It’s getting closer to Christmas and all of our gifts aren’t purchased, but I’m not panicking. I don’t want to rush out and purchase something just for the sake of it. I have a little less than three weeks, and have plenty of time to find the right gift for everyone. For the adults in our family that we buy for, I like to give them something that I know will be used. Last year, all of the adults received a bag of Starbucks coffee purchased on sale of course, along with a bag of Russell Stover chocolates that were nearly free after rebate at Walgreens.

I haven’t seen any great sales lately on Starbucks coffee this year, and Walgreens no longer does their rebate program, so this year I’ll have to be a little more creative. I don’t know if I’ll be doing the coffee again this year, but I do want to make cookies, and candies for our adults this year; since it’s something they can use.

I have some excess in my stockpile of items that were purchased at deeply discounted prices when combined with coupons and sales. The men will be receiving deodorant, body wash, and a razor; while the women will be receiving either the cookies or the candy. Sometimes I feel a little guilty giving away gifts that cost me so little, but this is how we’re able to stretch our budget and give to all of the people that we want to in our family. Baking cookies and making candies will definitely help me stretch our budget and will allow me to make things at a fraction of the cost of what it would be to purchase them outright.

I actually have some of the gifts for the kids that we are buying for already purchased. By watching sales and waiting for the right price on things throughout the year, rather than going out the day before Christmas and paying full price I was able to pick up some really nice gifts at a much lower price.

Stumped on what to buy for that hard to buy for person? Think about their hobbies, or purchase something neutral. Check out my post on giving creative gifts. These things can be purchased throughout the year to cut down on costs around Christmas time.

Well, it’s not really gingerbread, but we were able to construct a house out of Nabisco Graham Crackers and plenty of icing to hold it together. This was a really neat project for the kids and kept them entertained for about an hour while they worked on putting it together. I searched for a recipe on making my own gingerbread house from scratch, but after I found one, decided that I was not that ambitious. My daughters were really wanting to make a gingerbread house for their brother, so I decided to go out and purchase a few things to make it happen.

I purchased a box of Nabisco Graham Crackers, two tubs of icing, a bag of M&M’s, a box of Dots, a Hershey’s Candy Bar, and Candy Canes. We didn’t end up using the candy bar or the candy canes, and the house turned out fine. To pipe the icing, we put some in a Ziploc bag and cut off the tip of the bag on the bottom, which makes a great piping bag.

Our first house we put together fell apart, so we made one a little differently the next time. The one pictured is still standing. From rooftop to base it is almost five inches tall. We constructed the bottom of the house with four sides, but to give the roof more stability we placed a ceiling on top of the four walls with icing of both sides which held to the walls, and the roof of the house. We then placed our rooftop together with more icing, and cut a triangle out of graham cracker to place between the roof to give it more stability, and of course added more icing. The key to the entire house holding together, was all of the well placed icing.

After the whole house was put together, we put M&M’s and Dots on for the decoration. The green M&M’s around the path are supposed to resemble bushes, but they didn’t work out so well. All in all, we had a fun time putting it together, it allowed us to spend some time together, and of course, eat all of our mess-ups in the process.

Our family is planning a canoe trip for next year and I am already planning and thinking about the items I need to bring. Why am I thinking about this so early? Well I love to plan. I love to make lists, and I love to look at lists. Lists are comforting to me because they are simple, organized, and structured. I am actually really excited about the canoe trip! It is three days and two nights on the river, so all the camping gear, food, and other essentials will need to be in the canoe with us. Of course the people have to fit in the canoe as well, so packing light is key.

This is a trip I took on three different occasions while I was in Camp Fire, but my brothers and I enjoyed it so much that we wanted to do it again. I made these trips as a teenager, and remember all the hard work that went into it, but also all the fun we had. I basically haven’t been camping in more than ten years so I have zero equipment. The great part is though that because I’m a fanatical planner, I’ll have everything I need before the trip, and hopefully will pay rock bottom prices for everything I need. The other good thing is that I can borrow what I don’t have from family who won’t be going on the trip. Any camping equipment that I do end up purchasing will cut down on the following years costs as well.

I wasn’t able to make the trip that my family took this year, but in talking with my mom and brother who did make the trip, we’ve decided to start a list now so that we won’t forget anything for next year. Planning this early is actually a good thing because it will allow us to make our purchases for the trip at a price we are willing to pay, rather than waiting right before the trip and purchasing everything at full price.