My gift box has begun. I have a DvD and a Christmas theme coffe cup, creamer and sugar pot.

The movie is a leftover after I picked up several for $4 to use for gifts and the Christmas set was on clearance for .50 each.

added a terry choc orange for dh next xmas... always 5.99 -4.99 reg so 2.99 after the holidays.

Picked up some books for the DGnephews.   DH told me he saw candles at 75% off ... I told him he should have bought them for the gift stash. ;)

Why doesn't Hanukkah decor go on sale? Maybe gelt does. But for presents, we scored a hippie nutcracker for a sibling. Nothing else yet.

truepeacenik:

Why doesn't Hanukkah decor go on sale? Maybe gelt does. But for presents, we scored a hippie nutcracker for a sibling. Nothing else yet.

 

It did around here - but there was not very much of it to begin with, so there was very little left when the sales started.

DH got Christmas trees for about $4.00 and decorations were 75% of he is already planing the lights for next year

I got some wonderful socks , fleece blanket and several bath set .. hats and  gloves only problem is someone lost their hat I  I gave out hats .

Ready?

A lot of my Christmas shopping for next year is done!!!!!!!...I will use some gifts for b'days, also.

Aeropastle had SUPER after Christmas sales. Got $195+ worth of clothes for the girls in our family for $60 each.

Various stores offered clearance sales, plus I used promo codes with them.. stores I purchased from: Target, BonTon, UMI Direct,

Boscov's, Bath and Body Works, Express, American Eagle, Pottery Barn, Oneida, some ebay, Big Lots, amazon.com and tjmaxx.

I get plain colored wrapping paper that I can use for all occasions.. Christmas included. Just ordered clearance lime green

wrapping paper from www.papermart.com with a promo code for 10% off that price. I get my ribbon there also.

THIS year, as soon as I got the items, I wrapped them and tagged them for the recepient, and they are in storage, all ready for

next year. I will decorate them when it gets closer to Christmas. I try HARD to not give gift cards since they are the exact cost

of the gift card. I'd rather buy an expensive gift(clothing from Aero) and pay 70% off instead. It looks like I spent ALOT more

than I did, but I didn't. The recipient does not need to know that! hahha. I got pants, shirts, blazers, NY Yankee tee, dorm pants,

sleep pants, hoodies, pocket tees, slippers, shower gels and liquid soaps, gravy ladles and professional covered baking pans,

mini gift books, mens tshirts and long sleeve shirts, gloves, scrapbooking supplies, monogrammed towel set, toddler clothes,

Polly Pocket play house, and  Wilton Christmas sprinkles to name a few. I am loving this!!!

This last Christmas I made a lot of handmade items for stocking fillers, or just as gifts for everyone. I LOVE www.pinterest.com

It has GREAT ideas!!

I will add to this: Salvation Army finds, and garage sale items, Dollar Tree items, and more homemade items also.

I "shop" all year long, but after Christmas sales are the BEST!!! Hope these ideas help. Some sales last until the end of January even.

I have plenty of paper, bags, and tape for next year. I did need some new tissue paper, however, and was able to find plenty (some of it even the fancy designed stuff that I rarely buy due to the price) for 60 cents a package. Since most of it isn't specifically Christmas designed, I can use it all year. I also found a package of Edward Gorey Christmas cards marked 75% off -- very excited about these!

I found a red linen tablecloth with white snowflakes for around $4.50, plus several green cloth napkins (the napkins aren't necessarily for Christmas, we'll use them year round) marked 75% off. Also found an Eric Carle pop-up advent calendar that Chickadee will enjoy next year. I also found a pair of snowman slippers for her, marked down to 75 cents. She's wearing them now, and doesn't mind that they have a winter design when Christmas is over. She badly needed a new pair of slippers too -- her feet grew when I wasn't looking!

I haven't gotten much present-wise at this point, especially since I don't know what size my kids will be in 10 months. Most of the time when I try to estimate and buy ahead, they either end up growing more than I expect or the clothing item is still too big during the appropriate season. It ends up costing me more money to buy clothing ahead sometimes. :/ I did find a holiday Polly Pocket for $1.19 that will be saved for Chickadee's stocking, but that's about it. Most of the things I found are for year-round usage.

Now shopping ahead for Easter... THAT I've started already. ;)

I bought some gift tags & a tablecloth at 60% off. I'll go back Friday & pick up some ornaments for 2012 Christmas.

I did get 2 sets of 5 gift bags and 1 roll of christmas last Saturday. I need to make a list of who I am buying for. That way I have an idea what I need to buy for. Off the top of my head I have 2 brothers, my mom, My father and mother in laws, hubby, both of my kids, a couple of neighbors, and a friends 2 kids.