Monday, November 15

My $100 Christmas for 24 people

*** Spolier Alert for Family Members - Do not read!***

Between Dear Husband and I, there are 6 nieces, 4 nephews, 8 siblings (4 blood and 4 in-law), 4 parents, and now, 1 child. And dare I forget to mention The Crazy One. Even he has a stocking that Santa likes to fill. Plus this year, we decided to adopt a child. Even though we are staying on a budget this year, we know there are people out there who have NO budget for the holidays.

The first thing I did was head straight to my credit card's rewards program. There, I had enough points for $200 Visa gift card(GC) and a $20 Walmart GC. Score! Along with those I had a $20 Best Buy GC that I received for purchasing a video game for Dear Husband's birthday.

Here are my purchases. Not everyone is bought for yet. I still have 2 nephews, 1 niece, and 1 couple (sister and brother-in-law) left to buy for. But I'm feeling very good about what I have accomplised with very little spent out of pocket.

First thing I bought was $100 worth of credit to Picaboo for only $35 on Groupon. This will pay for photobooks of Little Man for both sets of parents (and one for us too!)
3 Star Wars Panckae Molds from Williams Sonoma - $63.44 or $21.15 per couple. My goal was $20 per couple, so I was very close.



Twister ($11.65-$3.00 Hasbro Rebate) to shared by nieces #1 & #2, and nephew #1
Elefun ($13.77 - $3.00 Hasbro Rebate) for nephew #1
Spider-Man Memory ($5.30 - $2.00 Hasbro Rebate) for nephew #2 (he's got more coming...)
Chutes & Ladders ($3.18 - $2.00 Hasbro Rebate) for Adopted Child (he's getting more too!)
Pitcureka ($10.60) for niece #3
Funglish ($16.95) for niece #4 (It was orginally $19.99 + tax but I had a 20% one toy coupon)
Total for that trip was $61.45 but I am getting $10 in rebates and I also recieved a $10 GC to TRU since I spent more than $35 on Hasbro games.

Next trip was to A.C. Moore to pick up an art set and paper for niece #1. After being allowed to use two 50% of one item coupons, I spent $13.49.

Target has great clearance sales on clothing for kids. I purchased 2 pants and 2 long sleeved tops for $13 for Adopted Child. That's $3.25 a piece!

Today I went back to TRU because I had a $10 GC burning a hole in my pocket, and one of the toys on my list was on sale.
Iron Man Rocket Boost ($10.89 -was on sale for $14.99 and I had a $5 off coupon ) for nephew #2
Friendship Bracelet Craft Kit ($10.59) for niece #2
Sesame Street On the Go Purse ($13.77) for niece #5
Tap a Tune Drum ($10.59) for Adopted Child
My workbench ($22.25) for Little Man (Christmas)
Crawl & Play Tunnel ($31.79) for Little Man (Birthday)*
Total for Christmas Gifts this trip $68.09

*The reason I bought Little Man's birthday gift now, was because I had a coupon for a $10 GC if I spent $75.



Total for Christmas Gifts so far.... $254.47
Thanks to my Visa GC, I only spent $54.47 out of pocket. And I am getting $10 back from Hasbro!

What I have left to spend:
I still have a $20 GC to Walmart, a $20 GC to Best Buy, and a $10 GC to TRU and I have 5 people left (as mentioned above) to shop for. I am trying not to spend more than $100 total out of pocket, and it looks like I will make that goal.

Oh and if you're wondering what I'm getting Dear Husband, we've talked about it, but aren't sure what we're going to do yet.