HiveBloPoMo | Shopping For The Holidays Inspired By @greensandpinks

This post is kinda a respone to another post by @greensandpinks. My comment was starting to get kinda long so I decided to make it a post.

I need to consider my budget this year. Money doesn't go as far as it used to, so I've got to think through if I need to raise the shopping budget to give gifts similar to what I've given before, or to lower the budget, because daily living has gone up so much and I don't have as much disposable income.
I'm glad that our children are all grown and can understand that. They are feeling the pinch, too.
Will this year be the year we all decide "only homemade gifts" or set a top limit on the gifts we give?

My Situation This Year

I have 5 children (all grown), 27 grandchildren and 7 great-grandchildren. Two of my children have no kids.
When things are tight as they are I try to give to everyone 16 & under, the age changes every year with the oldest in that group.

I feel that once they have children, the gifts either get smaller or there's no gift at all. There has been times when I've gone all out & everybody gets a little something, then there are times when I had nothing to give but my love. Either way they all understood, even the teenagers.

I always try to give all the childre 5 yrs & under something. After all Christmas is not about gift giving and while the younger children don't understand that, the older ones should.

The Process

First of all I usually pick up things during the year when I see them on sale. Money is always a little tight, so when the time gets here, I see what do I have & who can I give it to. There's always T-shirts, little trinkets, personal care products, & many little everday items that you can give.

I start with the toddlers cause they're the young ones that are just learning to unwrap gifts, then I move to the older kids & teenagers, & then the babies.

I also must consider who are siblings and who will be around on Christmas Day. I have one daughter who has 8 children & 7 grandchildren. This is usually where I spend my Christmas Day & have dinner with her family. So these are the children I usually consider first.

Shopping This Year

Money is tight as I'm still paying off personal bills (like my new cell phone) so I have to pick things up when I can. I'm a dollar store person and tend to find some great little trinkets there. I don't do Black Friday, I tend to spend where I can and when I can.

The other day I was in the dollar store & I saw some of those poppit things the kids love, they were little bracelets, so I plan to pick up about 7 or 8 of them & give them to some of the smaller kids. If money allows it, I will get them some other small item as well. I'm big on giving things that people often don't think about.

Like one year I gave almost everybody socks, some packs, some 2 or 3 single pair. So to finish off, whenever I can get everyone something, it makes the event that much more of a special occassion and everyone is surprise because they got something, no matter how big or how small.

Conclusion

Don't fret over things like what you gave last year or the year before. Things chage from year to year & some years are better and some not so much. Buy what you can afford & those homemade gifts aren't a bad idea either. One year I gave out pies.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS SHOPPING & GIVING TO ALL!!