Christmas shopping & saving

How is your Christmas shopping going?

I know, I know, it’s not even Halloween yet, but it’s NEVER to early to think about Christmas. Truth be told, I’m done Christmas shopping, and I didn’t have to go into debt doing it. That’s the best part.

Here is how I did it and maybe my ideas might help a few of you? Feel free to share your ideas as well!




The main reason why this was possible was because I shopped sales throughout the year, and although it may be late for some of you to take advantage of that now, it’s surely something to think about next year. I used websites like kidswoot.com and Amazon.com to help make this happen.

Another way I was able to save was because we are stationed in Germany. Our PX has a small selection of toys that is currently growing to meet the Christmas demand, but other than the PX, there aren’t many other options as far as shopping for children’s items out here unless I want to pay a lot of Euro. So, this special circumstance kept me from wandering through the isles at Target or Toys-R-Us and mindlessly buying toys for Christmas.

Living in Germany also provided a unique opportunity to put together Christmas boxes for family members with authentic German items enclosed and sending those for Christmas gifts. So again, this kept me from having to go wander through a store looking for things for my brother and sisters. The items we put in those boxes will last throughout the years AND are priceless in my opinion. This is one idea that is perfect and cheap for wherever you are stationed and it’s not to late at all to take advantage of this idea for this holiday season.

I also kept track of what we bought our kids throughout the year to keep from overbuying and to stay on budget. This has been an important aspect of my Christmas shopping for the past few years. It is way to easy to forget how much each item was and the quantity of what we bought our kids, so writing it down kept us in check.

Another thing that kept me in check this year was the prospect of having to wrap all the gifts by myself. My husband is currently deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, so that means all the gifts for BOTH kids and family members fall on my shoulders as far as wrapping goes this year. I suck at wrapping gifts. I use to much tape and to little paper and it just drags on and on. Plus, I can only do it at night once I am positive the children are asleep so that they don’t wander downstairs and ruin the surprise. Bottom line, wrapping gifts is a pain for me, so if I don’t buy to many gifts, that means less time getting paper-cuts!

I hope my Christmas shopping experience helps some of you this year as you embark on your Christmas shopping adventures. Please feel free to share some of your tips on saving during the holiday season! Good luck!