Frugal Holiday Fun

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

21 Dec 2006 06:32 AM

The holidays don't have to be all about spending money on gifts and decorations. Honestly, I can't understand the craziness of going out to one hundred stores to find the must-have toy or electronics item, or spending a fortune on last minute gifts just because you have to have something for someone you barely know.

Although we don't always succeed (yes, I am guilty of running out last night to the card store to get gifts for teachers my son doesn't even have), we try to focus on family during the holiday season. Here are my favorite ways to have some good old fashioned frugal holiday fun with my family.

• Getting dressed in PJs and cruising around the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights and house decorations
• Stringing popcorn and cranberries for decoration while eating most of the popcorn
• Creating a family snuggle on the couch while watching Miracle on 34th Street, It's a Wonderful Life and/or Santa Clause is Coming to Town
• Watching those tiny miniature candy canes dissolve in homemade hot chocolate
• Drawing a huge stocking on kraft paper (brown paper sold in rolls) and having each family member draw their present on their wish list.
• Making candy cane reindeer using pipe cleaners, wiggle eyes and tiny red pom-poms
• Cutting out paper snowflakes that sometimes look like square doilies instead of snowflakes.
• Wearing santa hats and lip synching to Big Crosby's White Christmas
• Going to visit the Santa Claus at the mall. Yes, it is a big pain to wait on line, but the look on my two-year-old's face was well worth it.
• Cutting out paper snowflakes
• Decorating sugar cookies
• Leaving secret bags of Christmas candy on our neighbors steps and porches
• Slipping secret presents to those hard working moms I know
• Reading Christmas books, such as the Polar Express
• Making homemade wrapping paper
• Making christmas gifts for the birds: pine cones covered in peanut butter, rolled in bird seed and hung from a tree with a ribbon. Okay, so the squirrels get a piece of the action, too, but hey, it is the holidays

What are some of the fun and frugal ways you have been spending your holidays?

Related Articles:

The Families.com Holiday Fun Blog

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger