How to have an awesome Christmas on a tight budget

Is your Christmas budget tight this year?

Mine is, too! But it’s tight because I choose to spend our money elsewhere.

We lived way below the poverty level during the first six years of our marriage, while we were both in college. During that time there were no extra funds for Christmas. We had no Christmas budget. Zero, nada, zilch, nothing.

Really, we had two kids and we could barely pay our rent, let alone our tuition. My husband sold his plasma for grocery money!

Our kids were little and didn’t know the difference, so it didn’t bother us that we couldn’t buy them gifts. They were thrilled to string popcorn and make salt-dough ornaments for our paper tree. Christmas cookies were a huge treat because we could rarely afford extras like sweets.

Those meager Christmas were such a blessing to our little family because we learned to truly treasure time together and value it above commercial things.

40 Tips for an Amazing Christmas on a Budget

That said, I’m excited to share ideas for how to have an awesome Christmas on a budget with you.

Calculate your Christmas budget and work out who you need to buy for as early as you can. Decide how much you’re going to spend on each person and stick to your budget.
Don’t be afraid to suggest to friends and family a gift exchange like Dirty Santa, so each family brings one gift to contribute rather than having to buy gifts for all members. Everyone will probably be glad that you brought it up.
If you and your neighbors, co-workers or church group traditionally exchange gifts, try to find something (like these fun, dirt cheap neighbor gifts!) under $1 per gift. It’s more fun to be creative than to be extravagant.
Start buying early. Your budget will greatly appreciate you buying one or two gifts each month all year, instead of waiting to buy it all during December. You can also take advantage of sales all year long!
Don’t forget to use cashback sites to get some money back on your shopping. I’ve already saved $200 just this month by purchasing through Ebates! Check out these other ways to Save Christmas Cash.
Once you’ve completed all your shopping resist the temptation to buy any extras.
Buy a used, fake tree. Real trees are expensive and can only be used one year. You can find fake trees at thrift stores for a dime a dozen and use them for several years. You could even hang a pine-scented car freshener on it if you miss the smell.
Christmas tree lots always have a big pile of discarded branches you can have for free. You can tie them together to make garlands, or you could use large branches stuck in a tin can of rocks to create a small, free tree. No matter how bad you think the tree looks, your kids will find it beautiful.
Homemade decorations are great to make, too, and very easy on your budget! Your kiddos will have a blast stringing popcorn and making paper chains and salt-dough ornaments, and they’ll save you lots of money.
Our first year married (we didn’t have kids yet) we just hung brightly wrapped chocolates from my employer on the tree.
Cut out paper snowflakes to hang around your home. This has become an annual tradition in our home, and my kids wouldn’t let me forget it even if I wanted to! We tape ours to the windows, and they look especially beautiful at night, silhouetted by the dark.
Host your get-togethers potluck.There is nothing wrongat allwith asking everyone coming to your place to bring something for dinner. It’s easier, it’s cheaper, and it’s fun!
Save up grocery store loyalty points. Our local grocery stores all offer gift cards, kitchen appliances and food items as rewards for loyalty points. They would make terrific gifts!
Shop the loss leaders in the mailer your local grocery store sends out. The loss leaders are usually the most heavily discounted items on the front page. If you are close to several grocery stores, you can probably purchase everything for your holiday meals at a huge discount.
Use your leftovers! Turkey sandwiches aren’t the only things you can make with leftovers.
Shop online so youaren’t tempted by extravagant displays.
Don’t be afraid to buy gently used gifts from your classifieds, yard sales andebay.
Consider giving the gift of service: cleaning house, washing dishes, yard work, organizing and babysitting. It won’t cost you anything and will probably be the most appreciated gift you give, especially if you give it to an elderly person or someone who would relish a visit along with some help.
The very best way to save money and stay under budget is to use your own two hands to create gorgeous DIY Christmas gifts. Those hands will save you some serious dough. Here is a list of 33 Handmade Christmas Gifts that Don’t Suck.
Shop the after Christmas sales for next year’s gifts or other upcoming gift occasions.
