Craft Corner

aflat santa lthough we might be unable to physically be with all our loved ones this holiday season, we can send a stand-in: a life-sized picture of our little ones! This is a fun activity for kids, which you can customize to really any character you want and also can give your children a chance to work at their skill level. Some other holiday character options are an elf, gingerbread kid or even a snowman! This craft is, of course, inspired by the ever popular Flat Stanley! Step one: Trace your child’s body with a pencil onto the white side of the wrapping paper. Step two: Use current sizes of clothing as a template to trace top and bottom of Santa’s outfit on red construction paper. If you are feeling bold, free-hand the clothing. Cut out and either tape or glue onto wrapping paper body outline. Step three: Draw boots and mittens onto black paper, cut out and tape or glue onto wrapping paper. Step four: Measure out hat size using your child’s head that you traced on the wrapping paper. Draw out pattern for hat and then cut out. Step five: Cut out white “fluff” for hat, shirt, sleeves, belly and boots. Feel free to draw out pattern or just cut out. Tape or glue down. Another option is to use cotton balls. Please note using cotton balls will make mailing the project more difficult. Step six: Add facial features with markers and googly eyes. Add a beard if you want with cotton balls! Step seven: Let your Flat Santa dry and either hang for some fun holiday decorations or wrap back up to easily send in the mail!

Janelle Cumro-Sultzer lives in Overland Park with her husband, son and two dogs. Janelle is a former health care executive director and is a mediator in Kansas, helping families in conflict. Janelle loves to focus on learning through play and getting messy with crafts. Materials Needed: • Wrapping paper • Pencil • Assorted markers • Tape/glue stick • Red, white and black construction paper (or markers) • Scissors • Cotton balls (optional) • Googly eyes (optional) • Current sized kiddo top and bottom (optional)

8 WAYS TO HAVE A DEBT-FREE HOLIDAY

It happens earlier and earlier every year. The holiday music starts to play at the start of November, and the stores set out holiday items before Halloween is even over. And the commercials for toys—as well as the toy catalogs from Target and Amazon! That’s when I really start to feel anxious. What will we get for our relatives this year? How will we show our appreciation for people like teachers and daycare providers without wearing out our credit card? Don’t worry … here’s some help!

1Have a plan. Yes, this means using that dirty word: budget. I set up a budget in Excel every year and love it because I can easily set formulas to do the addition and subtraction for me. This way I can play with numbers to see how much I actually have available to spend on each person on my shopping list. If doing a budget in Excel isn’t your thing, head to HomeEverAfter.com/ christmas-shopping-list-planner-budget- spreadsheet-free-printable for a free downloadable and printable holiday budget planner.

2Rack up the credit card reward

points, but only if you can handle it.

If your credit card has a rewards program where you can get gift cards based on how much money you put on your credit card, use it. Caution: You must be able to pay off every cent you put on by the due date. If you don’t have it budgeted, don’t spend it. I’m able to earn a few hundred dollars’ worth of gift cards for holiday spending every year using this system, which I can then use to shop or just give the gift card as a gift itself. If you go to CreditCards.com/reward.php, they compare the top credit card reward programs for you.

3Rack up the MyPoints. I’ve been a member of MyPoints.com for many years and have earned gift cards not only by reading emails (5 points each), but by sometimes spending money with certain merchants they support. I’m quickly working toward saving up 10,000 MyPoints, which will equal $50 cash in my PayPal account. The bonus is that I use my credit card to purchase gifts I would have bought anyway, so I double my holiday earning power. Pro tip: Also check out Swagbucks, Fetch and Receipt Hog.

4Make it yourself! Gifts in a jar (TipJunkie.com/jar-homemade-gifts), like cookie, cake, pie and drink mixes and other homemade treats, always go over well, and they are cheap to make! Put them in reusable containers, and you’ve gone green, as well!

5Give up on trying to impress. Sure, the mailman would dig a $100 gift card to a local restaurant (who wouldn’t?!), and your sitter would love a $100 iTunes card, but you probably can’t afford that or you wouldn’t be reading this article. Do what you can and let people appreciate you for who you are!

6Sell stuff. Getting rid of your clutter not only makes you money, but it also makes room for incoming holiday gifts. You can sell books, toys, clothes, movies, music and more at consignment shops and on Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist.org.

7Buy used. Now that your “trash” is going out of your house, you can find “treasure” at thrift stores, consignment shops, garage sales, Amazon.com and eBay.com. What a great way to save at least 50 percent on items you’re looking for.

8Buy nothing! To stay out of debt, consider not buying a gift for your spouse and letting him or her know you want nothing but to live a debt-free life full of security and hope for the future. If you just can’t stomach that, the two of you might have fun trying to find something for each other on a $10 budget each! A love poem is free and goes a long way in my house.

Kerrie McLoughlin blogs at TheKerrieShow.com about her roller coaster life homeschooling five kids.

CHECK OUT KCPARENT.COM FOR LOTS OF GREAT IDEAS FOR GIFTS AND STOCKING STUFFERS THAT WON’T BREAK THE BANK.