Anyone else started Christmas shopping ?

[LovesTimone]

I know its so early to even start thinking about this... In all honesty I normally start much earlier than this... and with how this year has went, how will this effect you how you budget and shop?

For my family the adults- Everyone get a box, a bag, and a stocking... and in each one there are several gifts... Grandkids are different. My family they love their stockings... so I spend alot of time picking out the little stuff, which can add up very quickly... so I am consistently watching for deals on Gift Cards, and scouring in clearance areas, or deeply discounted items that they can use.. I will not buy things just to fill the stockings, that is a total waste of money... I buy things that I know that they use or want... and of course they get their favorite candy tucked in as well...

So last week I started officially picking up Christmas gifts...

My friend and I were out shopping and made a stop in BAM, Books a Million... I love to go in there and just browse around, lots of good stuff... They were having a really good clearance sale on kids books, I picked up 4 books for my grandson who is 5 - 2 Star Wars, 1 Spiderman, and 1 Dino... for 15.00 dollars, one of the star wars books was priced at 28.00 bucks... so I feel really good about what I got for the price...

My friend bought like 6 or 7 books for her grand-kids, and it was just under 30.00 bucks for her purchase... She was pleased as well, as her grand-daughter is reading a series, and there were 3 books from the series in the clearance section... so she was like score...

I went to Kohls, and found several pairs of jeans for my Grandson...and they were a good price, and when I asked about the return policy as they were for Christmas, I was told 90 days.... another associate said 120 days, and another 180... I thought that at Kohls you could return anything with the receipt at anytime? has this changed recently... I decided not to buy them, as I could not get a clear picture of the return policy ... In the clearance area I did pick up several shirts for myself for fall, and winter, which in Florida means light weight quarter length sleeves, with my Kohls cash and the discounts I spent 23.00 bucks for 5 shirts, which I thought was pretty dang good...

I have picked up several items for my DD for her stocking... mostly hair accessories, and I think a fancy nail file with a case...

So has anyone else jump into the Christmas shopping pool?

 

[mommy2twingles]

Yes I am already shopping. Got some good deals at Kohls with their clearance section a few weeks back. I changed jobs and took a pay cut in the last year so we will be cutting back a little on the amount we spend. I am trying to buy 1 gift a week to stretch out the funds as well.

 

[barkley]

i'm trying to get going b/c shipping times are already overly long so i anticipate that the holidays will impact them further.

so far-ds gets the newest muppett ornament each year so i got that, and dd and dh also like some treats that i can only get in small snack size containers at halloween so i grabbed those as well.

only change i anticipate this year is video games-i told my adult kids that w/shipping problems, potential store closures again due to covid that they need to limit their requests in this category to gift cards.

 

[dalmatian7]

yes, DD9 gets a homemade advent calender so I have been watching for small items she actually needs for that (hair ties, sticker, little jewelry, pens, bath items, candy, etc). We don't really do a stocking, so some of those items are in the calender. She loves picture socks so I have a few pairs of those for her. I am leaning more and more every year to just giving the big kids (nieces and nephews) gift cards and this may be the year it happens. I do try to buy everyone a new book and haven't found any yet. I started last year making her an album of her year of activities and want to do that again. I have a bunch of pictures uploaded to shutterfly. Now to start sorting and creating and then looking for missing pictures. I gave my on set of niece and nephew a Disney+ subscription to cover their birthdays. I think that may be an idea for other family.
I always buy a "family ornament" to commemorate something we did during the year. Ugh this year Maybe just a nice picture of all of us in a frame since we have only been with our "pod" since March.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Yes. I have started. I purchased all the new Harry Potter Lego sets when they came out for my husband....yes, for my husband. I just gave him 2 sets for his birthday, I may give him another for our anniversary and the rest for Christmas. Also picked up a Lego set for my daughter. Already have 2 things for my MIL. I worry about inventory. Seems so little and what they do have goes quickly. Going to keep to a minimum between me and my husband. Would like to purchase some furniture and redo powder room instead.

 

[Hikergirl]

I've started, got some things for my dd, a cute pottery set specifically for Ramen and a couple advent calendars.
I think this is going to be a mostly cash year for my kids so I don't think I have to worry too much about shopping.
I'll fill stockings with fun, silly but practical things and I usually do well with that on Amazon.
I'll do the same for dh plus get him clothes that he doesn't realize he needs
We only buy for our parents and it's usually a gift of food like a gourmet meal delivered to them. There's no rush so I'll just wait until the site I use has a good promo.
I hadn't thought about shipping issues but I guess if you don't plan on going out shopping it's probably a good idea to start earlier than usual this year.

 

[holden]

DD17 wants a sofa for her room, so that might be the only thing she is getting this year.

 

[QueenIsabella]

I've started. Mostly, I look for stuff throughout the year--you never know when you're going to see something cute. Also, we do a "Silly Santa" on Christmas Eve--I'm always on the look out for fun stuff for that.

