Christmas is coming...........

camomom dont worry about what some of these are saying in there response. I'm a single mother of one and I live with my mom and we are talking about what to do for christmas because frankly come christmas we may not have the money to buy if we wait until then. In the past we have always went to walmart and spent 200-400 dollars and i don't think we'll be doing that this year. We've decided to upgrade some of her toys and give her older toys that are too young for her now to day cares or pre-schools or places like Karm. If you are struggling you should talk to karm about the Angel tree. It depends on your income on that. But it might be worth a shot. Also if you want to start thinking about next year you could be on the look out after christmas. Walmart won't mark there christmas stuff down until the day after christmas and there toys are the same way. If you have storage room then you could possibly do it that way. I didn't have that much to buy the last three years because the first year I had my daughter we done that and we done that last year and the year before that. Places like Fred's general store, family dollar store, dollar tree are great place to buy multiple toys and not spend a lot. dollar tree all of them are under a dollar a piece so you could them several small items instead of large items. I might focus on subject or sport that they like the best and even if it's off brand they won't notice the difference. They'll only know that it was you that it got it for them. also, you could think about K-mart. They have an 8 week layaway program and only charge 15.00 for you to put it in layaway.you just have to go in once a week and pay the minimum amount on the balance for the 8 weeks. There are different things you could do through out the year as well. try to look for clearance specials and clearance section in every store you go in when you go shopping. It may be last season but I gaurantee you that by christmas it will be something that every one will want again because of the season. Also when looking at clothes look at a size higher than what they are now. the legnth doesn't change that much except for maybe an inch and that way you won't have to buy clothes for them until summer or until shcool starts. Another thing you can do is start looking at christmas over the summer. Start putting so much back for each check. If you want a certain amount to spend on christmas you could put so much back each week in a savings account and let interest billed and then take it out when it comes time to go shopping. You could even do a savings account for each child that you have. as far as for what to get the kids. You would be surprised as what your 1 year would want or could have. Think educational and think toys r us. Toys r us has huge sales the day after thanksgiving on educational toys to help with her language skills and social skills. Be sure to look at age appropriate items as well. If it says for 3 and up and your child is 1 she might not fully under stand the concepts of what ever toy you get her. Dvd's are fun. you could even get disney dvds. My daughter started watching Shrek and it spiraled from there. We have almost all the disney movies that have come out on dvd since she was born. She likes putting them in the dvd player and turning the dvd player on. Also you might could try games that you could put in your computer and start teaching her match games and thinking games. you would be surprised at what your younest could do. Also think of something that your whole family would enjoy doing and maybe get that as a one big gift instead of getting a lot of smaller gifts or instead of getting each child a big gift. Maybe a new computer for the kids to use, or a new tv or something like that. Think outside the box. don't think that just because they are 1 and 3 that there is some thing they won't be able to do Just pay attention to the ratings on the boxes and you'll be good to go.

Oh my gosh. It isn't even Halloween yet, your child is asking about Christmas?! Just turn on Nickelodeon or Disney. Or, because they're young, PBS kids or something.

My kids really didn't ask for any certain toys that often. I remember one year my oldest wanted a game that was just about impossible to find. My middle daughter has never asked and my son only once. I never had to deal with them wanting every toy they saw on television. I kind of based my buying on what I knew they liked. For your one year old, don't sweat it too much. Find the softest teddy bear or something like that for her. Little ones like noisy, simple things and are more apt to play with the box than what's inside of it. My son, who is now 18, still has all his Bionicles. LOL

I started ages ago! My 5 year old son loves transformers,the wiggles,music,football and learning!, I have already bought him 6 of the transformers he need to complete his collection, cds, dvds, basket ball set. I also need to get him his ''big presnt'' I havnt got a clue what that will be just yet but i know he wasnt the lifesize model of bumblebee from transformers which is about 100 pounds, I will still buy more and more towards christmas, I also have already bought everything for my neice,mother,grandmother,best friends daughter and im half way there with my brother and my hubby! I start early so i can afford everything my son wants as he is spoilt rotten at christmas!, He doesnt get much bought for him except birthdays and christmas and he believes in santa so i try to get everything he asks for on his christmas list to santa so the magic of santa sets in!!!My son believes everything he gets is made in a toy factory so i have to keep up the pretence haha

Oh yes...Christmas. My boys have been talking about it too. I am really stressed this year, because I lost my job and my huband doesn't make enough for us to survive let alone buy Christmas, so I'm not sure what we will do. They want a Playstation 3. I klnow that Christmas is not about the presents, but for kids it is and they do not understand when they do not get what they asked for. They still believe in Santa and they know they were good this year so what do you tell them. Anyway, there are a lot of great presents for 1 year olds. I love that age. You could get DVD's, there are a lot of musical toys out now by Hasbro and Fisher Price. They light up and play music. There is a chair, a rolling thing that they can push. My boys always liked the peek a boo blocks.

My daughter is five, and asks for everything she sees too. I told her she had to pick a few favorites. She picked them stupid hamsters that run around in tubes. I did get them, but very grudgingly LOL I guess it is better than the real thing. My son likes art stuff, video games, hotwheels cars, and money of course. He has started a coin collection, so I got him the whole state quarter set. That is a start anyway.

i actually asked my 12 year old what she wanted for christmas and she said she didnt know. we are about half done our christmas shopping already. i have bought her older sister some stuff but am not sure what to get her this year. (we dont have a lot of cash, hubby lost his job in august.)

