Farrell writes:
How DO you do Santa shopping for all of your kids? Online? In store? Coupons? Buy throughout the year? Tips + strategy please; ’tis the season.
Ah! It does vary. When I’m not gift-shopping, just buying normal household stuff (sheets, towels, non-perishable groceries) my general shopping strategy is “Buy it before you need it, when you find it cheap.” I do this for stocking stuffers: little toys or novelty candies (pacifier lollipops and similar) go on clearance all year, and I especially have luck in the party-supplies section where I can sometimes find 4- or 6-packs of party favors on 75% off.
But that’s not going to work as well for presents: a child might like Bakugan in the summer but be totally over it by Christmas. I do find some things clearance/cheap and ahead of time, but I’m always aware it’s a risk: some of it ends up being Gift Shelf fodder for future birthday parties they attend, or gifts for younger siblings a couple years later.
Fortunately, a lot of stores do their big bargains close to December—buuuuuuut I don’t really like to go the weekend after Thanksgiving or do any kind of shopping where I have to fight other shoppers for something. I’d rather shop online and have fun mail. Amazon.com does a lot of deals, and since I have Prime shipping I can get “free” 2-day shipping (there’s a fee to belong to Prime) on anything, even a $2 toy. I use that a LOT: a toy gets marked down to half-nothing on some one-hour deal, and it’s on my porch two days later.
I also cling like white on snow to Want Not: Mir posts alllllll the deals, and I find stuff I wouldn’t otherwise have even known to look for. Plus, Mir feels the way I do about free shipping deals (WE’RE FOND OF THEM).
I’ve had some success at stores such as Home Goods, Marshalls, and TJ Maxx: I’ve already found some dinosaur toys for Henry and a Hello Kitty gardening kit for Elizabeth, marked down to one-half or two-thirds the prices they’re still selling for at other stores. But the selection at those stores is so miscellaneous, I don’t count on it: if I see it and it seems good I buy it, but I don’t go there to find something specific.
My biggest tip is to underbuy: the kids seem to max out on excitement after about three presents, plus they’ll be getting gifts from other relatives. Plus, I know we’ll end up with a few more things last-minute, because it seems like at least one kid always develops a new and exciting hobby about a week before Christmas, or else we find a deal on something awesome, or else Paul suddenly thinks of a great idea for someone.
Yes to all these tips! Also, I loved it when you did Mir-type gift suggestions with links to deals a couple Christmases ago.
Here’s a question: what to buy a three-month old for Christmas? My ideal answer is “Nothing,” because we certainly have enough hand-me-down toys and clothes. BUT his siblings will be upset if Santa and Mommy and Daddy don’t give him anything. So far I have one wall decoration for him and that’s it.
Nowheymama | November 3rd, 2010 at 10:49 am
Thanks for answering and for the great tips!
Farrell | November 3rd, 2010 at 12:10 pm
Oh the underbuy tip is huge! Learned that the hard way with oldest’s second and third Christmases. Things got totally out of hand and he started to refuse to open things. I ended up putting our gifts away for his birthday (because heaven forbid he not open one of the - too many - grandparent gifts - sigh).
Maggie | November 3rd, 2010 at 1:05 pm
@Nowheymama, I wrapped up the baby toys I had in storage for my second son’s first Christmas. This only worked because my older son had forgotten about them, so they were new to him too, but perhaps that is a strategy? Or a super cute outfit that’s new for the baby? Or something you’ll need for him anyway, even if it’s not for a few months? like spoons or sippy cups, or a bath toy. And you could have your older kids make him something.
Clare | November 3rd, 2010 at 1:19 pm
For my own kids, I usually buy only small stuff, because I know they will get a ridiculous amount of stuff from other people. In fact, I don’t think I bought anything last year. I went downstairs and dug through my stash of books and educational toys, which I have been collecting since years before my kids were born.
For other people’s kids, I usually come up with one book and one traditional or educational toy. I also order a bunch of small trinkets from Oriental Trading Company. These are for goody bags for the girls’ class parties, and bulk-up gifts for my many nieces/nephews/etc.
SKL | November 4th, 2010 at 12:20 pm
Definitely underbuy! We ran into a similar situation last year where the little one was “all done finished!” with Christmas and ran off to hide. Might have been a teachable moment for an overoveroverindulgent Grandma, I suppose, because I refused to force him to sit down and finish opening anything. (Hey, he was 14 months old. If he was bigger, maybe a little coaxing, but seriously, it should not take two hours to open his presents on Christmas!)
CV | November 5th, 2010 at 11:03 am
My question is about budgets. Do you all say “x amount for each child” or do you just buy and are sure they have around the same amount of gifts to open?
shoeaddict | November 10th, 2010 at 7:43 pm
Shoeaddict– We aim to make it “look the same.” First rank is given to “number of presents,” since that’s what they mostly notice at the ages they are. I suspect as they get older and keener we’ll start adjusting more toward “amount spent.”
swistle | November 10th, 2010 at 10:36 pm