BTW, someone mentioned BAM--they're a great source for quirky stocking stuffers. Not cheap, but they have cute stuff I never see elsewhere. My kids place a high premium on stockings--it's their favorite part of Christmas.

Also, we got DS14 a Macbook as an early Christmas present. He really needed it for school--the used, then hand-me-down laptop he had just wasn't cutting it. The bonus included earbuds (which he knew nothing about) will be showing up Christmas morning.

 

[disney212]

Dupe

 

[disney212]

I started in January. Everyone gets new Christmas socks so it's easy to grab those on clearance. Also picked up some winter stuff in early March before the shutdown. I'm normally finished by Halloween.

 

[tink89]

Nope we stopped doing so many gifts for people and just do white elephant and secret santa. If i buy more gifts its only one good gift per person. I rather receive one good gift than 4 small gifts of random items. Which is why i gift the same way i would like.

 

[TCRAIG]

Back when I was doing Christmas for the whole family, my goal was to be done by Halloween and then just pick up odds and ends throughout the rest of the season - I usually met that goal with ease...now I only need a few things as we do a family gag gift and my 2 grands are still really young - so I’m basically done already - just need some stocking stuffers and candy

 

[GamGam]

Ever heard this: Something they want / something they need, something to wear / and something to read?

 

[bella_and_the_beast]

I went to Kohls, and found several pairs of jeans for my Grandson...and they were a good price, and when I asked about the return policy as they were for Christmas, I was told 90 days.... another associate said 120 days, and another 180... I thought that at Kohls you could return anything with the receipt at anytime? has this changed recently... I decided not to buy them, as I could not get a clear picture of the return policy ... In the clearance area I did pick up several shirts for myself for fall, and winter, which in Florida means light weight quarter length sleeves, with my Kohls cash and the discounts I spent 23.00 bucks for 5 shirts, which I thought was pretty dang good...
...

I was so mad when I went to Kohls and saw they changed their return policy. I was told it's now 6 months. I think it used to be year if you paid with the Kohls charge? Also, they changed their free shipping codes - now when they come out they only work for "MVC's" who spent $600 in the last year. It used to be if you got that "status" it was good for life, or at least it was treated as such. But I digress....

I started Christmas shopping too. Shop Disney had 30% off for annual passholders not too long ago, and I think they're doing it again in October so I spent way too much

 

[AlohaNow]

I always start shopping once the '-ber' months hit, so no change there! The first gift order should arrive this week.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I started a few weeks ago. I buy as I go with list in my purse. I plan to be done with majority by middle of next month.
My husband and I decided we will rent a vacation house this year for the week of Christmas or week after and just enjoy the time
away and not be in the thick of it with family.

There are some super cute big piece puzzles in book format at Aldi's right now for $4.99/each. Each puzzle when put together in the book tells a page in store on back of the puzzle. Great filler gifts or I'm giving them to my 3 year old niece and nephews. Now onto deciding what their big gifts will be for Christmas. I'll be making up snack baskets for my mom and her roommate in the nursing home and new lap desk pads for their Ipads to sit when they are reading for Facetiming family.

There are some super cute ornaments I ordered for 2020 with rolls toilet paper attached to it

 

[QueenIsabella]

We're (hopefully) going away this Christmas, too, which changes the dynamic of how I'm going to shop. We're a family of 6, so we tend to have a large volume of gifts. We're driving and meeting up with our oldest, so I'll bring all her gifts, plus all the Silly Santa gifts. I haven't said anything to the kids, but I also hope to bring up stockings/stocking stuffers for everyone as well--we're planning on doing regular gifts after we return home, but since the kids love the stockings so much, I thought those would be nice. Plus, only DD25 will have gifts from us, and she'll have things for her siblings, but it won't be like the regular Christmas morning bacchanal.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

With the economy being what it is, everyone can always use money so that is what we are giving this year. They can use it for whatever they want to.

 

[luv2sewtjr]

I plan to shop primarily online and need to start soon. I’ve only been in target a few times since March and it’s inventory levels were low. I observed the same when I needed to get something from Best Buy for work.

Haven’t figured out what I’m buying yet, though. My kids are older and doing school at home. No one has asked for anything

 

[npatellye]

I am finished but my kids are young (7 and 5) so they’re easy. I knew they would write to Santa for the OMG house (7 year old) and the 4 in 1 Glamper (5 year old) so I pre-ordered those this summer. Then all that was left was stuff from us: Disney and Friends LEGO sets, American Girl clothes and accessories, AG Joss dolls with some accessories, Cub Coats, pajamas, Barbies, books, and craft supplies, new snow tubes. We usually get them other things for school but they’re staying home and doing full remote learning for as long as the district allows us to do it. So, instead, they’re getting new Ugg moccasins for their feet during “school” time. The local store selling Uggs had them marked down to $40 a pair.