Thursday, August 28, 2008

planning for the coming months

Reading blogs is a dangerous thing sometimes, it puts thoughts in my head. Visions of birthdays, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah are floating around. I'm determined to make the best of it, because I love doing fun things, and love designing creative solutions.

First thought-birthdays. Hubby, G, and E all have birthdays within a 5 day span. I'm not one for big bashes, but I do love acknowledging special days, heck who doesn't? I think we're going to continue the tradition of child's first birthday w/ just us immediate family going to dinner, since we started that long ago w/ M when we lived far away from family, and made it our own special thing. I may do something like cupcakes w/ E's baby group or the playgroups we already attend, but since we've never done a big bash, I don't see the point in starting one now. For G, I think we'll do something at home, invite friends for an extended playdate, some snacks, cupcakes, and a good time. I'd love to have a special event (for M we had a clown), but not sure if we'll be able to swing that, I'll have to double check our finances. Either way, its looking like a house party here. For hubby, dinner out w/o kids, and maybe a suprise visit from or to see his dad. I have to make a phone call about that. As hard as it may be to have them all close together, I love the fact that everyone has their own special day.

Halloween:
I'm making E's costume this year. I bought the boys their costumes 75% off last year, and got them for under $5 each. They are super excited about them. After the holiday rush, I plan on doing the same thing. If I don't get them, I'll just make them. I love being crafty, and the boys are used to it. When the the time comes that they want what everyone else has, well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. We're also going to make decorations for outside the house, and do lots of arts and crafts. I'm utilizing stuff from the dollar store and freecycle to help out w/ expenses. We're doing the pumpkin patch several times w/ various groups, an annual photo w/ friends (if not, then I'm at least taking the boys myself), and a couple of holiday parties. The money spent on this stuff will come from our weekly grocery budget-seeing as how we're still under budget (love the g-game!) it shouldn't be a problem.

Holiday gifts are easy this year. We're making gifts for everyone. Grandma loved the homemade art work for her birthday, so I'm building upon that for holidays. Plus, in recent years, our extended families have gotten away from material gifts, and are loving the simplicity of spending time together, just hanging out and going to each other's homes. Even when we visit, and go shopping, we're more likely to browse than buy. I think we're all watching sales more often, and are more attuned to rock bottm sales now.
We're also going to do gift exchanges w/ the kids, and I told hubby I'm going to utilize the dollar store as my primary resource to make gift baskets. We're also going to continue the tradition of cutting down our own tree, making cookies, spending time at local community celebrations, and also taking advantage of various moms clubs parties to add to a festive holiday season. We're still doing our holiday card, and sending out them to everyone we know, even w/ that expense, I think we'll stay under budget.
Well, this is my first post about holidays (someone beat me to the punch, I'm guessing they'll also have their holiday cards out first, lol). I'm sure there will be more posts like this in the future.

1 comment:

Melanie said...

I can't believe your talking about E's first birthday. You just had him like what yesterday?! The older I get the faster it all flies by. Just wait until you're thirty, ZOOM!

It sounds like your family has a good handle on Christmas and what matters. That makes the holidays so much more enjoyable. I always feel like we're just exchanging money with each other in the form of gifts. It's ridiculous but I am only one of many who wants to change things.

Halloween, I can't wait!! Miss R asks me every day if it's Halloween yet. I wish. I am ready for cooler weather, cute dressed up kiddo's and CANDY!!