The huswife's guide to

$48

I picked up Skylanders Giants and two extra Skylander characters back in September. They were on sale at Walmart and this is something the kids have been begging for.
This will be from Santa Claus for the older kids and is one of their most asked for gifts.

Madeline ($14) for my 6 year old, Duck! Rabbit! ($15) for my 4 year old and A Christmas Carol - Bablit book ($10) for my 1 year old.

We're very much into books right now so I went for choices that they would love to hear and I would love reading to them. I could easily spend the entire budget on books but I think they're expecting to at least get -some- toys.

Board Games for the Big Kids

I'm getting pretty tired of playing Scrabble Jr. and Loopin' Louie with my kids so it's time to get them some new board games. Doc McStuffins Operation ($25) will be for my 6 year old and Chickyboom ($17) will be for my 4 year old.

Counting and Sorting Farm

$31

I picked this toy because it has a lot of versatility for play. There's the option to just fill and empty the pens, which my daughter loves to do, and of course the learning aspect as she gets older. She could also just play with the animals like a farm playset too. This one will be from Santa too.

$60

With its 4 play co-op the whole family can play this game together. We opted to get this over toys this year because the kids will be getting more toys from family and they already have so many.

Check out some more kid-friendly video games here.

Skip Hop Dunks Stacking Bath Toy

$12.50

These little duckies are going to be for my 1 year old who doesn't own a single bath toy. 

I have an additional $25 budgeted towards hunting the second hand stores and swap pages to find some great used toys for the kids. I'll be hunting for board games, books, puzzles, and toys. 

$30

Along with the Skylander in the picture for my 4 year old, I have quite a few items in mind for stockings. These include trinkets and treats from the dollar store, baby-friendly markers and crayons for the 1 year old, homemade sewing cards for my 6 year old, and possibly some small toys from the second hand store.

They will also find a goodbye letter from the Elf!

Adding in tax and any extra expenses that may arise this list sits around $300 for everything. If I shop well at the dollar store and the second hand stores the kids will be quite spoiled again this year, but at least it's not quite as costly.