5 Things to Buy at After Christmas Sales

This post is copied, with permission, from Imaginative Homeschool.

I love after Christmas sales.  They can offer some of the best prices of the year on a day where I rarely have any holiday plans, and I love that I don't have to get up at 5 am to take advantage of them.  Here are some of my favorite things to get on December 26th.


1.  Holiday Decor and Gift Wrap

I buy nearly all of our holiday decor on December 26th.  Holiday items will be 50% off or MORE, so it's really the perfect time to shop for it.   Since all of this year's decor is still up, its a great time to assess what you would like to change, replace, or improve on for next year, and get all that shopped for before you pack it away in January.

But don't just think of things for next Christmas.  Consider other upcoming holidays too!  Usually packs of plain red, white, and green Christmas tissue will be on sale with the rest of the Christmas wrap, which can be used for Valentines and St. Patrick's day too!  I stock up on that stuff this time of year. Look also for sparkly wrap in gold or silver that could work for birthday wrapping paper, and if you have a little girl that loves Elsa, snatch up anything with silvery or sparkly blue snowflakes for future gift wrapping (as well as snowflake garlands and ornaments and even tinsel for Frozen party decor!)  

2. Holiday Candy
Candy tastes as good no matter what it is wrapped in, so I sometimes buy a few "after Christmas" treats...as well as some candy for New Year's parties, where  "Christmas Specific" designs are still acceptable.   Last year I found several candy items that were easy to repurpose for other upcoming holidays too.    Look for plain red and green candies (easy to repurpose for Valentines and St. Patrick's day), and bags of candy where the only holiday markings are on the outer bag.     You can also find fun cartoon character and movie themed stocking stuffer candies on sale that don't have any holiday markings--which I save for Easter baskets and birthday party favors.

CANDY SHELF LIFE
How long a candy will last depends on the type.   Below is a guide to the shelf life of various candies if unopened and stored properly.   It's organized according to the holidays items will last til if bought the day after Christmas (click here for a printable version) 


VALENTINES
Most Chocolate (2-4 months)
All of the Below...

ST PATRICKS & EASTER
M&M: Peanut, Peanut Butter, Almond (6 months)
Gum (6-9 months)
All of the Below...

SUMMER - 6 months
Caramels (9-12 months)
All of the Below...

HALLOWEEN & THANKSGIVING
M&M:  Regular Variety (1 Year)
Gummy Candy (1 year)
Jelly Beans (1-2 years)
Individually wrapped hard candy (1-2 Years)
All of the Below...

NEXT CHRISTMAS
Candy Canes (2-3 Years)
Skittles (2-3 years)
Gobstoppers (Indefinitely)
Fireballs (Indefinitely)

(NOTE:   Chocolate and M&Ms can be stored longer if refrigerated or frozen) 


3.  Gifts For Easter Baskets and Upcoming Birthdays
There are lots of stocking stuffers which are un-Christmassy enough to use as party favors or Easter basket filler.  And while toys and gifts may be a little picked over you can still find some great buys on Dec 26th sales.  Don't forget to shop online too--there's some amazing online sales this time of year.  


4.  Next Year's Holiday Outfits
It's a little risky trying to predict what size your kids will be next Christmas (especially with very small children), but things like Christmas sweaters tend to be a little more forgiving if you guess larger, and if you have a larger family buying a few extra sizes to hand down doesn't hurt.


5.  Christmas Cards
I admit I haven't sent Christmas cards for several years now, but back when I did I ALWAYS bought them a year ahead for half off or more.

What are your favorite things to buy December 26th?

5 Alternative Easter Egg Ideas

Here are some egg shaped items to fill an Easter basket, or add some spice to an Easter Egg Hunt.


Hatch an Egg



I saw some of these (or similar) egg hatching kits at the Mayborn Museum Giftshop recently. You can also find lots of types of these on Amazon which will "hatch" into all sorts of animals.  If you have several baskets to fill with these, you can try some of the egg sets I found on Amazon below....

• 12 Dino Eggs for $13.10
• Various Mixed Sets of 3 Animal Planet Grow Eggs for $12.99
• Mixed Set with A Baby Chick, Duck, or Rabbit, Kitten, Frog and Robin for $24.99

Dinosaur Fossil Eggs

We've done dinosaur bone excavation kits before and they are great!  I've been amazed to see my child who doesn't like to play alone for 5 minutes spend HOURS working to unearth a dinosaur bone from a kit similar to this one.  I've seen the kit above in local stores (either HEB or Walmart...can't remember), and they were much cheaper than you can get them on Amazon.  But if you're buying eggs for a bunch, these I found a 6 pack set of dinosaur eggs for under $10 which might be a better deal.

