Christmas preparations are beginning.

I just made my little girl’s night by taking a “Springtime” carboard butterfly off my back door. Fact of the matter is, I should have taken those things down a year and a half ago, but I never bothered. It came in handy when her older sister was painting a plaster butterfly and she wanted one. She’s convinced that she painted the cardboard butterfly when she was a baby and she’s flying it around the house.

Too bad Christmas gifting isn’t that simple. With five kids, along with extended families, it can be complicated and expensive. It hasn’t been too painful this year, though.

I spent a large portion of the year signing up for freebies and couponing to get what I could. Wal-mart paid me a dollar to take a shirt that will be given to my mom. I had a coupon for $5 off and I found a winter shirt in that brand for $4. It has been in the closet since June. I also found her a Yankee candleholder and candle on clearance for around $5 in June. I got a free first aid kit that is just a tiny bag with bandaids but it makes a good stocking stuffer. Her boyfriend is getting a movie that I found in the $5 bin at Wal-mart and a gift set of soaps that I won in an internet contest.

I couponed my way into two free bottles of men’s bodywash, as well. One will go to kid 2 and the other will go to my father-in-law. I’ll pick up a bath puff or something to go with my father-in-law’s bottle and I’ll let my husband worry about the rest. He usually gets him things he actually needs but doesn’t buy himself, like socks or t-shirts, sometimes underwear. Father-in-law is close to eighty. He takes joy in new drawers. To let you in on a little secret, we think it’s funny to buy him bikini briefs, knowing my mother-in-law is disturbed by it when he walks around in his underwear with his old man junk in her face. It’s worth it if it costs a little extra.

I plan to make my in-laws a quilt, though, and I’m giving my sister-in-law a scentsy warmer and 3 scent packs. I was the hostess of a party and got a percentage off of my order so it’s basically half-price.  It’s part of a combo pack so I don’t have an exact amount for it, but it’s about $34 worth of stuff, for probably half that. Oh, and there’s a reusable shopping bag that rolls up into a pouch you put in your purse. I’ll give that to my mother-in-law too. It was free.

For kid 1, I have:
a pearl necklace ($8)
2 pairs of headphones (free)
a sewing kit ($1)
a stationary set ($1)
handmade socks ($4 for the yarn)
Her big gift will be an ipod touch, which I intend to buy refurbished from ebay for around $150.

Kid 2:
Angry birds calendar ($5)
T-shirt with some excuse for not doing homework on it ($3)
Billy The Kid dvd (free)
100 piece puzzle ( $1)
bodywash (free)
His big gift will be a Nintendo DS, again from ebay, for around $70.

Kid 3:
High school musical teddy bear (free)
stationary set ($1)
handmade socks ($4 for the yarn)
handmade quilt ($20 or so for the materials)
small padlock and key (free)
I also plan to get her a DS. That’s another $70 or so.

Kid 4:
teddy bear (free)
Barbie ($5)
sidewalk chalk ($1)
handmade quilt (around $20)
She still needs a big gift, which I’m not sure about but I’m thinking I’ll try to score a better kitchen set than the one she has and that may be a joint gift for her and kid 5. Otherwise we’re looking at around $50 each. Stocking stuffers should be easy for her, at her age. I can pick up a My Little Pony or something.

Kid 5:
small tool set ($1)
hand puppet (free)
play-doh ($2)
If I don’t get the kitchen set, there’s  a ball funnel racetrack-like thing where you drop the ball in and it rolls down the track. That was around $35 at Toys-R-Us. I have the spare material to make him a quilt, too, if I have the time.

Hubby wants mortise chisels, which I can get on Amazon for around $35 and I can use a $5 card from swagbucks to cut the cost of that down. I also got him a little portable screwdriver bit set thing for free a few months ago.

That’s the extent of my gift giving, except for making cookies for friends. It almost seems too easy this year. I’ve always wanted to build a stockpile early in the year and never got much of one going until this year but I’m really glad I did. It makes the holidays so much easier to deal with.

Now, if you got through all of that, I have a reward:

My cute kiddo wants you to know that he’s sessy and he knows it.