Christmas Shopping All Year Long

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With five kids, I can’t afford to pay full price for Christmas gifts at the last minute. A pile of presents is not the focus of our Christmas celebration, so I like to thoughtfully choose gifts for each child since they are not getting everything their little hearts desire. I shop throughout the year to find quality items at bargain-basement prices.

Here are some tips for Christmas shopping all year long to stock your gift closet and stuff your stockings. Be sure to grab your free Christmas Gift planner page at the end!

Summer Clearance Sales – Now is the time to buy outdoor toys, kids’ gardening tools, and cute character beach towels. Snag sidewalk chalk, bubbles, and sunglasses for stocking stuffers. Some stores start clearancing out the toy section to make room for new stock.

Back to School Sales – Cute school supplies make great stocking stuffers – scented markers, whimsical scissors, fancy pens, comical erasers. I bought my 7 yr old a metal pencil box and filled it with her own tape, scissors, binder clips, sticky notes, and other office supplies. She adores having her own stuff! Decorative organizers usually go on sale too. Curriculum websites and teacher supply stores will have sales on art supplies, telescopes, games, puzzles, or that special course your teen wants. Some sites will offer an additional discount for signing up to receive emails.

After Christmas Clearance Sales – Buy gift baskets and sets for 50-75% off. You can divide them up into multiple gifts. Don’t forget to stock up on wrapping paper & bows. CVS and Walgreens include toys in their after-Christmas sales. I always pick up a few to donate the next year.

Thrift Stores & Garage Sales– You can find new-in-the-box toys and games at thrift stores & garage sales. Vintage items, like collectible books and tea cups, make great gifts.

Gift Card Deals – You will usually find these around Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, and after Thanksgiving. Stores will offer a free gift card with a gift card purchase. (For example, buy a $50 gift card, get a $10 card free.) Buy a gift card (and get your free one) and tuck them away until that store has a big sale. Membership stores like Costco and Sams sell discounted gift cards to movie theaters and restaurants.

Amazon Deals – This is where I find most of my gift deals. The closer to Christmas it gets, the lower the prices go. Sometimes the crazy-low prices only last for an hour or two, but I have Amazon Prime so I can purchase items indivdually at a moment’s notice without having to worry about meeting the free shipping minimum purchase. A couple of places to find the good stuff: visit the Today’s Deals tab for Deal of the Day offers, or choose a department and then scroll down on the left and choose Discount – % off. (Or join my Facebook group below ;))

Amazon Prime tip – You can now purchase a monthly Amazon Prime membership for $10.99 instead of having to buy a yearly membership. I would recommend the time period between Thanksgiving & Christmas for the best deals. The yearly Amazon Prime membership sometimes goes on sale around Black Friday.

I invite you to come join my Homeschool Family Deals and Steals Facebook group. I will be sharing all of the sales and coupons that I come across to help stock your homeschool shelf and your gift closet.

If you are like me, you forget what you bought and where you put it, so I made a Christmas planner page to keep track of your purchases. Download your free planner page below.