Christmas Shopping

Yep, I think I heard a collective gasp across the nation when all of you read the title to my post. Well, I want to stress to everyone that this post isn't necessarily about Christmas shopping, but to recognize a great idea that my sister had for this year. This idea has already saved me stress and we aren't even to Halloween yet!

For the past several years, the adults in my immediate family have chosen to draw names instead of give gifts to each person. This was done to save us all some money. Plus, with kids in the picture, our Christmas mornings were becoming too out of hand. Who seriously needs to be opening gifts until 3pm on Christmas day!?!  We set the gift limit to $20 and always set a theme. The intent was to see how far you could stretch that $20. Some of our themes included color, everything had to start with a certain letter, holidays or even TV shows. It was fun opening the gifts to see what you got, but it also started to get stressful.

The shopping became more of a chore because it really took a lot of creativity and time to find cheap items that would match your theme. So, often, I would end up shopping all throughout the year - always on the look out for that perfect item in the clearance bins. Or, wait until the last minute & spend more than my $20 on ridiculous junk just so I could cross it off of my list.

This year, my sister had the idea to follow the lead of Oprah and give our favorite thing to everyone. To keep our costs down, you have to buy a gift around $5. And you have to give the same thing to each adult. I knew the second this idea came up what I was going to get. And, I've already bought the gifts. I know my gift will be enjoyed by everyone and it took little effort on my part. And, I'm looking forward to see what favorite things my family members decide to give. A win win for everyone!