Christmas online

I just blew a small fortune while sitting around in my underwear. The internet is kind of awesome.

Christmas is fast upon us, so Jason and I took a date night to Walmart last week in search of More Useless Crap for the kiddies. It was surprisingly disappointing. I’ve been looking online, trying to come up with the right list for each kid, but couldn’t find anything we wanted.

See, we like to be organized at Christmas. We handle Christmas the way my folks did. On Christmas morning, each kid gets three main gifts from Mom and Dad. Hey, if it was good enough for the baby Jesus, it’s good enough for us. Besides, it makes sense. In addition to their three main presents, they each get a Santa gift Christmas Eve (and sometimes new jammies), and stockings filled with disposable junk that won’t make it through the morning. Awesome.

My kids have all been very specific about what things they want this year, so shopping should have been a snap. But frankly, we can’t afford the babysitting it would take to hunt all over town for stuffed tigers. And so, with a big jug of ice water and no lipstick on, I sat down this morning and made my way into the world of virtual shopping. Would you believe, I managed to get every single thing I needed, and stayed in the budget.

(Of course, this doesn’t include all the Forgotten Gifts I still have to buy with the $76 I have left in my Christmas envelope. That’s two sets of parents, stocking stuffers, white elephant gifts, and oh look, I haven’t got a single thing for Jason. Nice.)

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to run to the bank to deposit cash into the now depleted checking account before Amazon freaks out at me.


Comments

  1. I’m impressed the kiddos left you alone long enough to do that much shopping! Way to go on getting so much done. Oh & Snapfish or Vista print has buy one get one or two free on photo books. *shrug* What my sister & sil are getting for Christmas since they (not me, them!) live so far away.

  2. I do most of my Christmas shopping online, actually. I use Etsy, ebay, and Amazon a lot.

  3. Yep, I do my Christmas shopping online and I start in January. It really helps my hopeless budget to plan ahead. I usually work on the Grandkids first, because they are at the ages where they are easiest. I love amazon and Fisherprice. Those are my favorites.

  4. I will get my money out of my dedicated savings account on Wednesday and then Jefe and I will purchase all of our gifts online on Thursday night.

    I already have all the parents and siblings gifts done– and waiting to be shipped by amazon. I actually paid more to have them wrapped, too.

  5. I do the majority of my Christmas shopping online. It’s just such a headache to wander into the outside world during the season!

    Good luck with your $76! There are always hidden treasures at the dollar store:)

  6. It’s how I’m doing it. Coal is on sale at Amazon; 12 lumps for $25, and it qualifies for super-saver shipping. Done.

  7. I love the three present idea.

  8. I haven’t even hardly given Christmas a thought. Hubby and I will be keeping it simple. This will be my first Christmas away from my kids/grandkids. It will be very very hard.
    Christmas isn’t that big of deal without little kids around.

    Keep within your budget and you’ll be happy. I always try and encourage my kids to spend less on THEIR kids. It seems to be so much more about volume then needs lately.
    Sheeesh…this is me talking like an old lady…right??

    Jason would be fine with a little “something something” if you get my drift. (tee,hee)

    I am in Utah right now, at my daughters, will have thanksgiving with them. My son died unexpectedly Nov 11, so this is not a happy thanksgiving for us, but we WILL remember our blessings and be grateful for…..many things.