Baking Tip

photo credit

 

Here is a tip on how to stretch your holiday baking just a little bit further:  make your cookies/bars smaller. 

Revolutionary, I know.

But in all seriousness, if you cut a pan of bars to make 24 bars, they will be larger and your guests will probably take one.  If you cut your pan of bars to make 48 bars, they will be half the size, but your guests will probably still take one!  Many times with something sweet, you don't actually need a large sampling of it, especially when there are other desserts (and there always are around the holidays)! 

So, if you have a cookie swap to attend, just make your cookies a little smaller and you'll get more out of one recipe. 

If you have to bring a dessert to two different parties, make your cookies smaller, bring half to the first party, and half to the second (freezing the superflulous cookies if there is a long time in between parties). 

See where I'm going here?  You can save yourself time, and most certainly money, by making your cookies a little bit smaller.  No one will notice except your wallet! 

And if you are usually someone who buys the pre-made cookie dough, can I encourage you to try and make the same cookies from scratch instead?  It's cheaper, you'll be able to make more cookies and it's certainly easier to make the cookies a smaller size from your scratch dough, then from pre-formed dough.  I'll be doing a whole post later about cost comparison between home made dough and store bought dough.

Happy baking!  We made sugar cookies this weekend at our house (and I did make them a tiny bit thinner and used smaller cookie cutters to make my cookies go further!) 

Free Christmas Music from Amazon

Starting today, every 5 days, Amazon is offering a new set of 5 FREE Christmas songs.  That's one free song for every day from now until Christmas!

Go here to claim your first 5 free songs. 

Thanks, Hip 2 Save!

ABC Family 25 Days of Christmas

I'm all about free fun, especially at Christmas time.  The ABC Family channel runs the 25 days of Christmas (movies) starting today.  Even if you don't watch every single day, it's nice to know that there is a family-friendly Christmas movie on TV every night from now until Christmas!

Tonight's movie is Elf.  Who doesn't love that movie?!  My daughter is too young for it, but I'll be watching it after she goes to bed :).  They also have movies running during the day most days.  Our DVR is set for Mickey's Once Upon a Christmas this morning!

Here is the entire schedule so you can mark your calendar (or set your DVR) for days you don't want to miss!

Cardstore: $0.39 Holiday Cards - Today Only!

After all of their great deals so far this season, it is no surprise to me that Cardstore came through again today with a great deal for Cyber Monday!

Today only, you can get your holiday cards for only $0.39 each!  Plus, if you have them send your cards for you, they pay your postage!

So let's think about this... stamps are $0.45, so even if you got your holiday cards for free, but still had to send them yourself, you'd pay $0.45 per card.  Cardstore however, is offering an awesome card, mailed for you for only $0.39!  It's almost like you're making $0.06 on every card!

If you haven't made your holiday cards yet, this is definitely the deal to jump on!  I'm sure you have some great photos to use from the long holiday weekend!

Just click the picture above to get started making your cards!

Groupon: $20 Toys R Us Voucher for Only $10

Through tomorrow you can buy a $20 voucher to Toys R Us for only $10 from Groupon!  If you'll be shopping at Toys R Us this holiday season, this is a great deal! 

The fine print:
Limit 1 per person. In-store only. Not valid outside USA. Not valid until 11/23/12 at 5PM. Not valid toward Buyer Protection Plan, gift cards including those for digital content, photo studios, phone orders, special orders, assembly fee, breast-pump rental fee, delivery fee, or shipping & handling. Valid only on a purchase of $20 or more. Not withstanding anything above or below, vouchers not valid with Toys"R"Us after 12/24/12. Thereafter, Groupon will refund amount paid in Groupon credit for unredeemed vouchers.

Holiday Baking Tip

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  And if you braved the stores or shopped from home today, I hope you found some great deals! 

Now that we are officially in the Holiday Season, that means it's time for holiday baking!  My favorite! 

My tip for tonight is to bake when you can and freeze your baked goods!  This tip will save you some time and some sanity if you are planning on entertaining or even just bringing baked goods to a holiday get together this year.

