Christmas Planning

We usually start Christmas shopping as soon as Christmas is over the year before, and try to have at least 95% of it done by the end of November.  The only reason we wait that long is because we tend to do a lot of Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping.

This year I'm having more trouble keeping things secret from Elliott.  He's an excellent reader and speller (he tests about 4 grade levels ahead in reading right now), so if he can FIND a list, he can definitely read it.  Plus with all the remodeling in the basement, we've temporarily lost 2 of our hiding spots. Add to that the fact that he now knows how to see what we've ordered on Amazon (my husband showed him, so he could see if he had already bought a game for the Kindle Fire), and we are having trouble this year.

One thing that we've done to keep secrets is order it through another website, with other things for him.  This works right now because we are always gone on Saturdays, so my sister is the one that checks the mail most of the time, and during the week it comes while he's in school.  If we order other stuff for him, the box that says Kohl's or wherever on the side doesn't arouse suspicion. :)  And it's already open when he gets home, so he doesn't see anything that comes out of the box!

Another thing we've done is order books through Scholastic.  We ended up ordering through my sister last month, and then my mom mailed them up here (which once again is no big deal, because packages from Nama frequently come anyway).  His teacher did send a note home telling us to just let her know if we wanted to keep anything that we order a secret from them, though, because she could keep them until we arranged a time to pick them up, closer to Christmas or birthdays.  If we order any more books we want to keep a secret, we will probably go that route.

We don't keep everything a secret, though.  We don't see any big deal with him knowing already that he's getting  certain Super Hero toys, or a specific Lego set.

The Avengers on Sale

Well, I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. I tried to post this on Friday, but then I got too busy.  We're pet sitting right now, so in addition to trying to get caught up from last week I'm also busy with that.  The pets just live next door so it's not a big deal or anything.

I had planned on posting about a few deals last week, but they have since expired, and I just didn't feel up to it last week.  Sorry. 

This week one deal worth mentioning is the new Avengers movie.  It seems to be on sale everywhere, and there are a lot of freebies available depending on where you buy it.    I preordered our copy  a few weeks ago on Amazon.  We bought the 3D blu ray/blu ray/dvd combo pack, and it's now $24.99.  You can get the combo pack without the 3D blu ray for $19.99 and the DVD version for $16.99.  Those prices seem to be pretty standard when compared to brick and mortar stores as well.  So I guess the best way to decide where you want to buy is to see what extras come with it.  Amazon still might be your best bet if you are wanting to buy it for a gift and want it delivered to your door, though, especially if you live in a state where you don't have to pay tax on Amazon purchases.  As always shipping is free with a Prime membership, or a $25 purchase.