Anyone who knows me knows how much I, and my family, love the Christmas Season; and, how much we enjoy decorating and entertaining. Typically, we can’t wait to get started. But, I must confess that I was truly shocked this past weekend when I went into my favorite warehouse store and found an entire section of the store offering a HUGE array of holiday decorations for sale. I mean, come on! The ghosts and goblins of Halloween haven’t even begun to fly about the neighborhoods yet!! Obviously, neighborhood merchants and national retailers are already implementing plans to help us overspend for the holidays … which got me to thinking. How can we save money and still enjoy the holidays and make them memorable for our loved ones?
Ironically, the first thing that I thought of was the year my wife and I became engaged and decided that, since we would be paying for our own wedding, we needed to find ways to save money that could otherwise be spent. With Christmas fast approaching, we decided that this was as good a time as any to put our savings plan into action. We decided that, rather than spend large amounts of money on gifts for friends, we’d make gifts instead.
One of the gifts was a wreath made with a metal wreath ring and macramé yarn. The yarn was cut into pieces of approximately 3”. Each piece was then formed into a “U”, placed under one of the ring wires, and the two ends were fed through the closed end of the “u”. When each ring of wire on the wreath was full of yarn, a wire brush was used to brush out the yarn creating a fluffy, cloth wreath that could then be decorated with inexpensive artificial poinsettia blooms, pine cones, bells, and red ribbons.
When these gifts were given, our friends received a very special and unique gift. While these wreaths did not cost a lot of money, each was special. Each was made with its intended recipient in mind and decorated in a way that we felt was most appropriate and would be most appreciated by the recipient.
At the mid-point of October, some will say that it’s far too early to think about Christmas gifts. But, I would suggest that now is the time to begin planning the gift giving and deciding how we can make these holidays special for those we love without breaking the family budget.
In the coming days and weeks, I’ll share some ideas and would welcome suggestions that each of you can provide. Together, we can enjoy the season without having to fear the bills that come in January.