Everyone is very busy, so when you have the time to bake, even if it's 3 weeks before the event, do your baking then.  When the event rolls around, take out your baked goods and enjoy! 

My mom has been freezing her baked goods for years and years now and they are always just as delicious after they've thawed as they were when they were fresh out of the oven.  The only item I've never tried freezing is pies.  But cupcakes, cake pops, cookies of all kinds, brownies, fudge.  I've frozen them all and they all taste great thawed!  (This may be obvious to some, but don't frost your cupcakes before you freeze them.)

Happy Baking!

$5 off a $25 Purchase at Amazon!

You can get $5 off a $25 purchase on Amazon when you answer the question "When will you start your Black Friday Week shopping?" and share it on your Facebook wall!  The credit is good today through Wednesday.

I wouldn't hesitate to grab the credit though, as there are probably a limited number.

To start, just click here, answer the question and hit share on Facebook.  It will prompt you to log in to your Amazon account if you aren't already. 

With all the great deals they are offering this week, this is will make a great deal even better!

Thanks, Couponing to Disney!

Black Friday Shopping

I'm not big on Black Friday shopping out in the crowds.  Some people live for it though!  I think in some instances it sounds like fun.  For example, our local outlet mall has Christmas Carolers and other festive activities going on.  That actually sounds fun.  Walmart on the other hand - does not sound like fun to me.  Not even a little bit. 

I say all that to say this - most (not all) of the Black Friday deals are also available online as well as in the stores.  Items will still sell out pretty quickly online, but if you log on right when a sale is slated to start, you have a pretty good chance of snagging the item you want.

As I've said, I'm not heading out to the stores, so I figure if I get the deal online, great, if not, I wasn't going to get it in the store either... because I wasn't going!

Something else to keep in mind is that many retailers are trying to draw customers in all week, so they are running different deals all week long.  You may see some really low prices even before Thanksgiving!  For example, Amazon has a whole Black Friday week special this week!  Each day, new great deals!

If you want to do some online Black Friday shopping, here are some good resources for you:

- Amazon

- My Frugal Adventures

- Couponing to Disney

- Hip 2 Save

The three bloggers I mentioned above will be firing out deals all day long - most of which will be online deals. 

Good luck - I hope you score some awesome deals!

Snapfish: Buy 1, Get 2 Free Photobooks and Calendars

Snapfish is offering 2 free photobooks when you buy 1 through 11/20/12.  The same is being offered for their photo calendars! 

For the photo book offer, use the code TREATUBOOK at check out.  For the photo calendar offer, use the code TREATUCAL at check out. 

The 8x8 photo book (my personal favorite size) starts at $19.99 for 20 pages.  Shipping will probably run around $10.  So for $30, you have 3 photo books - only $10 each!  That's a wonderful price for photo books!

The photo calendars look to be priced the same and shipping should be about the same, so it would be about $10 per photo calendar.  I would say it's a better deal for the photo books.  But not a terrible price for the calendars.

70% Off Holiday Cards at Cardstore Again!

 

 

So I'm starting to see a pattern here with Cardstore - a few days of 70% off, a one day sale then back to the 70% off.  Not that I'm complaining - their 70% off deal is pretty awesome!  And it's back!  You can get 70% off your holiday cards at Cardstore through 11/20/12.

 

And to make Cardstore even more awesome, if you put your addresses in, Cardstore will send your cards out for you and they'll even pay your postage!  That's another huge savings!

 

I used Cardstore for my holiday cards last year and I was really pleased with their quality.  I also received a few in the mail recently from a one-day promotion they had a few weeks ago and again, I'm really impressed with their quality!

 

Just click on the picture above to get started!

Free Christmas Fun: Watch Santa Feed His Reindeer!

This may be one of the cutest things ever!  Every day until Christmas at 11am, 6pm and 9pm EST, you can watch Santa come out and feed his reindeer.  You can log on at any time to just watch a live feed of the reindeer if you want, too!

What a fun, free Christmas activity to do with your kids!

