2012 Christmas Club

[Insane]

Well I am kinda updating my Christmas Ideas, now that it is "back to school" and my kids arent in school yet, with all the sales starting I picked up two rubbermaid containers with handles, they are see through, one with a pink lid and one blue. I am making "craft kits" Cheap as borscht crayons, pencil crayons, paints etc will all fill up the "Craft Kits" the day after everyone goes to school and I can still get the stuff for next to nothing! MAN I am s.m.r.t.! There were also a lot of DVDs at Wal Mart on special for $5.00 each, some of them with 2 movie in them, picked up those for the stockings....still planning a big shop when the Halloween costumes are on sale the week after, my kids are LOVING dress up lately.

One thing that I am thinking of as well is giving "Peach Upside Down Cake" gifts. I am canning a case of peaches right now and it is more than we will eat of them through out the year, we have 10 pints and 5 quarts of peaches. I did some of the pints in vanilla rum butter sauce. Think I might buy some 9 inch round pans, make a home made yellow cake mix, pair the jar of peaches and the mix in the pan with instructions and va-la! On the other hand too, I might get a bit greedy with the peaches and delve into the canned apples or do an apple butter and homemade spice cake recipe in a loaf pan.....hmmmm....what would you guys prefer to get?

BOTH!!! I wish I could can fruit here. No pick your own around here and it's just not practical when buying from the store.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

Found a cute plastic doll crib/high chair set for $20 a liquidation world. Will go perfect with the cabbage patch doll DD is getting for Christmas. Worth looking at if your DD likes dolls etc.

[DianneS]

If anyone is thinking of doing food baskets for Christmas, Liquidation World has Tostitos Salsa for $1 per jar. The best before date is in 2013. I saw it last week and picked up one jar to see how it tasted because it was called `Restaurant Style`. It was great, so I went back and got 12 more jars. We go through lots of salsa here and I also thought it would be a great item to add to a food or to a home movie basket for Christmas.

[bargain_hunter_lola]

If anyone is thinking of doing food baskets for Christmas, Liquidation World has Tostitos Salsa for $1 per jar. The best before date is in 2013. I saw it last week and picked up one jar to see how it tasted because it was called `Restaurant Style`. It was great, so I went back and got 12 more jars. We go through lots of salsa here and I also thought it would be a great item to add to a food or to a home movie basket for Christmas.

Ours had it too but I only bought one jar and used it all for a chicken recipe on night for dinner. I hope they have more by the time I get back there! DH loves salsa. Thanks for the reminder!

[lilo0003]

oh Dianne & Lola, I could hug you for the salsa review. I am down to my last jar and my older son loves it. off to LW now, fingers crosssed

[bargain_hunter_lola]

Some fun things (for crafty people) that I saw on pinterest:

[Chantel]

I LOVE the nailpolish one. A perfect little gift.

[Chantel]

Broke down and got pintrest!


You put on an 'ornament' each year what your child asked for from Santa that year.

http://media-cache-ec4.pinterest.com...SM1nTgj5_c.jpg

[Chantel]

Candy sleighs!


Take a piece of your Christmas tree off each year and make an ornament with it. Unfortunately only works if you have a real tree.

[Granger]

Keep posting the Pinterest Pics Chantel...I am avoiding signing up for another website I will waste billions of hours on...your pics are great and may hold me off.

On my Christmas note: Pampers Gift to Grow had Chapters Gift Cards up ($10) for 1200 points each. I had enough for two. They will make great Christmas gifts for my teacher friends.

[DianneS]

Pinterest is definitely one of those sites where it is easy to spend countless hours. I love, though, that all the great Christmas ideas I find there can be pinned to my "Holiday" board where I can easily find them when I need them.

[isthia]

Walmart has some things on clearance (well, I guess they always do!). Anyways, I found some small leatherman-style folding pliers/knife multitool. Marked down to $5! Would make a super stocking stuffer!

[Chantel]

http://www.thecreativityexchange.com...-and-kids.html

Some cheap and easy gifts there. If you scour the thrift stores or dollar stores, I'm sure you can find a plate and bowl that would look nice together, and hotglue them together, the bowl as the stand upside-down and the plate as the tray. There's a tutorial for doing it on that page as well.



If you have silicone cupcake molds in snowflake patters (and if you're like me, you do, and don't know what the hell to do with them) TRY THESE.


That's the kind of mold I have. I think instead of exclusively peppermint I will also do cookies and cream.



Save your old, burnt out lightbulbs. This can be done with bulbs of any size, but doesn't look as great with twinkle lights. Dip in slightly watered-down glue (think paper mache, but a bit thicker) so it doesn't glob, and roll in glitter. Do not put back into an electrical socket of any kind after doing this. They make great table decorations, or you could even attach them by a string and run them around a tree that you don't want any lit lights on.

[Chantel]

"Bake marbles at 325/350 for 20 min. Put in ice water to make them crack on the inside." So cute, endless possibilities for these. You can make something to hang in the window, tree decorations, necklaces... so many things you can do!


Oreo cookies and cream bark. You can use knockoff oreos, they really do not taste any different. This takes 2 ingredients and is perfect for if you've forgotten to make something and are totally screwed for time. Crunch up a bag of sandwich cookies, heat white chocolate over a double boiler, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, let stand 5 minutes and combine. Spread onto a paper-lined cookie sheet and chill for 10 minutes (freezer, people! Or outside, it'll be winter after all) and break into pieces either by hand, with a fork or a knife when chilled.


I am doing baking as a gift this year (could you guess?) so this is how I am presenting my gifts. Cheap, fun, awesome. You could even get your kids to help with this, just make sure they have something over their faces so they don't breathe spraypaint or get it in their eyes.

Tins go for 25c at the thrift stores, who really wants a hundred old cookie tins with brand names on them?

Just make sure the tins you buy are flat. If they have raised lettering or images like some of the cadbury tins do, that'll ruin the effect.

[bekki3]

Chantel... love your ideas!!