Christmas Shopping

     My hubby and I have three kids.  We have 8 and 2 year old boys, and a 1 year old girl.  Christmas time can get quite expensive with three kids, and all our nieces and nephews.  We decided to use a few new methods to our Christmas shopping to save money this year.  First we are only buying for children.  After all, children are the reason for season, right?  This will save us tons of money, and be able to give the children a better Christmas.  The little ones don't really care about presents, so our next method to save money involves buying what the little ones need.  An example of this would be:  diapers, wipes, toddler snacks, sippy cups, clothes.  The little ones generally end up playing with the boxes anyhow.  This advice was given to my hubby from one of his coworkers.  The coworker said that this helps the older ones still believe in Santa because the they still receive gifts.  Of course they will still get a few toys in addition to the items.  The next method involves Craiglist and EBay.  We always sold stuff on Craigslist and EBay, so why not buy on there too.  Kids don't seem to care if there toy is used or not.  Most of the time the toys look brand new, just without the packaging.  Who would want to deal with the 30 tie tags and plastic cutting that takes forever to get to the gift?  Not my kids!  This will save us tons of money and our children will receive a ton more gifts.  We generally only buy new from the store for our nieces and nephews in case there is a problem, they can return it.  I also like that we have found a lot of items on Craiglist and EBay, that can't be found in stores.  I hope, and anticipate our kids running out of their bedrooms Christmas morning with tons of excitement.