Christmas Budget Blues

Sometimes our generosity overwhelms our better sense and we end up with a budgeting disaster when all those after Christmas bills start arriving. Try some of these tips... Make a donation to a loved one's favourite charity instead of purchasing a gift. Pick names from among family members and set a price limit. One gift instead of many saves shopping time, wrapping time and money! Introduce a "Give 'n Grab". Each participant brings one wrapped gift with no recipient's name. Each participant takes a number. Number one selects any gift and opens it. Number two has the option of taking any unopened gift OR grabbing the gift opened by number one. Proceed until the last person has selected/grabbed their gift. This is lots of fun and can occupy people for quite a while. Ran out of Christmas wrapping paper? You can use newspaper (the comic section is fun for kids) to wrap all sorts of gifts. Tie the package up with pretty ribbon and no one will know you had a gift wrap crisis!