And You Will Have Kids

Four of my five children were born on holidays.  It is a difficult thing to pull off a holiday celebration and a birthday party! Not only is it stressful for the party planner, but it’s hard to find people who are able to attend the party because many of them have other plans.

My heart just breaks for my daughter who was born on New Year’s Day because by New Year’s Day, most people are “done” with the holidays.  Most people have also been out late the night before and really don’t want to attend another party on New Year’s Day.  Perhaps you have a child born on or near a holiday and are wondering how to make their birthday “special” in the midst of all the rush that holidays seem to bring.  More →

Dear “And You Will Have Kids”,

I know that you have a large family like we do.  Every year, we try to take a Christmas photo to send out with our cards.  This year it’s difficult as we are having to cut costs and I will have to take the photo myself.  Do you have any Christmas photo tips to share?

Photo Challenged

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How are your Christmas preparations going? Good I hope!  This week, I’ll share my “to-do” list for the upcoming holiday with you.

Check Out the Early Sales

Some stores in our area are having Black Friday sales starting tomorrow.  Sears, for example, has discounted clothes up to 50% and they sent a coupon in the mail for an addition 15% off selected items!  Kmart also had an early sales flyer.

As my oldest is 15 and wants clothes for Christmas, I’m going to check out that sale to see if I can get some deals. More →

Today as I was purchasing my children new shoes for school, I thought of Operation Christmas Child. Operation Christmas Child collects gifts for needy children all over the world which are sent in shoeboxes.  Although the group that collects the boxes is a division of a religious organization called Samaritan’s Purse, you don’t have to be religious or practicing a certain religion to participate.

For many years, we had participated in the program, until I became a single mom raising 4 children.  There was simply no money left to think about extras in those lean years, but we’ve come a long way since the lean years.  I am now remarried and my husband and I have a son.  Our family has been talking about ways we can give to others this holiday season and I think this may be a good way to do just that.

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This Friday, I’m going to do another “two for” post just like I did last week.  With the worldwide economic downturn, many families will be shopping frugally when they are preparing for the holidays. For that reason, I’m combining Frugal Friday’s post with the series that I’ve begun on Christmas.

There are a number of stocking stuffers you can purchase for your children that are actually under $5!  Read on to see my favorite 5 stocking stuffers. More →

If you’ve been following along with the blog, you’ve seen that I’ve started a Frugal Friday segment to share some frugal ideas I’ve used. You’ve also noticed that I’ve started a series where each week we break down the preparation for the holiday season into smaller, more manageable tasks.  This week, I’m going to write a “two for”!  Yes, this will be a frugal Christmas blog entry.  

Black Friday is a sort of shopping holiday here in the United States.  I say that because perhaps you are reading this and you don’t live in the United States.  Black Friday happens the day after Thanksgiving (which happens to be a Friday) and is called such because many retailers offer deep discounts on products and they make a hefty profit on that day.  Their budgets are “in the black” or on the positive side of the ledger.

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Christmas is about 2 months away!  I could count the days, but I’d freak myself out, so I’m purposely being vague. I’ve got too much to do and too little energy to be freaking out.

Last week in my blog post, I talked about making lists and getting ready for the holiday.  This week, I’m still making my gift list.  I find that it takes time to make a list for gifts-and a few trips to some stores to see what is available.  What do you get for the person who has everything, or can actually buy themselves everything they want? It’s tough.

Finding the Perfect Gift For A Difficult Someone

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This is my third week of preparing for Christmas.  Right now, I’m just getting organized, but once Halloween is over, the pace will pick up considerably.

Last week, I printed out all of my lists and prepared my Christmas folder.  I also updated my snail mail and email Christmas card lists.  I added some people to the list and deleted some from the list.  I also changed the addresses of those people who have moved both virtually or in the real world.

Start Budgeting

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And we’re off!

September is almost over and soon Halloween will be here! In a few short months, Christmas will be arriving.  Don’t panic, but do get started with holiday plans now.

Things to do this week:

*  Start purchasing candy for Halloween.  The selection is best now and you can find some wonderful sales! I try to purchase at least one bag of candy weekly starting now until Halloween.  You may need more or less candy depending upon many things.  For example, how many school parties will your children be attending?  Will you need to contribute to these events?  On average, how many visitors can you expect on Halloween?  Is Halloween one or two nights in your community?  Will you be donating any goodies to your church for any community events that they may be having?  That’s a LOT of candy!

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When I was a child, it seemed to take forever for Christmas to arrive. 

I never realized until I had kids that there is only a month between Thanksgiving(for us in the USA) and Christmas.  Seriously, that month seems shorter than any other month of the year, including February.  Going backwards on the calendar, you will notice that there is an equally short month between Thanksgiving and Halloween.  Time warp back another month, and you have the start of school.

After Christmas, you just have time to blink your eyes and New Year’s Eve is happening.  Since my fourth child was born on New Year’s Day, we have a birthday celebration on that day as well.

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