It’s Christmas time! This is truly my favorite time of the year! I have so many good memories being a kid and ‘doing Christmas’ together. I knew it was the Holiday season when my dad pulled out Handel’s Messiah remixed by Quincy Jones. Now that I have my own little ones, I look forward to when Christmas will become something special to them as well. We also want to try to keep our Christmas cost from overwhelming us as well. When we first got married we were BROKE! We were so broke our nativity only had 2 wise men. We had a very dollar store Christmas when we were first married. Fast forward 5.5 years and two kids later, we are in a different place financially (thanks, Dave Ramsey) and still want to celebrate and not go broke.
How do we do that?
Christmas cookies- We make cookies for nearly every family who helps us in kids ministry and staff member at our church. We also make cookies for our neighbors and clients. It’s a LOT OF COOKIES. We get boxes, tins or glass cookie jars from the dollar store and that helps out quite a bit. The boxes are really beautiful and festive. Rarely do people complain when receiving a box of cookies.
Decorations- A great way to freshen up your Christmas bulbs is to get a few sleeves of new ones at the dollar store. They also have the kind where you can decorate yourself and fill with family keepsakes. I’ve saved all my kids ultrasound photos and hospital bracelets and will use those in these bulbs. If you are into Chrismas villages like I am, you can find little people, houses, and trees as well. I love getting to add to it every year.
Decorative bows and signs– now if I did not tell you my front bow was from the dollar store, I didn’t think you would know. It’s sparkly and beautiful and eye-catching. The wooden signs are as well and we have had these for over 5 years. The nutcrackers are pretty neat and only cost $1.00 each!
Wrapping paper- I’m honestly not convinced you are getting a better deal. The rolls will be shorter than average so you need to purchase more, however, if you don’t need a ton, it’s a good idea.
Gift bags- go ham, get as many as you want. You can’t go wrong with a cheap gift bag.
Stockings- I got these specifically for my boys. Maybe one day we will get theme keepsake stockings. Instead of spending big right now and giving myself a heart attack because they tore a jingle bel off of something, I’ll get a cheap version until they are old enough to handle really nice things.
Stuffers– Yes, as you know I do buy my boys toys from the dollar store. They are still pretty young, so I only get a few board books and cars. The truth is my boys don’t care where the little toys came from. I got a cute little teddy bear for Luke last year that he still loves to hug.
Get faux flowers and bulbs to change up a wreath. We have this beautiful one we received a few years ago and now for about 5 dollars, I can change the look year to year if I like.
Lastly, the obvious one is crafts– popsicle sticks can go a surprisingly long way, I made this tiny Nativity that I copied from a Pinterest post. If you are starting to glaze over because I made a tiny house out of sticks, skip to the next paragraph. You can also find finger paint, glitter glue, construction paper and a litany of other craft items to do with your kids if you like. The crayons may not be incredible but you don’t have to take out a small loan to purchase a huge box.
Now if you are that person who got the entire Magnolia Christmas collection with matching pajamas for the fam and Instagram-worthy decor for your home, go for it. If all you can afford is $30.00 at the dollar store and you are just trying to do enough for your fam to feel festive, do you.
The gift of Christmas is Christ who was born and generously gave his life for us. Do you want something totally free? Click here to read the Christmas story to your family!
Babies and Gentleman 
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