Christmas on a Budget

Hello everyone, I am guess blogger Jasmine. A single mother of 4 beautiful children. I wanted to share with you all on how I did Christmas this year on a budget for my children. So please no judging in case my christmas was different from yours. 

I am a full time student in school , working towards my degree in Early Childhood Education. I can't always depend on my children's fathers although I know that they are doing the best that they can. Money has been tight since I went back to school and had to stop working full time and go back to working part-time. My part time work meant that I was over the limit to qualify for the Salvation Army angel tree. I was totally bummed out on how would I be able to afford christmas this year for my children. And please before anyone judges me , I already know that christmas is more than gifts; but still as a parent I would like to think that you would feel the same way as me if you couldn't give your child anything for christmas. So I came up with a plan on how to make christmas one to remember even if the gifts were small. I saw on  Pinterest how families do an advent calendar with books , and I figure that could work with us. Instead of using just all christmas theme books I would use different story books so we can reread them throughout the year. I went to our local GoodWill and found some gently used books. I was able to purchase enough books for our advent calendar and spent under $10. 

My children enjoyed opening up a gift of a book everyday leading up towards christmas and I enjoyed the fact that I was reading and bonding with them at the same time.

My mother brought over a gingerbread house kit and on Christmas Eve, my children and I build the gingerbread house and decorated it 

As far as actual christmas gifts for Christmas Day goes, I purchased one special item for each child that was totally theirs. Stocking stuffers didn't include candy but snack foods that were their favorites. I was also able to get items that could be shared as a family, thanks to a sale I found at Toysrus with board games for $5 and puzzles for $3. 

 When they look back at this christmas they wont remember their mom being broke , they will remember it as the christmas that they got a gift leading up to Christmas Day and how their mommy read them a story everyday.