Christmas

First, for the digital camera for your girl - Wal-Mart and K-Mart usually have some in the $20 area. We got one for my daughter - it was Little Mermaid. Ate batteries like mad, tho - so if you get one of those, make sure the batteries are out when not in use.

As for amount we spend - well, I don't really keep track. I buy equal numbers. But, I think $135 is totally reasonable for the kids.

As for the saving part - check with your bank. I know that if you have an account at a credit union, they can set up a "Christmas Club" account for you. You specify a dollar amount to be put into this account each month and in October, it rolls over into your (I think) checking account. It's pretty simple - we did it a few years. I don't know if banks offer anything like that - but you might want to check.

Christmas is hard. And that sucks - my folks made it look SO easy!! No wonder they didn't want to get up at 4 o'clock on Christmas morning!!

We have actually managed to do pretty well with $50 per child, plus $10-$15 each to buy each other a gift and again per parent. I know that's really on the low end compared to many famillies, but it is what we've been able to afford. My kids don't have as many fancy things as some of their friends, but they are also not deprived. 2 of my kids are teens, and they are used to it being this way. They do each own iPods, partly from requesting cash as gifts for their birthdays, and earning the rest. They really appreciate those iPods as they had to earn part of them. Every family is different and you have to do what works for yours, but I guess all I'm trying to say is that it does not have to always be big or splurgy. I have really learned to shop for deals to make the $50 from Mom/Dad/Santa really stretch. The classroom stuff is so much fun at that age isn't it? Both of my daughters did that, and my 9-1/2 year old still enjoys it from time to time. You sound like you have all the basics for her already. I think at one point we added on pads of paper for attendance taking and passing out assignments to the 'students', and we also bought stickers to put on their 'work' after it was graded. You also mentioned the camera. I picked up a mini digital camera, attached to a keychain, for my son last year from Walgreens among their stocking stuffers. It cost $10, and works decently. Also, does she like music? I think at that age we got our kids portable CD players, and if she already has one adding CD's can be fun. DVD's can be great gifts as well. My youngest keeps a running list on the fridge year round of things she wants for Christmas/Birthday (they're 2 days apart!) so I'm never short on ideas for her. She has things from a very broad price range. Hope some of this may help!

Well at that age I really did not care for toys but craft stuff. Maybe things to create. You can get a digital camera with the printer (maybe check out ebay). If she likes the creative stuff, you could get her a scrapbook kit to get her started. Just an idea.

I also loved making beads. You put them in the oven and creae them out of clay. I am not sure if she is into this kind of stuff or not.

Just a side note for you and Christmas expense. This was the first year my husband and I saved for Christmas thru the year and let me just say it was great. We are currently putting away 12 per month (it was a raise received and we did not put it into our budget). I know this amount maybe high, but even if you put away $20 a month it would give you a little jump start. If you can do $20 per child per month than that would cover both for Christmas. It has worked great for us. That way you do not have to come up with the money all at once. We put it in an evelope in the cabinet and forget about it. Hope I have helped a little! Good luck!

I will ask the kids to tell me three things they want within a budget (for example $25). Then I will buy only one. That way the kids get surprised and I do not have to worry buying something they do not like. I learned this from a friend and have not done on my kids as they are too small (3 years and 8 months). Sometimes I think with TV commericals, it is easy to spoil kids. When I grow up, I only got new outfits on New Year, beginning of school year, and birthday (the max).

Try jewelry making, scrapbooking, card making, etc. My sisters girls really started to get into crafts around that age. Books, I believe you can never go wrong with books.

I really don't know how much we spend. We shop for birthdays and Christamd all year from clearance racks and awesome sales, so it is hard to say how much we spend. i would gues roughly $100. Since we use clearance racks and sales, they get alot of stuff for that price. Sometimes we go a little over and sometimes we go as low as $50. We spend more for thier birthdays than for Christmas, it is more affordable that way.