 Egg Shaped Chalk




Walmart has these locally, and though I can't remember the price, it's a lot cheaper than the ones on Amazon (pictured above) which were ridiculously expensive (they're under $5 at Walmart...maybe as low as $2, can't remember).

Egg Shaped Soap

The colorful soap eggs above is made by an Etsy crafter right here in Waco!  (She doesn't allow pick-ups, but at least you know that it will ship quick since it doesn't have far to travel). 

Egg Shaped Bath Fizzies

Powered By Toastie Studio - Etsy Tools

I haven't seen egg shaped bath fizzies locally this year, but there are some cute ones on Etsy.   My kids love watching them bubble and fizz.

REVIEW: Custom Kids Shirts by Shugie

I received a product discount in exchange for this review.

Every year I get a  t-shirt for my kiddos with their age on it.  It started with my middle son  as a way to help him learn his age and celebrate turning a year older...and has turned into a yearly tradition.

This year I bought my kiddos shirts from Shugie, an etsy shop run by Jess Galvan .  While there's a lot of shops out there that do initial and age shirts, it can be hard to find fabric that's mature enough for my 9 year old.  Shugie had TONS of great designs that I knew even my older kids would love.  It was hard to decide...

Should I go with this cool Batman design?

 Or maybe Star Wars?

After much consideration I decided on....

TRANSFORMERS!

This is my youngest in his 6 shirt.  He LOVED it.  He was nearly as excited

 over this as the actual transformer toy he got for his birthday!   I got his older 

brother the same design in a 9. 

The quality of the shirts are excellent...they just look very solidly done.   The buying experience was great too.  One reason I love shopping on Etsy, especially for custom items like this, is that I get to order from a real person.  It's not just about "supporting handmade"--it's about the customer service you get.   Though Jess doesn't usually keep larger sizes in stock, she was happy to custom order one for my 9 year old (who also got a transformers shirt).  And she even asked me what my kids favorite transformers were, so she could be sure that the right one showed up in the design.  

I really recommend this shop.  It has a lot of great designs for boys I haven't seen anywhere else, and some great ones for girls too.  If I had a girl, I would totally want to get this one for her....

And, Shugie doesn't just have shirts...check out these cuts jackets!

If you like what you see you can

Shop Shugie Here

SALE SPOTTED - HEB

A couple sales caught my eye today in the produce section of the HEB on Hewitt Dr:

• Red Peppers - 2 for $1
• Strawberries - $1.49ish* 

*(Actually, it was cheaper to buy two smaller strawberry cases than one large one, which was $3.59ish).  

Featured Waco Crafter: Sapone Soaps and Candles

I'm going to start regularly featuring Waco crafters and artisans.  This week I'm spotlighting Bernadette Lee Bennett of Sapone Soaps and Candles.  Her father (who has his own shops: BBCreations and InspriationWorkshop) got her involved in crafting when she became disabled.  Together they design and make  novelty soaps and candles which they sell on Etsy.

"Crafting showed me I had more than one talent and I love making unique things. "

 - Bernadette Lee Bennett, Waco Crafter

Fall Leaves Soap Petals SaponeSoaps $5.00	Candy Corn SoapSicle SaponeSoaps $5.00	Candy Corn Tealights SaponeSoaps $5.00
Spooky Teeth SoapSicles SaponeSoaps $6.00	Cucumber Melon Tealight... SaponeSoaps $5.00	Mini Autumn Leaf Soaps SaponeSoaps $4.50
Wiches Brew Candle Tart... SaponeSoaps $4.00	Boney Bones Soap SaponeSoaps $5.00	Witches Brew Tealights SaponeSoaps $5.00
Tiny Little Pumpkin Soa... SaponeSoaps $4.00	Witchy Fingers Soap SaponeSoaps $4.00	Cutey Skull Soap SaponeSoaps $4.50
Pumpkin Cinnamon Tealig... SaponeSoaps $5.00	Gold & Silver Star Soap... SaponeSoaps $5.00	Jack o Latern Pumpkin S... SaponeSoaps $6.00

Treasury tool supported by the dog house

Don't you just love  the fun Autumn and Halloween themed items she has in her shop?   I could see using some of these for party favors (if you were careful to let the guests know they weren't candy!)   And the scents sound just scrumptious!

Target Invites On Sale

Target has some of the cutest party invitations, and right now they have some of my faves on sale for 30% Off, like these:

If your party happens to be bug themed, you'll also find some great party favors over in their $1 section.  Some of the bugs might work well for favors for a dinosaur party too!

