Christmas 2022.

[LisaL]

Dream come true! Celebrating Christmas at WDW. It's a great treat for the whole family and the experiences are the gift! We will probably budget $100-150 in gifts per person at the most. Mostly stocking stuffers and smaller gift. And there are always fun treasures to be found at the parks. We'll decorate with cute, festive garlands and lights. Maybe a gingerbread house craft. So much fun to be had!

 

[DL1WDW2]

Oops sorry this in reply to post 20 .Guess I skipped a few replies accidentally…
Hi I just googled this to recommend.
i have a custom screen for my Jeep windshield & it is so easy to put into & out of the window.

I purchased mine at Jeep dealership but looks like Amazon has custom design for the Bolt .

 

[QueenIsabella]

Oops sorry this in reply to post 20 .Guess I skipped a few replies accidentally…
Hi I just googled this to recommend.
i have a custom screen for my Jeep windshield & it is so easy to put into & out of the window.

I purchased mine at Jeep dealership but looks like Amazon has custom design for the Bolt .

View attachment 710145

Thanks! He has a 2011 Toyota Camry. It gets very hot in summer, here in North Carolina. OTOH, I got my oldest one of the "snow screens" that goes outside the car--she lives near Boston. Less sun, tons of snow!

 

[MICKIMINI]

Our son and DIL get AP's and two or three separate DVC accommodations through the year. DH and I consider our AP's/DVC trips to be our gifts to each other. We all spend at least one trip together. Everyone is happy!

 

[HHMcG]

We will be traveling before Christmas for the first time this year. I’ve never wanted to because I never want to miss any seasonal activities, I LOVE Christmas so much. But I turn 50 on Dec 20 this year and am ‘getting’ and DW Annual Pass so DH suggested we need to be in Disney on my birthday. OK!!!! So our family of 5 will be at Disney Dec 17-20. Then we have a ski trip planned with extended ‘like’ family Dec 28-Jan 1. We haven’t all gotten together since pre-pandemic. So lots of travel planned.


I would like to hold back a little with gifts this year but I’m not sure if that will happen. I would love to buy my immediate family AP for Disney (since they will each go on 3 trips this year with me) so it’s probably worth it. If only they would resume sales. I may be able to get other people Disney gifts too as they will be traveling there with me this year.

 

[HHMcG]

(like Trader Joe's Jingle Jangle).

Never heard of this, googled and added it to my list of filler gifts.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Never heard of this, googled and added it to my list of filler gifts.

Worth every calorie!

 

[LisaL]

We will be traveling before Christmas for the first time this year. I’ve never wanted to because I never want to miss any seasonal activities, I LOVE Christmas so much. But I turn 50 on Dec 20 this year and am ‘getting’ and DW Annual Pass so DH suggested we need to be in Disney on my birthday. OK!!!! So our family of 5 will be at Disney Dec 17-20. Then we have a ski trip planned with extended ‘like’ family Dec 28-Jan 1. We haven’t all gotten together since pre-pandemic. So lots of travel planned.


I would like to hold back a little with gifts this year but I’m not sure if that will happen. I would love to buy my immediate family AP for Disney (since they will each go on 3 trips this year with me) so it’s probably worth it. If only they would resume sales. I may be able to get other people Disney gifts too as they will be traveling there with me this year.

Happy birthday!

 

[Pooh2]

A big change for us is we will not be decorating outdoors with Christmas lights.
Kind of sad about it but our electric bill doubled in August and we are expecting another increase Dec 1st.

Already got most of the grandkids shopping done in case of shortages/delivery delays.

 

[Cassamenia]

Ugh! I need help!
I did this to myself, it has little to due with inflation.
I am a geriatric millennial stuck between 2 generations and stupidly keep my Christmas budget the same every year even though, even outside of inflation, it gets more expensive every year!
My kids are 8 and 11 and what they want is more expensive every year! Also, (this is the part I did to myself) when my oldest was three and his sister barely six months, I did a cute little paper bag a day, advent count down to Christmas. It was fun and filled with Picnic in the Park coupons, dollar store bubbles and candy he never ate from Halloween. Every year it gets more and more expensive as they get older and every year around this time I tell them, you guys are over it, right? No need for our paper bag countdown? They look traumatized at the suggestion but no longer want dollar store bubbles and there is no left over candy!
What do I do? I created a monster!
The budget for them, and everyone else on my list (we draw names for adults on both sides, I also have 6 nieces and nephews combined) stretches less and less each year.
I am having a small panic attack just typing this.
It is only October, please send help!

 

[MyGoofy26]

Not necessarily due to inflation, but the timing works out for that, but we're scaling back for our kids. They're 3 and 1 and after Christmas they'll turn 4 (12/31) and 2 (1/7). As you can guess, it gets insane with gifts around the holidays, especially since my husband and I both come from families where gifting is our love language. The girls still have a closet shelf each of unopened gifts from last year we haven't gotten around to yet.

