I really love being cozy at home during the holidays. But, truth: I also love holiday shopping. Totally enjoy the hustle and bustle, so long as it's not too much hustle and bustle, ya know? Which is why I'm sharing this stocking stuffer idea now- because, I'm surely not the only one who's already Christmas shopping so I can be done well before the day of December 24th!
Some of my very favorite things to buy for Christmas are stocking stuffers! But, confession: for me, it's way too easy to get carried away without even thinking twice!
By the time I buy a bunch of small things for all four boys, I've easily spent way more than I probably care to admit! Clearly I haven't done any actual figuring here ;)
For an example: We've almost always put HexBug toys in their stockings and I just about bought each of them one of the new aqua ones this last week. But I stopped myself... from spending $40 right there!
The reason I didn't make that purchase is because this year I had an idea that I thought might save us both money and time, that I knew each of the boys would really like. I'm certain they'll like this far better than their usual stocking fare even :)
Money! Do your kids love having their own money to buy what they choose themselves too?! Stephen and I decided we'll put $20 in each of the boys' stockings this year, in the form of one dollar bills so it goes further of course :) Maybe we'll do one five or something.
That one HexBug purchase alone would've equaled an entire half of what this option will cost us! See what I mean about saving money?!
To fill the stocking, I bought these packs of fake money above at Dollar Tree. I was looking for normal size bills and could only find jumbo, but was glad in the end- they filled the stocking better than the smaller size would have. I found these ones that looked more real in the teacher section. I'm pretty sure party stores sell fake money similar to this too :)
I just rolled a real dollar inside these fake bills. Well, twenty of them at least! I think that'll be part of the fun- the boys unrolling the bills to find which ones have money inside! It could be really fun to actually fold them into squares too. I'll be sure to put the real stuff closer to the bottom on Christmas Eve ;)
I have no doubt the boys will be thrilled when they see this stocking! And I know it'll save us money this year. There are, of course, a few traditional things we may still include... like toothbrushes and Lifesaver Storybooks. But, like I said, I've already stopped myself because I know the boys will love this more. :) Hopefully it can be a good solution for someone else too! Thanks for being here,
