Putting Together our Holiday Wish List |Frugal Front Porch

Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Putting Together our Holiday Wish List

I’m late to the game but I’m just now putting together our family’s wish list. We’ve already gotten a few items but the tough part is narrowing down the list to the items I think the kids will actually play with. They “want” everything advertised on television but other than that, they don’t really talk about wanting any one particular item.

I knuckled down yesterday to start “THE list”. I searched Amazon, Wal-Mart and a few other websites adding interesting items to my Amazon wish list just to get an idea of the holiday possibilities.

Tip: Amazon has a nifty little Wish List toolbar you can add to your browser so you can add items from other sites to your Amazon wish list. This will help keep me so much more organized for holiday shopping.

I would LOVE to get a bounce house for Wild Man’s “Santa gift” but I just have to figure out where to set it up before we thaw in the spring. The basement’s a possibility but some serious reorganization needs to take place first. The alternative is the work bench and/or the kitchen. (A play kitchen isn’t just for girls is it?) If there’s a great deal on the Kinect for Xbox 360 then, we may go this route.

Santa’s bringing J this Dell netbook tricked out with Nickelodeon skin and tons of preloaded Nick software and games so I’ve got him covered. Thankfully I bought it when it was half price at Sam’s in October. He also wants an iPod so I’m thinking the iPod Nano since I try to keep spending limits pretty equal on both kids.

Stocking stuffers usually consist of a video game or movie, socks, some candy, Hot Wheels and other smallish trinkets. I also try to include an assortment of handmade items and at least one voucher or gift card for a “to do” item like movies, bowling, eating somewhere special or something we can do together as a family. The trick is trying to find items that survive the first 5 minutes of Christmas morning enthusiasm.