We decided after last year we were going to scale back our own gifting, focus on experiences. So far we have Blues Clues live tickets and waiting on our Bluey show to go on sale. And I've started collecting small toys on sale here and there. Plus WDW beginning of December.

We were gifted a Carnegie Museum membership last year and it's been so great to have. We've used it so many times on the actual Carnegie museums and the extensive list of reciprocal museums, so it ended up really helping the budget over the past year not having to pay for a lot of fun outings so we're letting the in laws know that renewing that would be a very welcome gift. Our local zoo membership just expired and I didn't renew in anticipation of someone asking for ideas and being able to throw that out there as well.

My husband and I will get a few small fun things for each other, but we just bought a shed and decided to call that a mutual Christmas gift. We bought our house 2 years ago and I foresee a lot of Christmases just being new projects.

Back to the Carnegie membership, if anyone is in the Pittsburgh and you have kids, definitely look into it. Two visits and it was paid for and they're part of two different reciprocal organizations so the list of other museums is huge. The Children's Museum isn't part of the main membership, but it's a reciprocal museum, so if you take your kids there often the Carnegie membership is actually cheaper. Between this and our zoo membership we have free or half price admission to SO many places wherever we go. It's fantastic.

 

[QueenIsabella]

Ugh! I need help!
I did this to myself, it has little to due with inflation.
I am a geriatric millennial stuck between 2 generations and stupidly keep my Christmas budget the same every year even though, even outside of inflation, it gets more expensive every year!
My kids are 8 and 11 and what they want is more expensive every year! Also, (this is the part I did to myself) when my oldest was three and his sister barely six months, I did a cute little paper bag a day, advent count down to Christmas. It was fun and filled with Picnic in the Park coupons, dollar store bubbles and candy he never ate from Halloween. Every year it gets more and more expensive as they get older and every year around this time I tell them, you guys are over it, right? No need for our paper bag countdown? They look traumatized at the suggestion but no longer want dollar store bubbles and there is no left over candy!
What do I do? I created a monster!
The budget for them, and everyone else on my list (we draw names for adults on both sides, I also have 6 nieces and nephews combined) stretches less and less each year.
I am having a small panic attack just typing this.
It is only October, please send help!

If it makes you feel better, I did this to myself with the "Elf on a Shelf". Our elf was a trouble maker, moved around every night. It was fun for the first couple years, but after a while, it was, "Oh, crap--what's Snowflake going to do tonight?" Finally one year, we wrote a letter saying this was the end of the line, and substituted in a new family tradition.

You could maybe tell them that, now that they're older, the tenor of the advent calendar has changed. Now, instead of getting little gifts (because they're not-so-little anymore!), you're going to do one family activity each night (or something). You could have a few easy ones in there, like sing a Christmas carol or watch a favorite movie or read a Christmas book. Baking cookies, making simple ornaments, putting (fake) candles in the windows, helping a neighbor.

I happen to have 4 kids, with a 6-year gap in the middle. #2 is autistic, so he believed, way longer than he had a right to. When he figured it out, I told him that now, it was his turn to be part of the magic from the other side. I would use that approach with your kids--they're now old enough and mature enough to spread Christmas cheer to others, and see the joy that they help to create. There will still be plenty of candy and presents on Christmas morning!

 

[TwoMisfits]

Ugh! I need help!
I did this to myself, it has little to due with inflation.
I am a geriatric millennial stuck between 2 generations and stupidly keep my Christmas budget the same every year even though, even outside of inflation, it gets more expensive every year!
My kids are 8 and 11 and what they want is more expensive every year! Also, (this is the part I did to myself) when my oldest was three and his sister barely six months, I did a cute little paper bag a day, advent count down to Christmas. It was fun and filled with Picnic in the Park coupons, dollar store bubbles and candy he never ate from Halloween. Every year it gets more and more expensive as they get older and every year around this time I tell them, you guys are over it, right? No need for our paper bag countdown? They look traumatized at the suggestion but no longer want dollar store bubbles and there is no left over candy!
What do I do? I created a monster!
The budget for them, and everyone else on my list (we draw names for adults on both sides, I also have 6 nieces and nephews combined) stretches less and less each year.
I am having a small panic attack just typing this.
It is only October, please send help!

I'd start a new tradition - my kids have countdown chocolate advent calendars which they can have after dinner and after we light the wreath, say prayers, and sing a christmas carol. And it's just enough to be excited, without breaking the bank. Usually, I get the Trader Joe's ones, so I'm in for only a couple bucks per kid, but even if the price doubles this year (which I expect), it's still only gonna be about $10/kid...

We also try to watch a Christmas special every week of Advent on the Sunday nights...which is free.

PS - I had an old tradition of wrapping all the Christmas picture books and we'd open one per night to read...but then my boys hated sitting for reading and I hated wrapping 25 books, so that one just stopped...and it was okay that year and no one misses it...