After Christmas Sales! Still Going!

Did you get over to any of the after Christmas sales?    I always shop for decorations for next year right after Christmas.   But you can also get stuff NOT for Christmas at these Christmas sales.  So of the "Christmas" stuff on sale is generic enough that it can be used for other things.

• Red items for Valentines
• Green items for St. Patricks Day
• Bows and ribbon for birthday presents
• Other party favors for birthdays
• Gift bags and boxes to use for birthdays or storage

Here's the best deals I found so far!

HEB

• Bags of bows for $0.20 (for the whole bag!)
• Rolls of plain green cello wrap for $0.10 (think St. Patricks Day!)
• Lots of cutesy candy dishes...didn't catch how much cause I had already bought one before Christmas.

WALMART
Most Christmas items 75% Off!

• LOTS of Christmas Cards Left
• LOTS of Wrapping Paper
• Star Wars Themed Candy that could be used for parties or Valentines.
• Thanksgiving stuff too
• Lots of toys on sale.  I saw Lego Ninjago skeleton sets with cards and spinner on sale for $4.50 (usually $9).

TARGET
I visited Jan 1st, so these may not be there any more...but most of their Christmas stuff was 75% off!

• Tons of ornaments for as low as 4 for a quarter!
• Window stickers for $0.50
• Nice shirt boxes for under $3

Here's one of the shirt boxes I found on sale.  It's generic enough that you could use it for birthdays or Valentines.  I'm going to store my kids art in it, since its large enough for construction paper.

Grocery Deal - 98 Cent Peppers

Saw Red Bell Peppers for only $0.98 at the HEB on Hewitt Dr!

After Halloween Sales...

After Halloween is a great time to pick up candy for other events, costume items for presents (great for your child's dress up box), and orange/fall items that can be repurposed for Thanksgiving.  I wasn't needing any more candy (my kids have enough for a nice sugar rush, thanks), and the candy at my local Walmart was already pretty picked through yesterday anyways.  But I did find these Star Wars suckers that I'll be putting in my kids Christmas stockings.  There was also some Halloween pretzels that could work for lunchbox snacks, and some Halloween shirts for next year...all 50% off.

Did you shop the after Halloween sales?  If so, what did you find?

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I'm joining in at Two Question Thursday and Aloha Friday and Frugal Fridays!

Halloween Shopping Deals in Waco

Here's some Halloween deals I spotted around town!

Glow Bracelets
Get a tube of 15 glow braces for $1 in Target's Dollar Section!  That even beats Walmart (where $1 only gets you 6 bracelets).  You can attach these together to make necklaces, too.  That's cheap enough to hand out in stead of candy, if you wanted a cool non-sugary alternative!

Hats
Target's Dollar section also has some plastic fireman and yellow construction hats  (looked small...for toddler, maybe up to Kindergarten).  For Fedoras, try the Thrift Store on Hewitt Drive (between Ace Hardware and Sonic).  They had about 4 or 5 nice 1920s gangster hats in pinstripes and brown (cloth, not plastic).  They had a LOT of other good stuff too!

Foam Swords and Sheilds
Target's Dollar section also had foam swords and sheilds.  The sheilds are pretty cool in my oppinion, though small (wouldn't go well for children over 6 yrs old, probably).  The swords looked like they might not last the night...but if you're only using them for halloween (and not as a toy afterwards) they're a cheap alternative.

Don't Clean Your Oven!

Lori over at Our Forever House was singing the praises of using an oven liner to catch drips so you don't have to clean your oven.  It's a great idea, and one I'm going to try!   But even cooler is, I know exactly where I'm going to get mine!

Our kids just brought home the Charleston Wrap fundraiser catalogs from school, and on page 9 of the Kitchen and Home Catalog, they have an dishwasher safe oven liner for $15, which is $5 less than the one Lisa listed from Bed, Bath & Beyond!  Cool huh.  And shipping is free cause the kids deliver it to you!

If your kid's school isn't doing this fundraiser, and you want to get this, give a shout out to your friends and see if there kids brought a catalog home, and it's likely you'll find someone who would be more than happy to sell you one  ("What, you're ASKING if you can buy something from my kid's fundraiser?  Bless you!").

WARNING

Came so close to buying this at Walmart for a fruit bowl for my table.  

Good thing I noticed the label on the bottom first.

To their credit, it was in the decorative/crafts section, not where food

containers and dishes are sold.   And thankfully it was labeled.