Our First Christmas as Three - Pt. 2 - Gifts

I posted earlier on one component of our Christmas budget - decorations! The next big component are the presents. I won't be posting what I got my sweet hubby (because he might read this) but I can post for everyone else!

I have learned that to be frugal and organize you have to "just say no" to getting gifts for some people. Many times a gesture (cards, baked cookies or a "Merry Christmas" is good enough)! That's true for those who are closest to you as well! We restrict buying presents to our immediate family; our children (at the moment it's only Hudson), our parents, my grandmother (she's the only remaining great-grandparent) and each other. This year we put Brian's boss on there too.

Breakdown of presents

1. Hudson

Since our sweet little boy will have no concept of presents we decided to get him things he would need. Mostly I got him baby food, rice cereal, spoons, and wipes (the kind I carry in my purse).

I got him a lot of his 6-12 month wardrobe to put under the Christmas tree. I wish I had known I was going to do this blog earlier because I would have tracked what I spent. I did take advantage of a lot of sales at Baby Gap and went a little nuts with the nautical theme (since Hudson was an explorer).

Here are some of the tops he's getting:

The other things we decided to get Hudson were development toys. We spent about $350 at Babies R Us when we went but $250 of that was for a baby video monitor which wasn't for Christmas. So we spent about $100 on baby food, rice cereal and the toys we got him. 

His Christmas Toys:

- Fisher Price Crawl Drum Set

- Stacking Rings and Stacking Cups

- The toy where you put different shapes in their shaped holes (for lack of a better description, lol)

2. My In Laws and Mum

Brian and I had a photo shoot done with Hudson! :) Not only is it stunning but we knew that it would be such a gift for us and our family. I purchased Pottery Barn farms for our parents ($26 each) and have inserted pictures in there. They have not seen these photos yet. 

We got my in laws a gift certificate to see a play in the city. 

I will make both parents batches of cookies. 

I got my Mum an $8 Shea Body Shop gift set and a Body Butter that I think was 30% off. 

We went a little over our gift budget as we got the gift certificates for my in laws last minute and I think the toys for Hudson were slightly out of the budget but, if I recall, I was a little under budget for his clothes (I combined that with my monthly buffer budget)!

Good choice for Christmas, I think!