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Do you want a really inexpensive Christmas idea for your children?
Cereal!
I know many of you are thinking this is ridiculous, but hear me out. My children eat very little cereal, mainly because they eat about 7 bowls in a sitting and use a gallon of milk as well. It is much cheaper, and usually healthier for me to serve a hot breakfast in the morning. I reserve cereal for those mornings I know I am not going to get up at the crack of dawn and make something for the kids.
When my kids do eat cereal they usually get a choice of Cheerios or Chex, not very exciting to an eight year old kid. So at Christmas time I buy my children each a box of their very own cereal, their favorite cereal. The month before Christmas I watch the sales and scour the coupons for the best deals. Then I buy each child a box for around $1 or $1.50. The kids look forward to their own box of cereal as much as any gift under the tree. My children get very little candy at Christmas so I figure the box of Lucky Charms makes up for it, and isn’t that stuff fortified with vitamins anyway?
Another quick and frugal gift idea is a toothbrush in their stocking. My kids love getting new toothbrushes, especially if they are cool colors or have a character on them like a princess or super hero. Use those Extra Bucks and coupons to pick out a few extra special toothbrushes for the kids. I mean with all that candy they are eating this time of year, this is really a gift to your pocket book! More brushing = Less trips to the dentist.
I forgot to mention, this gift will only work, if your kids do not normally eat “sugar” cereals for breakfast. If your child has Fruit Loops every day, they will probably not be impressed with a box under the tree.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
haha good one! My kids do not know sugar cereal exists just yet
However I think Twizzlers will be in their stockings since they love them so and never get them!
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Haha! I grew up getting toothbrushes, “cool” toothpaste, neato kids’ soap, etc. in my stocking, along with pens, pencils, and blank notebooks. It’s amazing how well stuff like that is received, even when lines up against bigger gifts. My kid is getting a transformers toothbrush, spiderman toothpaste, and transformers underwear in his stocking!
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I do the cool toothbrush in the stocking but I’ve never wrapped up cereal. But that is something that I buy so they wouldn’t be too impressed with that. Although I only buy the Quaker Oats bags or generic and not the “real stuff” so they would probably like that!
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hahaha! You sound like me! I give mine candy. Which is about the only time, other than Halloween, that they get candy
And this candy they don’t have to share
I also give them a toothbrush, to balance it all out ya know
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We have put jars of cherries, catsup, fortune cookies and other interesting “food” in our kids stockings… how about flavored pancake syrup, or flavored syrup for drinks… I do love the cereal idea that’s really special!
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Very funny! My kids call that stuff “dessert cereal”, because on the rare occasions I buy it, they know it’s for dessert, not breakfast. Hey, it’s a sugary snack with vitamins sprayed onto it :0)
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That is hilarious! Since my sister and I were young we always each got a box of what we referred to as “sugar cereal” (we still call it that, actually) under our stockings on Christmas morning; I usually got Lucky Charms and my sister was a big fan of Reese’s Puffs. My mother also bargain shopped and we did not get “sugar cereal” any other time of year, so it was a real treat for us. I am 28, married, my sister is 25 and out on her own as well, but Santa has kept up the tradition of putting at least one box of sugar cereal under the stockings every year!
(Also, we always got underwear in our stockings. Still do…)
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I think thats a cute idea! Very Cute!!!
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HA! My mom was the same way, except she would give my sister and I a box of “sugary cereal” to us on our birthdays with a $20 bill taped to the top, it was the best gift ever!
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Love your blog!!
We must be on the same wave length…….my boys are getting a fun box of cereal in their giant Christmas stocking this year, along with a toothbrush………I think I paid .67 cents for the cereal and pennies for the toothbrushes as well and it just tickles them pink!!!
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