Frugal Challenge Update

I am almost done with my Christmas shopping except for all the gift cards I need to get for the older kids in the family. Our Vons has a special spend $150 in GCs get $15 off your next shopping order so I am going to buy all my cards in one trip to get the $15. I am also heading today to see my hubby who is working out of town. He's only a couple of hours away but it is his birthday and I want to spend it with him so he's not alone for it. Instead of going out and because I am taking our two year old with me, I decided to make a picnic dinner of oven fried chicken, potato salad and fruit with a crusty loaf of bread for dinner. We will take it to a lovely park near his hotel and let our little one run around while we relax and eat. It is warm here in SoCal so we can do this lest anyone think we'd be sitting in the snow. This will save us the money from dinner and keep the two year old busy as well. I hate taking little ones out and then they get restless and one of you has to take her out. Not fun when there are only two of you. Plus we just don't want to spend the money. Have a good day and let me know what you are doing to save money. Linking with Frugal Makes Cents for this challenge.