Thanks, Couponing to Disney!

Do You Elf on the Shelf?

Does your family have an Elf?  As in an Elf on the Shelf?  We adopted our Elf two years ago and it's become a really fun tradition!

Elf on the Shelf sells for $29.95 in most stores and I've rarely seen it go any lower than that.  Keep your eye out for specials on it where you may get a gift card back when you buy it (ex: on Black Friday, Target is selling it for $29.95 with a $5 gift card back).  That's usually the only type of deal I've seen on it.  So yes, it's a one time investment, but then you have it for years of fun!  And now you can choose if your Elf is a boy or a girl!

The Elf arrives right after Thanksgiving (ours usually comes the Saturday after) and stays throughout the entire Christmas season.  There is a really cute book that comes with it that explains why the Elf is there, not to touch him and how he relates the children's behavior back to Santa.  Seriously, it's adorable. 

The key is to move your Elf every day because each night he flies back to Santa to tell him what your child did that day and when he returns, he never comes back in the same spot.  In the past two years, our Elf has shown up in different places each day, but that's it, he hasn't done anything too tricky or sneaky.  However, if you look around on Pinterest, you'll find tons of ideas on cool things you can do with your Elf!  People are so creative!  Click HERE and HERE for two different sites I found with really creative and funny ideas. 

So whether you decide to make the investment this year, or if you've already made the investment, Elf on the Shelf is a really fun way (and free, if you already have it!) to infuse some extra magic in to this already magical season!

Cardstore.com - $0.29 Cards Today Only!

Cardstore is at it again!  Today only they are offering all of their holiday cards for $0.29, PLUS they will mail them for you - for free!  That's right, you won't even have to pay for the stamps! 

So many of my readers have already taken advantage of some of the great deals at Cardstore this season and have literally saved hundreds of dollars on their cards! 

This is probably their best promotion yet, so if you haven't bought your cards yet, today is the day to do it! 

Just click the picture above to get started!  Then at check out, enter code CCN1629.

FREE (or cheap) Sponge Bob or Dora Wrapping Paper

Coupons.com is currently offering a coupon for $1 off one roll of American Greetings Sponge Bob or Dora Christmas wrapping paper.  If you don't see the coupon, change your zip code to 77477.

Use this coupon at Dollar Tree to scoree FREE wrapping paper.  They have 20 ft rolls for just $1 and they now take coupons, so they will be FREE after coupon!  I just bought Princess and Toy Story wrapping paper there a few weeks ago and I can verify that I definitely saw Dora paper there. 

You should be able to print two copies of the coupon.

Need help changing your zip code on coupons.com?

1.  At the top, click on local coupons

2.  On the left hand side, towards the top (just under the coupons.com icon) you'll see a spot to put in your zip code

3.  Put in 77477

4.  Hit enter or hit the little orange arrow next to the zip code box

5.  Now your zip code is changed!

Come back here and click this link and it should bring you right to coupons.com with the wrapping paper coupon clipped for you.  Now all you have to do is print it!

If you don't have a Dollar Tree near you, or don't find this wrapping paper there, both Target and Walmart sell Sponge Bob and Dora Christmas wrapping paper for $3, so it would just be $2 after coupon!

Thanks, Hip 2 Save!

140 Return Address Labels for Under $4 Shipped!

On top of the 6 free items from VistaPrint that I told you about last night, they are also offering free return address labels - just pay shipping!

If you aren't ordering your holiday cards through Cardstore and having them send your cards for you, these would be great labels for your holiday cards.  I made some with little Santa's on them a few years ago and they are adorable!

Other ideas for the labels:
- A house-warming gift
- Labels on school supplies
- Labels on toys
- Gift tags (make them to say "Merry Christmas!  Love, Katie")

You don't just have to put your address on them, so get creative!

If you haven't yet ordered your Christmas cards through Cardstore, I really would encourage you to think about it.  They will send them out for you (and pay your postage!), so you don't need to worry about address labels! 

Thank you, My Litter!

Oriental Trading: Free Shipping - No Minimum Purchase!

