Holiday Bargains: Using Pinterest

We talked a couple of weeks ago about some things to start think about as we prepare for the winter holidays. It’s always great to think ahead about ways to save money, but sometimes December sneaks up and we find ourselves spending more money than we’d anticipated. I know that most years, I look at our holiday spending and think, “next year I’ll start earlier!” This year is your chance to turn things around if you have the same tendency!

One site that I’ve found really helpful in planning a less-expensive Christmas has been Pinterest. Shopaholic Mommy has a set of boards chock-full of pins with great crafts, things to do with the kids, holiday decorating ideas and so much more. Stop by and check out some of the fun things that we’ve found to do!

One thing that I find a lot of on Pinterest is recipes. You can find recipes for just about anything, and they all look so delicious. Homemade sweet or savory treats make wonderful gifts: You know that they won’t end up sitting in a closet gathering dust, after all! And they won’t take up room in your gift recipients’ homes, either; once they’re eaten, then they’re gone! Finding some recipes now for things that you could make during the first weeks of December to give away as gifts is a great use of your time. Picking up nonperishable ingredients each week is also a good way to spread out the money that you’re spending over a longer period of time. Here are just a few of the cute ideas that are on our Pinterest “Holiday” board:

• Christmas cookies of all shapes and sizes! From candy canes to snowmen to reindeer and more, you can easily fill cute containers with these delicacies and hand them out to coworkers, cousins and more!
• Strawberry Christmas Tree Brownie Bites. Bake brownies, place strawberries upside down on each one, and cover with green icing. Decorate with sprinkles, chocolate chips or whatever else you want.
• Rice Krispie Treats in various shapes. Mixing marshmallows and crispy rice cereal together gives you nearly limitless options for creating fun confections.
• Truffle Pops: The ones that we have pinned are actually for Halloween, but you could easily change the colors and make them relevant to whichever holiday you celebrate.
• Christmas Bark: Actually, the one we found is for Valentine’s Day, but again, this could be easily changed to a Christmas theme!

Pinterest is a great tool to use to find whatever you’re looking for that’s related to craft, food, or decorations. Many of the ideas are able to made with fairly inexpensive ingredients or supplies, and a lot of the decorations can be made from what you have in your home anyway. If nothing else, the site will get your creative juices flowing as you work on making your own ideas come to fruition.

What’s the best holiday idea you’ve found on Pinterest?