. My whole family keeps the tree and Nativity set up until January 6th for the epiphany/3 Kings' Day. I have ornaments that range again from as old as I am (62) to whatever new ones we got this year. I went to the Boardwalk for my birthday with a few friends and husband-- 2 of the friends whose mom's dishes I have. We got matching ornaments for our trees to mark the day. One of their birthdays is the same as mine and one is the day after. We've been together since I was 5. Time spent like that is everything, and it's nice to have a bauble to remember it by. Now that I have rambled on I will end by saying no matching Christmas pjs and no other new decor. Thank you for sharing your ideas. Same to you guys in the comments 💚❤🤍
I do have a couple of family members who get upset, huffy, and puffy when you don't get them anything for gifts when they believe gifts are expected, especially during Christmas.
My stepmother always leaves pretty much Halloween and Christmas decorations up everywhere thru her house all year long.
But I'm more like my dad I don't like to decorate for the Holidays that much, hardly ever do. I believe there is other ways to show your Christmas spirit thru other things like watch holiday movies and giving your kids simple usable gifts and setting out cookies and milk for "Santa" on a Christmas cookie tray (my youngest child is 2 years old going on 3 years old on January 2nd 2025) that's how my household celebrates Christmas
@StarKirtman -- my granddaughter is due January 2nd 2025 ! 😊
We don’t go crazy with Christmas. We spend 30-50 on each kid and we do fun things like watch a movie and drink cocoa or go look at lights and make a treat to enjoy. We try and focus on Jesus and blessings others. ❤😊
Shop end of season for next year for seasonal things
Yes! 🙌
My sister, mom and MIL swapped out decor through the years and now that my mother and MIL have passed the things that were theirs are very special. My grown kids OD on nostalgia and family traditions so we don’t buy new decor they would be devistated. Also we don’t always exchange adult gifts if someone is having a difficult time. I think there is so much over consumption now a days that it is difficult to see through all that. You just put it all into perspective for us. I love your channel and really like seeing what you get your kids for Christmas. You make it work!!!
We get new pjs not matching and got at 5below
We do not decorate our tree in the fashion. Ours is 95% special ornaments. And maybe 5% glass ball ornaments. Most of our decor came from the dollar tree
Love it! ❤️
What we do as an extended family is fill stockings. So my sisters and adult daughters all buy 5 of their favorite thing and we fill each other stockings. Last year i brought 5 fuzzy socks and placed them in their stockings. Its a fun and inexpensive way to give to each other without spending alot. The men do the same thing. We love it
Lovely idea 😊
Very nice idea. Stocking a can be a budget buster
I think it's a preference but I would never do that. Our family doesn't follow the trends like everyone. We are unique and do what we feel projects our individualism...Just like all the collaboraters on TH-cam using gingerbread because it's a trend, it s over done in my opinion!
100% agree with all of this. We don't do any of these things.
We made an agreement with the adults in the family that we wouldn't buy for each other so we can all save money.
We also don't do stockings or an elf or any of that. We get a real tree that we decorate with the same decorations every year, and we hang a few extra strings of lights around some of the windows. That's it.
And now the super controversial thing- we don't even buy gifts for our kids. They get gifts from grandparents, and that is more than enough. We used to buy gifts, and a few days later, the kids wouldn't even be able to tell you what they got if you asked them. What we do now is a lot of memory making. We make cookies from scratch, we read all the Christmas picture books, we build a gingerbread house, we tour the lights, and we cut down our own tree. We have a very full and beautiful Christmas as spend almost no money, except the tree that generally costs less than $50.
👍😂
My husband and I are wearing the same matching pjs as last year, and sized up for our 2 year old. I am squeezing my pregnant belly in them and refusing to buy the next size just for one morning 🤣
I'm a long time fan of your channel and I love everything you show. But honestly this video came off with a shaming vibe and I couldn't finish it. I love that you are trying to help people save money and that they don't have to do the next trend. I have 30+ trees I decorate, starting in November and taking down in January. Every room in my house is decorated. I buy most things on clearance and thrifted. It's not in trend but we live in a Christmas wonderland all winter. It's an anti-consumerism video which is great but it definitely has shaming vibes for those that can afford things and do have special things for just one month
I definitely didn’t mean to shame at all. It was all in fun (and I have a sarcastic personality, that I do understand isn’t always appreciated) and just to encourage those who don’t have the money that certain things can be skipped. I did say a few times in the video that it’s ultimately up to you and of course you can do what you want. I’m sorry if it came off offensive, bc I didn’t mean to do that. I’m sure your Christmas wonderland house looks beautiful. ❤️
@@ourthriftyhomeschool It's totally okay! I still love your channel!
@@nobodysbusinesswhocares 🥰 thank you!
And to think I spend over 1000 in 2 gifts lmao........
Point being??
@dianaray1470 triggered much
❤🇨🇦
Christmas makes people crazy. YUP. Walmart is driving me bonkers. Every time I go, carts are FULL of toys, decor, clothing etc!! To me it is insane.
We only do a Christmas tree, and a Christmas shower curtain lol!! I would like to decorate a bit more eventually, but decor is costly!
Blessedly I don’t have worry about any of this x-mas stuff anymore…
Now that I know the truth about the holy data and all the pagan evils of this fake holly day…
But it’s hard…it’s all hard and all the things you speak of are right and true…
But maybe consider ding it. ALLLLL out…opt ours an read your your Bible instead :)
We did Chinese Christmas or whatever some folks call it. But we bring a female and a male gift. Place it in a bag and write a number on the bag and a slip of paper.
Once lunch is over , we draw a number and match it with a bag. (Male and females gift bags are separated into 2 groups). If you want to steal a gift someone has then you can take it or keep the one you opened. Can only steal a gift from someone else 3 times. It’s a hoot but everyone is happy.