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I hesitate to say “cheap” holidays… it makes it seem trashy, like the “cheap” toys at the Dollar Store.  Hopefully you know what I mean… cheap in terms of money expended, very rich in terms of celebration, joy and relationships; the very things which mean the most.

The economic crisis is touching every single person I know in one way or another.  Everyone is mindful of money this year. It is not just us, living out of backpacks, who are focused on conserving resources and paring down. This has got me thinking about ways to make the holidays what they are meant to be: a time of family celebration focused on faith and relationships as well as a joyous celebration for the children.

Here are a few of my ideas… I’m sure you have many more.

Advent or The 12 Days of Christmas

Every year we celebrate advent. I make calendars of one sort or another for my kids and a few others. Some years they are big and crazy. Other years less so. Either way, it serves as a way to focus our kids’ attention on the coming BIG gift of Jesus at Christmas.

One year we stuffed tiny treasures inside toilet paper tubes and wrapped them like Christmas crackers and opened one per day.

When we’re in the States for the holidays we use a special calendar I made when we were living in Marseille, France. It’s a tree with slots for tags to be pulled out, one surprise written on each tag.

This year our advent calendar is a paper chain in the shape of peppermint candies, colored red and green.  On the back of each “candy” is written a special privilege or relationship building prize, like “bake with mom.” There are six prizes rotated through four kids… 24 days. Doesn’t cost a dime.

Craft-ernoons

Every afternoon in December is a crafter-noon this year. It is a cheap and easy way to decorate our house for the holidays and it is OH so much fun. Using recycled egg crates, meat trays, toilet paper tubes and the new markers and glue our friends mailed to us, the children are spending every afternoon making merry and bright. Here are a few links to some ideas to get you started:

Kids Holiday Crafts This link is to their “winter” page but there are loads of free downloads and craft ideas for all seasons!

Family Fun has loads of great ideas with clear instructions, photos and inspiration for even the most craft challenged family!

Kaboose has a directory of crafts for all seasons with lots of free downloads!

Free Gifts

My friend Lois sent us the most beautiful paper napkin rings for Thanksgiving and ornaments to make for Christmas.  She had printed them off of a website called www.thetoymaker.com I had never seen it before and have since fallen in love.

I’ve also discovered Canon’s paper craft site and we’re making all sorts of interesting things! Using this website and your color printer, you could EASILY assemble free craft packs for all of the kids in your life.

There are fun advent calendars to print and make on both sites!

Candy: Make It, Don’t Buy It!

I’ve always been a homemade candy girl, but even if you aren’t you could be this year, and save some money stuffing stockings!

Here are two SUPER easy recipes: 

Pretzel Sticks: dipped in melted chocolate with festive sprinkles on top.  Tie them in a trio and presto!  Hostess gift or stocking stuffer. (Thanks Lois, for sending the fixin’s to Africa!)

Peppermint Bark: my personal favorite. Use the box of broken candy canes that is one the markdown shelf. Give a three year old the serious job of pounding them to bits in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin. Melt white or brown chocolate, stir in the bits, pour onto a cookie sheet and cool in the fridge. Broken into chunks with a shiny bow on the cellophane bag, they look like they came from Harry and David.

Coupons

I know, I know… BORING.  But ya know, they don’t have to be!

With a little thought you could really give a gift that each child would treasure for a lifetime.  A day alone with Mom.  A coupon for a multi-family sleepover. Sometimes an experience lasts longer than toy the same amount of money could buy. Our best coupon ever: A camel ride on the Sahara!

Those are just a few of the thoughts that have come my way while looking for ways to create a joyful holiday on a dime. Won’t you share yours with us?

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I’m not saying these are perfect, but I’ve run through 77 iterations of my recipe and this is the best I have made yet and I’m done messing around. I’ve tried yogurt and cottage cheese and buttermilk and all sorts of other stuff but these hit the spot and I can walk into just about any kitchen and whip these up in no time.

These are not some sort of crunchy earth muffin tree hugging whole wheat flapjack pancakes. No sir, that’s not what we are here for – this is about pancake delight, not a high-fiber diet or bonding with mother nature. This is about pleasing that little kid down in your soul (the one your job keeps trying to wrestle to the ground and strangle to death, slowly, while it smiles gleefully) and your real little kids sitting at the breakfast table with silverware in hand chanting “pancakes! pancakes!” (more…)

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“Can we climb over there?” eagerly asked my seven year-old, her pink straw hat casting dappled shadows on her freckled nose.

A row of arches, no longer bearing the weight of a roof, let the bright Italian sun showcase the etched pillars sticking out like ribs in the footprint of the villa.