 

[AmyAnne]

Ugh! I need help!
I did this to myself, it has little to due with inflation.
I am a geriatric millennial stuck between 2 generations and stupidly keep my Christmas budget the same every year even though, even outside of inflation, it gets more expensive every year!
My kids are 8 and 11 and what they want is more expensive every year! Also, (this is the part I did to myself) when my oldest was three and his sister barely six months, I did a cute little paper bag a day, advent count down to Christmas. It was fun and filled with Picnic in the Park coupons, dollar store bubbles and candy he never ate from Halloween. Every year it gets more and more expensive as they get older and every year around this time I tell them, you guys are over it, right? No need for our paper bag countdown? They look traumatized at the suggestion but no longer want dollar store bubbles and there is no left over candy!
What do I do? I created a monster!
The budget for them, and everyone else on my list (we draw names for adults on both sides, I also have 6 nieces and nephews combined) stretches less and less each year.
I am having a small panic attack just typing this.
It is only October, please send help!

Can you put coupons for experiences in the paper bags? Like "This coupon is good for one trip to the zoo."

 

[MomToOne]

My kids are 8 and 11 and what they want is more expensive every year! Also, (this is the part I did to myself) when my oldest was three and his sister barely six months, I did a cute little paper bag a day, advent count down to Christmas. It was fun and filled with Picnic in the Park coupons, dollar store bubbles and candy he never ate from Halloween. Every year it gets more and more expensive as they get older and every year around this time I tell them, you guys are over it, right? No need for our paper bag countdown? They look traumatized at the suggestion but no longer want dollar store bubbles and there is no left over candy!
What do I do? I created a monster!

Just time to tell them no, and ask them for ideas for a new, inexpensive tradition. I know it's hard, but it's OK to change things.

Or change what's in the paper bags (with warning to them ahead of time - surprises like that would NOT have gone well with DD growing up, but with advance warning it was always fine). Maybe a Christmas-themed joke, puzzle or brain teaser each day. Or just a few chocolate kisses or other small candies.

 

[Cassamenia]

Everyone: Thank you!
After loosing it while typing that all out to you I talked to my husband when he got home. Christmas has always been on me, he just goes with whatever I say. He agreed with all of what you had to say and we talked to the kids. I asked point blank if they would rather get a small chocolate or coupons for fun, free things. They settled on a mix. The point I drove home with them is all the little toys and things in the paper bags would take away from what I could buy on their actual list, which they did not want. I feel like I let this fun tradition take over and I am glad it is under control again. Thanks for the advice, sorry I briefly high jacked the thread!

 

[wweazel]

I'd start a new tradition - my kids have countdown chocolate advent calendars which they can have after dinner and after we light the wreath, say prayers, and sing a christmas carol. And it's just enough to be excited, without breaking the bank. Usually, I get the Trader Joe's ones, so I'm in for only a couple bucks per kid, but even if the price doubles this year (which I expect), it's still only gonna be about $10/kid...

We also try to watch a Christmas special every week of Advent on the Sunday nights...which is free.

PS - I had an old tradition of wrapping all the Christmas picture books and we'd open one per night to read...but then my boys hated sitting for reading and I hated wrapping 25 books, so that one just stopped...and it was okay that year and no one misses it...

we still do this!

 

[wweazel]

Everyone: Thank you!
After loosing it while typing that all out to you I talked to my husband when he got home. Christmas has always been on me, he just goes with whatever I say. He agreed with all of what you had to say and we talked to the kids. I asked point blank if they would rather get a small chocolate or coupons for fun, free things. They settled on a mix. The point I drove home with them is all the little toys and things in the paper bags would take away from what I could buy on their actual list, which they did not want. I feel like I let this fun tradition take over and I am glad it is under control again. Thanks for the advice, sorry I briefly high jacked the thread!

some of our activities are a candy cane hunt, driving around looking at Christmas lights in our PJs, dancing to Christmas carols in our fuzzy socks, and choosing /shopping for someone from the angel tree. We do a few small gifts too, like a family puzzle or new fuzzy socks

 

[Eastern]

I cleaned my mother's house during a visit over the summer and found at least 10 years worth of Christmas presents stuffed in a closet unopened.

This is everyone's closet who does family-wide Christmas gift exchanges.

 

[Minnie121]

Everyone: Thank you!
After loosing it while typing that all out to you I talked to my husband when he got home. Christmas has always been on me, he just goes with whatever I say. He agreed with all of what you had to say and we talked to the kids. I asked point blank if they would rather get a small chocolate or coupons for fun, free things. They settled on a mix. The point I drove home with them is all the little toys and things in the paper bags would take away from what I could buy on their actual list, which they did not want. I feel like I let this fun tradition take over and I am glad it is under control again. Thanks for the advice, sorry I briefly high jacked the thread!

We do a mix of candy and coupons in our calendar. Some inexpensive ideas we do for coupons: a slurpee or hot chocolate from 7-11, they get to pick the movie for family movie night, a day off from chores, stay up as late as you want on a saturday night. The kids love it!!