I have started asking my kids what they are going to want because I know I need to start shopping now! Just thinking about the whole "no money" situation I am in right now makes me panic!! lol but I think if I do a little at a time, or the MyPoints thing like you, it is a little bit easier! I remember last year I got $80 in Target giftcards so I could get some shopping done that way! My eaight year old daughter is into Bratz and Fur Real Friends. I have no clue what exactly I'm going to get her though!! She is pretty easy to please though so I'm thankful for that!! My four year old son is into any boy stuff lol He really wants a track for his matchbox cars, one that loops around so I will definitely get him something like that! And they both have Nintendo DS's so I'll probably get them a few games for that. And from Santa they always get a DVD or two, fun bath stuff (bubbles, foam, crayons, etc.) tooth brush & toothpaste, along with a few toys. ALso I absolutely LOVE to read so I have to get my kids books!! I am hopping to pass along a love of reading and books to them...it isn't working so far though lol I Love your idea for My Little Ponys, I remember when my daughter was into them!! They are so freakin cute! For your one year old I think musical DVD's are great, or even CD's. You could get her a small CD player for her room so she can jam out!! Puzzles would be good too! Thanks for this discussion, now I'm super excited about Christmas!!

Hmmm. When my daughter was one, we got her a lot of clothes, noisy toys, etc. There are lots of cool elmo toys she might like, also dvds and music are great ideas for that age. They have cool little kid friendly dance mats too that light up and play music. My daughter is 5, and so far she just wants a digital camera and a basketball hoop lol. I also plan to get her a new bike, art supplies, and I have clothes hiding away. I'm looking at a pair of roller skates too. Her birthday is in January though, so I usually separate things and save some of them, so she gets some big things for Christmas and the other big things for birthday, with all the other stuff pretty split equally. We have some ponies too, believe it or not she has gotten most of them as birthday gifts from the same friend several years in a row. It was a great gift, she gets them out no matter which friend is over to play, even the boys play with them lol.

i can now hear the sound of Christmas, the weather and the blow of the wind.. it's really coming and i can't wait to celebrate it now.. but before it, happy Halloween to all of you my friends..

i think the biggest gift for me at christmas is having a steady job in shanghai of china,and i could send my parents some gifts,this is my biggest wishes this year!

Christmas started early last september at home. We have decorated already but we still want to buy more decorating stuff. But it was only two weekends ago that we started buying gifts. We waited for the mall sale so when we heard there was one, we rushed and both a couple of gifts. We will be buying some more on the next mall sale.. hehe

i say christmas season shouldnt start until december 1! xmas is a good holiday, but the hype for it starting months in advance, on top of the excessive commercialization, takes away from it somewhat. it seemed to be better when i was a kid.

you know focusing on a collection I think is good, for one it is the one thing that we all seem to keep, even as adults, an you look back an are like mom or dad helped me get all those, so they becomes cherished memories. An don't overlook the bonding, for me I had a few different ones with my grand parents they gave me Carebears, an the rest of the family gave me Transformers, I still have everyone of them, an one day I will pass them on.

My kids are already asking, my middle son is the only one I am worrying about financially though because he likes the expensive video games. But he also kind of wants a lap top too, but he know if he gets a lap top he will not get anything else, so he keeps changing his mind back and forth. My daughter who is 13 just wants clothes, so that should be nice, I will just check every where I go for things I know she will like. My youngest who is 5 still loves Thomas trains so any kind of train thing he will like, I already have a few things for him. When my kids were 1 I would get them educational toys to help them learn certain things, but I would not worry about that too much a 1 year old is not going to complain. Just keep an eye on things she might be interested. Does she get excited around dogs or when she horses or anything like that, if so take your clues from those things that tend to make her happy.

It is really difficult to decide on the gifts for everbody keeping in mind the intersts of various people. I have to get gifts for my family and my inlaws this year. I am in a very difficult situations. In your case, it seems you need to spend some money for this Christmas. I think music CD is a good gift for one year old kid. Even though she doesn't know to play a CD, you can play the songs for her.

My kids know that Christmas is not too far away. I am glad they tell me what they want now. I make hardly any money so I have to buy things long in advance. I have less now than I was planning on having for them. I really want to give them a great Christmas but don't have a lot of funds to work with.

Hi, Camomom! I don't have my own kids yet, but I have my nephews and niece to entertain me he he... Yea, kids love everything they see on TV! My 5-year-old niece loves Little Pony, too and other cute and pretty stuffs. She has not yet asked anything about Christmas, though. However, one of my nephews has been mentioning about setting up the Christmas tree and decorations he he he... They used to help me every year. So, I told him that it is too early, but then, he has asked about the same thing again a few days ago. Well, I guess it is because they are moving out and he doesn't want to miss that part. Anyway, I have never thought of buying anything online with coupons, I mean I never tried to do that. How does it work?? I think it is not so much of a hassle to get something for a one-year-old child. They love to hold and touch every thing, so, perhaps you can get something that she can press like a mini piano or something. Just a suggestion...

I am chinese and i have to point out that Christmas is becoming more and more popular to celebrate in China and we Chinese even forget our traditional days. However, i had never received any gifts at Christmas day and it is not very important for me to do any special things and i want to focus much on our own days.