guest blogger: dealectica

Have you started your holiday shopping yet?    I started mine back in September,  and I’ve nearly finished.    There are always a few last minute gifts to pick up.   And those last minute gifts almost always cause me to spend more than my budget.   That’s why I’m so excited to share Kiersten’s amazing money saving post below!   Many of you many know Kiersten from her first blog,  The Type A Housewife.  Did you know she recently launched a second blog – Dealectica?  Dealectica is a blog about shopping smart and saving money.  She features great deals on books, heartsy, and has an amazing round up of natural and organic coupons, too!

***

How to Save Money on Holiday Shopping (without looking cheap!)

The holiday season is upon us, and we all know what that means: it’s time to start shopping! I used to love Christmas shopping, but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve come to dread it more and more. It’s not dealing with the crowds or finding the perfect gift that makes me dread holiday shopping–it’s spending so much money. Somehow every year, there are more people to buy gifts for. I’ve gotten good at coming up with ways to save money on Christmas presents, though, so I thought I’d share some of them with the awesome readers of Nap Time Is My Time!

Make Gift Baskets

I do this every year and people love it.  Stores like World Market and Pier 1 have lots of fun, small items to add to baskets. I like to go the gourmet food route–I buy whatever is on sale at World Market when I’m there (and there’s always something delicious on sale at World Market!). When Christmas is over, prepare for next year’s gift basket bonanza by buying discounted baskets, wrapping, ornaments, and holiday tchotchkes.

Look For Gift Card Deals

You can usually find these at restaurants, but I’m sure there are stores that have them too. Many restaurants have deals where if you buy a certain number of gift cards, you get another, smaller gift card for free. Restaurants.com is great too (last year we bought several $25 gift cards for $3 each to give to co-workers!), but make sure there’s a good selection of restaurants near the recipient’s home first–these gift cards are no fun if you can’t use them!

Take Crafts to the Next Level

When people think about handmade holiday gifts, they usually have visions of pinecones dipped in glitter and macaroni wreaths. Handmade doesn’t have to mean tacky! I’m making handmade candles and soaps as gifts this year, among other things. Look for inspiration on Pinterest, Martha Stewart Living, or Real Simple–sometimes you might even see something in stores like Anthropologie that you could easily make yourself. The above list of 101 Handmade Ornament Tutorials is a great place to start!

Discount Stores

I know that stores like TJ Maxx and HomeGoods have a lot of fans, but I find them to be hit-or-miss. Sometimes you go there and leave with bags full of exciting finds and other times it’s all giant LED palm trees and hot pink roller-skate statues (I’m not even lying–these were two things I found last time I was at HomeGoods). Despite this, it’s definitely worth visiting these stores about once every week or two during the holiday season, particularly for those gourmet food items you’re going to be putting in your DIY gift baskets! I’ve also found that these stores are great places to buy kitchen goods, like linens, cutting boards, etc.

Stalk Deal Sites Like It’s Your Job

It can be time consuming to keep up with deals during this time of the year, but if you have the time, it will pay off in the end. Gilt and Hautelook are two of my favorite sites for flash sales; even Groupon and Amazon are starting to get in on the whole flash sale trend. Subscribe to email newsletters for your favorite stores to scout for promo codes, keep up to date with blogs about deals and shopping, and download apps for your phone (I love the Gilt app!) so you can browse deals while you’re on the go.

(Gourmet) Homemade Food

Just like with crafts, people tend to think about homemade holiday food gifts as either cookies or fruitcake. I like to make luxe food gifts that people think came from expensive artisan chocolatiers (but nope, they just came from my kitchen!). The Sea Salted Peanut Butter Cups is my recipe (shameless self-promotion alert!) and I’m planning on making them to give as gifts this year. Martha Stewart’s website has an awesome roundup of homemade holiday candy recipes too. And once you make the candy, remember, packaging is everything–buy some fun Chinese take-out boxes, baker’s string, and holiday themed labels to complete your gift.

So now that I’ve shared some of my tips for saving money on holiday shopping, I’d love to hear some of yours! How do you save money on gifts?

***

If only I could get Kiersten to make some of those delicious Sea Salted Peanut Butter Cups and send them to my friends and family, I’d be all set.    Be sure to stop by Dealectica and give Kiersten some love.   She’s sharing deals on on Twitter, too.