Oriental Trading is offering FREE shipping through November 16 on every order, no minimum purchase!  Just enter WCE3688 at check out.

Take a good look around their site, you'll find crafts, scrapbooking supplies, holiday costumes (elf, santa, snowman), and much, much more!

Check out their sale section as well.  You may be able to find some nice scrapbooking supplies for a scrapbook-er on your holiday list.  Or some craft supplies for your children.

Take a look around!

20 Personalized Gift Tags - Only $2.25 Shipped

Just a reminder about this deal.  I just received mine today and they are adorable!

Ink Garden is offering 20 FREE personalized gift tags to their new customers. You will just pay $2.25 in shipping. That works out to about $0.11 per gift tag!

I think these are adorable! I just ordered a set and I chose the above pattern.

What I love about these is that they have options that include a picture and others where you just customize your name. Also, you can customize what the tag says, so if you want to change "Warm Holiday Wishes" on this one to something else, you can do that!

What a nice, personal, touch these would be to your packages this holiday! And $2.25 for 20 is cheaper than what you can buy at the store for generic ones!

This offer runs through December 17th. You just need to enter FREETAGS at check out. Just a note - when I ordered mine, on the first page of check out, it looked like the promo was automatically applied. But then as I got further in to the check out, it no longer looked like the promo was applied. I was able to apply it on that page no problem. But my advice to you is to put the promo in on the first page, even though it may look like it was applied automatically.

Thanks, Hip 2 Save!

Vistaprint: 6 Free Items - Just Pay Shipping

Vistaprint is offering 6 FREE products right now, you just pay shipping.  I just ordered all 6 of the FREE items and my shipping was $11.83.  So for $11.83, I got:

- 250 Business Cards (pictured above)

- 10 Holiday Cards

- Personalized Photo Calendar

- Personalized Mug

- Personalized Tote Bag

- Personalized T-Shirt

You can pick one or all of the free items, that's up to you.  Here are a few tips for you:

- For some reason whenever I picked a photo card, it charged me $2.75 for photo upload.  So I ended up just picking a card without a photo.

- The mug and tote bag have "vistaprint" printed on them in small printing, so that would be up to you if you want to use it as a gift.  I opted not to use the mug as a gift, but I am using the tote bag as a gift bag.

- I've seen on other blogs that their shipping was less.  Maybe it was the part of the country I'm in, I have no idea.  But I would venture to guess that your shipping wouldn't be any higher than mine.

- Always pick the slowest method of delivery, in my experience the products always come faster than advertised.

- I found the best way to order all 6 items was to click here, order your first item, put it in your cart, then come back to the blog and click here again to go back in, order the next item and so forth. 

If you don't have a need for business cards, one cute idea I've seen is to make "mommy cards" with your contact information to give to other moms to set up for play dates, etc. 

Don't forget to order through Ebates (I totally forgot!  Bummer!) to get 5% back.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas - Free ebook

Right now, Amazon has 'Twas the Night Before Christmas in ebook format for free!  Download this for your Kindle, iPad, iPhone or Android phone. 

Amazon does change their prices frequently, so just make sure it still says $0.00 before you purchase.

Thanks, My Frugal Adventures!

Who Do You Send Holiday Cards To?

Holiday cards are expensive for three reasons:

1. The cards themselves are expensive
2. The postage is expensive
3. The sheer number of cards you send out makes this ritual really expensive!

Here's how you can cut down on those costs:

1. Take advantage of the deals I post here on the blog (maybe check out this Cardstore post)
2. Take advantage of the Cardstore deal and have them send your cards out for you - they pay your postage!
3. Now what to do about how many cards to send out... personally, I send to certain family and then to friends that sent to us last year.  Either keep your cards from last year and use that as your list as you're doing this year's cards.  Or as you're packing up your holiday decorations at the end of the year, make a quick list of everyone you received a card from this year.  This will be your holiday card list for the following year.  My mom taught me this trick years ago and it really does help to cut down on the number of cards you need to send.

Thank you, Staci, for reminding me of this great tip!