Across the courtyard was a crumbling wall exactly like the one we had just stepped from. People paused to take pictures and wandered the path high on the bluff above.

Assuming the opposite side had an identical staircase, I said yes.

Before I could get my camera out of the bag, my daughter and nine year-old son were standing on top of the unfenced bluff.

“That doesn’t look right,” said my husband, as he dashed down the path.

It was only when I trotted over, I realized how high up the kids really were.

And there was no staircase.

My little explorers had climbed the edge of the crumbling wall up to what was once the top of a Roman villa. Ancient roof tiles stretched from the turf, where the kids stood, and extended across the broad expanse of the hill. In places, the herringbone pattern was disrupted by gaping holes, which exposed the sickening drop fifty feet below. (more…)

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From the time he was little Elisha has been my grocery store buddy. He loved nothing more than to have my undivided attention for thirty minutes each way in the car to talk my ears off. He loved the anticipation of wondering if I had a stray quarter in my purse so he could ride the yellow horse that neighed and played the stereotypical cowboy music outside the grocery store. He loved to push the cart.

Our grocery store has two sizes of carts: the regular sized ones that were strewn all over the parking lot and inside the store, and the few and far between, super huge carts which are identifiable by their red rims and the trail of duckling children strung out behind whichever Mama is pushing.

Small families do not use these carts. In fact, I think most of the members of the “red cart club” know each other… and a good proportion of us home school our kids, which means that we take our kids WITH us to the store on a Wednesday afternoon. Come to think of it, maybe that red rim is a warning sign to all of the other shoppers: “Look out, family of eight coming your way!”

Sometimes I need two red carts.

Elisha pushes that cart with the concentration of an Indy car driver. He always cites the rule to me upon entering the store:

• “If I touch anybody or anything with my cart I lose the privilege to drive, right Mom?”
• “Right.”

I think driving the cart must be the video game deprived child’s answer to “Driver.”

He maneuvers that cart around big displays of chips and candy, milk and meat, peering under the handle bar with his eyes peeled for old ladies with walkers and little children who’ve lost their parents.

Survive the obstacle course and win the game. Five extra points if he doesn’t break the eggs.

It occurred to me, in the produce section of one grocery expedition, that among the many things we teach in the grocery store, I have overlooked Geography. It happened over a five pound bag of carrots, conspicuously marked with “grown in Canada.”

• “Look Elisha, these are Canadian carrots… remember that carrot farm in Nova Scotia where we took a rest and they told us all about carrot cultivation and harvest?”
• “Yeah, and we ate strawberries…” he added.

We reminisced about that lovely afternoon as we picked up our onions and potatoes, grown in California and Idaho, respectively.

The Games

When Hannah and Ben were two I made grocery bingo games.

• On each card were pictures of various items found in the store.
• I provided each kid with a page of dot stickers and they passed a pleasant hour hunting for tomatoes and artichokes while I shopped.

Later we made math games and treasure hunts out of our shopping trips.

• Each child has $15 of imaginary money to spend, they need something from each food group to win.
• Older children figured unit costs for canned and boxed goods with a goal of saving the family $1 per trip
• A list of ten obscure items was provided to each child and the winner was the fellow who found the most of the “treasures” on his list.

Recently the oldest two have taken over half of the shopping list and take their own red cart around the store.

I’ve decided to institute a new game: Grocery Geography.

I’m going to have two versions:

The little people version: in which they are given a list of countries and we look together for items originating in those countries.

The continents version: in which they carry a laminated map and add dots for each food they find for a particular continent.

The geography super stars version: in which points are awarded for each country you find that no one else finds, and each food you find that no one else finds.

• Here’s a hint: spend time in the deli section where the fish and meats are. Look also in the produce section (for carrots!)
• Keep in mind that the foods must actually be PRODUCED in a foreign country, not just be a parody of food from that country. Example: Thai Coconut Milk does not count towards Thailand because it is produced in southern California.

Let me know if you decide to play along and send in the weirdest foods and countries your kids find… I’m sure the results will be different in different grocery stores around the country!

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Tradition:  noun.  The practice of passing down customs, beliefs or other knowledge from parents to their children.

When I was a new mom (I had just one child, and he wasn’t quite 2 yet) my brother gave me some interesting advice.  He said his only regret was not developing family traditions.  You see, his son was grown and living in another state.  They rarely saw him as there was no tradition to pull him home.  You know, the “But we always…(fill in the blank) for Memorial Day, Christmas, Birthdays, etc.”   My brother is of the generation that rebelled against the establishment and tradition for tradition’s sake.  So they carefully raised their son with no traditions.

As parents trying to craft an Uncommon Childhood, we might be tempted to do the same.  After all, aren’t traditions just meaningless repetition? (more…)