Kristina Krawchuk: Lean Green Christmas

Holidays 2009 will be a tough holiday season for many families across the country. Some of us are still looking for jobs, some of us are starting over with lower paying jobs and some won't be receiving that special holiday bonus - thus a leaner holiday.

There are many stores who see the frugality this season and are carrying sales earlier - and some of them are big discounts…but you need to start with a plan.

Make a list of who you need to buy gifts for - and you may want to just have a gathering with friends instead of exchanging gifts.

Set a limit - ours is $500 for a family of four and we're going to stretch that to cover buying a tree, gifts for everyone plus a fabulous holiday dinner.

Let's start with the tree - believe it or not - there are bargain trees out there. $15 at Bob's Trees, and they even had a table-top one for $10. Think about it - how many people display trees in the middle of the room? Most are in a corner - so if you like a tree but one side is a little off - just stick that side in the corner. You should already have decorations from over the years - but if you need to enhance it this year - check out the packaged glass ornaments - you can usually get 12-pack round colored balls for just a few dollars or a large 40 pack at Target for $15.00

And often we have to replace lights - I saw a pack of 350 lights for $8.99 at Target.

If the tree is too small - just prop it up on a trunk and line your gifts underneath - or have fun and make a Charlie Brown tree with lights, pop-corn and candy canes.

Dinner - again - great deals out at the grocery stores - watch your flyers. You can get turkeys for under a dollar a pound. A bag of potatoes is 3 dollars and a 2 pound bag of carrots is around 3-dollars. I put together a great menu including a dessert and only spent $8 5 -dollars.

But you can also shave dollars by looking in your pantry and making a list of what you already have.

Gifts - it is amazing when you have a budget - just how far you can spread the dollar.

It's fun to see how much you can get…we shopped for a fictitious family of 4 - Mom and Dad plus an 8 year old girl and a 12 year old boy.

Let's start with Mom - Mom works part-time and she takes the kids to all their sports practices, gymnastics, play dates, whatever. She always has dinner on the table when Dad gets home - so we think Mom needs a break - a day to chill out. We started at Target and bought her Bubble Bath, Body Lotion, Spa socks and a soothing candle which came to $38 - the bath stuff was 15% off. Then we went down to Newton Plaza and bought her a gift certificate for a manicure for $13 and added the $3 tip which came to

$16 and went across the street to Milano for a gift certificate for $25 - lunch alone or towards it with a friend.

For Dad - well Dad works hard at the office all day and he is tired when he gets home. He's in sales and makes lots of cell phone calls but his Bluetooth isn't working and Mom is afraid he's going to get pulled over. So we found a great Bluetooth at Best Buy for $29.99 and then went to Dick's for the fleece-lined crocs in his favorite color - blue at $30. Dad's total came to a little over $60 dollars.

Our 12 year old boy is into all the latest technology and he loves to read and watch movies. So we were able to nail everything starting with a favorite book set for his age - Percy Jackson and the Olympians Paperback Boxed Set (Books 1-3) author Rick Riordan - a favorite among kids - $11.99 on Amazon for the 3-pack gift set. Plus we bought fabric - in many places you can get 50% off certain flannels - make a pillow and they have something warm to snuggle in while they read. This was $6.99 including the batting. While we were there, we found a stocking stuffer - just a neat little model airplane kit for $1.99

We also bought a $15 I-tunes card so he can download any music he wants and 2 tickets to a movie. I also found this black hat and gloves for a dollar each in the Target dollar bin. Plus a $25 gift card for Abercrombie and a $25 gift card to Regal Cinema.

This total came to $85.

Our little 8 year old girl loves making things and is also an avid reader. So we also bought her flannel material for a pillow and two of the Judy Moody series by Megan McDonald at $5.99 per book. While we were at the fabric store - we found this Mosaic gem catcher art project for $3.99. ITunes - another easy buy $15.00 gift certificate. Over to Target I hit the dollar bin and got this great little pink purse, Bubble Yum lip gloss, pink gloves, Santa socks. At G. Willikers - we found a great pot-holder making kit plus this cupcake soap kit at G.Willikers…so her total came to around $80.00.

We are right around $425 - and we need some decorations for the centerpiece plus wine for Mom and Dad ($10).

WINE - You don't have to break the bank on wines. There are some fantastic bottles out there for under $15.00. Go to your favorite wine store and ask about value wines - or head to their wine tastings. If you have a favorite already - but it's in a higher price bracket - just let your wine expert know what you enjoy and you may be surprised at what he/she pulls out for you.

WRAPPING - well - we are a family who recycles. So we are reusing a gift bag from last year for Dad and tissue paper we already had. For Mom - a box another gift came in from a birthday. I found some great candy-themed paper for a dollar at Target and we'll use the comics section of the newspaper for the boy. Another idea - have a wrapping party with your friends with everyone bringing their collection of gift wrap, bags, bows and tissue paper - and have a ball.

Use the eco-friendly bags - these run anywhere from a few dollars to the more fancy ones at $10 - think of it as a two-fer - as wrapping and as part of their gift. GO GREEN!

CENTERPIECE - Personally - I love using natural items such as fresh holly, winterberry, pinecones, rose hips - buy a candle and you're done. It's free aside from the candle and it's elegant. However - if there are allergies - you can always buy faux pine and add decor at one of your craft stores to bring in some colors. You can also use a glass vase from your home

or buy a hurricane candle at AC Moore for $6.99. Add natural items or faux items and add a candle or just fill the entire glass of glass balls.

Use bright colors for young kids - blue for Chanukah or if you are single and throw an alpha girl holiday soiree - use pink and gold or pink and silver glass balls in different sizes . For this Christmas - we bought natural boughs at Bob's Trees for $5 and it was more than enough to put on the table along with the decor we bought at AC Moore for a few dollars. The extra pieces could be tied with ribbon and hung on the front door.

You have an extra $50 to spend on either more gifts, more decor, better wine, a small gathering of friends with left-overs, teacher gifts, holiday cards, or stocking stuffers.

So you see - $500 can go a long way - it just takes some creativity and some extra footwork. But always keep in mind the most important aspect of the holiday - pressing stop on your non-stop treadmill of life and spending quality time with your family and friends. Happy Holidays Everyone!