Can You Save On Christmas Gifts?
BOSTON (CBS) - Giving to fewer recipients is a good start.
Trim your list down to a reasonable number. If you have a large family and you usually buy a gift for everyone in the family, that can get expensive. And it creates mayhem on the holidays and afterwards as well when many of those gifts need to be returned.
Consider foregoing the adults and just the kids get gifts, perhaps those under 10 who are still fun to shop for. For the rest do a Yankee swap after dinner.
Consider putting everyone's name in a hat and each family member draws a name. You can do this for kids as well. The bonus, less shopping and you can afford nicer gifts. And as a family put a limit on the dollar amount spent on each gift. Make it reasonable for not everyone has the same earning capacity in the family.
Consider buying a family gift rather than individual gifts for your siblings' kids. A gift that keeps on giving, one that can create memories. And you can make memories on the cheap.
Maybe you can't afford to buy them their own duck boat but you can give them tickets for a duck boat tour. Tours are on the weekends in December and then the ducks rest until mid-March.
How about a trip to Faneuil Hall Marketplace for pizza and the free light show Blink that will be there thru January 5th. The sights and sounds are pleasing to all ages.
A membership to the Aquarium to check out the renovations, new exhibits, and the new movie Penguins 3D, which I loved. The penguins are my favorite.
A membership to the Museum of Science so the kids can visit the Planetarium. My son decided at age 9 he wanted to be an astronaut after his first trip to the planetarium.
Creating memories is a far better gift than just wrapping a toy from the toy store.
