DECATUR - Most of their fourth-grade classmates had left already with gifts purchased for family, friends and themselves.

Cody Blankenship and Sandra Brown were still standing at a center table filled with trinkets, trying to decide what to buy and what to leave.

"You're going to have to make up your mind," Cody said. "You can't get all that for $20, I'm telling you."

He was right: At the checkout, Sandra's total was $33. Even with the dollar Cody lent her, she'd have to put four items back.

Lesson No. 1: Know your spending limits.

Much can be learned from watching fourth- through sixth-graders shop Santa's Store, which was held at Mount Zion Intermediate School last week. They came with money kept in change purses, envelopes and zip-lock bags, shelling out $3 for every item set out for sale on the science room tables.

Just like adults, some kids shopped slowly and deliberately, and some knew what they wanted right away. Others had changes of heart at the register.

"It's a good opportunity for the kids to get nice things for just a few dollars," said Principal Jan Sweet-Lauderdale. "They learn to shop carefully."

The gifts are ordered through school fund-raisers and include flyswatters, picture frames, candles, notepads and other odds and ends. A similar event will be held in some Decatur public schools next month.

Lee Forster, a sixth-grader, scoped out the goods on one day and came back for purchases the next. The simple gift he selected for his father referred to an inside joke the two have, he said. His mother's present was sure to be a hit, too.

Lesson No. 2: Gifts don't have to be expensive to be meaningful.

In fact, they don't have to cost more than the price of art supplies and postage.

Students created Christmas cards for troops in Afghanistan this year, where sixth-grader Morgan Ashby's father is stationed. Morgan's mother, Dianna, sent the cards to her husband, and he will in turn distribute them to young troops, many of them spending their first holiday away from home.

The adults were particularly moved by sentiments the kids wrote, the thankfulness they expressed to the soldiers for protecting their freedom.

Lesson No. 3: Homemade gifts are cherished for their added meaning.

A good lesson, because when the money runs out, imagination still goes a long way.

Cody, who lent his only dollar that day to his classmate, said he'd probably be making some gifts this year. His family likes those better, anyway.

"They think I'm creative," he said.

Amy Hoak can be reached at ahoak@;herald-review.com or 421-7972.