Buy cheap Christmas gifts wherever possible . Cheap Christmas gift ideas include baking mixes, homemade soaps and bath salts – and of course, anything edible. I love to buy food and beverage-related gifts because they’re often less expensive, I know they’ll always get used and they won’t add extra clutter. We also put together a pretty long list of cheap Christmas gift ideas for you to consider this holiday season.
Consider donating to a charity in lieu of gifts for co-workers. Not only will that keep costs down, but it will simplify your gift-giving.
Keep all of your receipts in one place in case anything you need to return an item.
Give your children practical gifts that they need anyway. For example, two of my daughters need new orchestra dresses and shoes (they are required to wear black, floor-length dresses with sleeves past the elbow) because they have outgrown their old ones. Guess what they’re getting for Christmas? My son needs a new cello bow. Guess what he’s getting? I would have to buy these items anyway, and my kiddos will love them, so I save myself money by gifting them for Christmas.
Never be afraid to spend more on one child than you do on another. Teenagers stuff costs a whole lot more than toddler’s stuff, and little kids won’t even know the difference. Besides, it will even out over the years.
Consider sending an electronic card (or family newsletter) instead of the paper version to save the cost of cards and postage.
Price compare everything, even if you just quickly do it on your phone right there in the store. At the very least, you can quickly check Amazon for both prices and reviews.
Stocking stuffers can really add up, so be extra careful about including them in your budget, and keeping them on the frugal side. Here is a whole list of Cheap Stocking Stuffer Ideasthat will help.
Wrap EVERYTHING! Seriously. Unwrapping gifts is thrilling — especially for younger kids. A friend of mine wraps every. single. item. Even the stocking stuffers, from the chapstick to the toothbrush in the stocking are wrapped. It makes Christmas morning last longer — and it’s fun! Enlist the help of your kids if the task seems monumental. I usually let one older child at a time help me wrap gifts. It’s fun to have some one-on-one time, and my kiddos love being in on a few secrets, anticipating the joy of a sibling opening a gift.
Track Santa (for FREE!) at NoradSanta.com. This free site takes a minute to load. You can see where Santa is at on his journey and how soon they need to get in bed so he can make his stop.
With theSanta Mail program from USPS, kids can get a reply back from Santa when they write him a letter and send him their Christmas wish list. You’ll need to include a personalized response to your child’s letter, but then the USPS will mail you back the letter from Santa, with a postmark right from North Pole, Alaska.
If you’re traveling over Christmas, be sure to book your flights and hotels early because the prices will go up (a LOT!) as we get closer to Christmas. It seems like flights are usually the least expensive booked at least 3 months out.
Check Groupon and your local discount sites for Christmas activities that require an admission fee.
Find Christmas movies on Amazon Prime or Netflix and curl up in blankets to watch them as a family. Or you could swap Christmas DVD’s with friends or borrow them from the library so you don’t have to purchase them.
Look around for free events in your local area – there are always myriad fun things going on during the holidays.
Check your local churches for a nativity program to attend.
I’m not Catholic, but I always watched my grandpa get ready to go to midnight mass on Christmas Eve and I thought it looked fun. Religious celebrations are the perfect way to acquire the Christmas spirit. Getting to be out late at night, in a beautiful cathedral, sounds like a magical way to start Christmas day.
Remember that the best part about Christmas is spending time together as a family. Nothing beats singing Christmas Hymns around the piano, reading Christmas stories together, baking Christmas goodies and decorating the house. We love to drive around the neighborhood to see light displays and browse all of the Christmas displays at the mall. Remember, too, the reason for the season.
Don’t spend a ton of money on coordinated wrapping papers, pretty bows and ribbon. Last year I used plain brown paper which was actually quite rustic and cute, especially when I got the kids to decorate the paper with some Christmas stamps and paint. One year I used old newspapers with red ribbon and it was beautiful. I’ll bet your kids would love to have their gifts wrapped in the comics.
If you’re struggling to pay for Christmas then check out 15 Easy Ways to Make Extra Christmas Money to help you pay for it. These suggestions are particularly effective if you begin them several months before Christmas, but you can still earn quite a bit if you get started now.

Around this time every year, I hear about people who are still paying off debt from last Christmas, almost a year ago. It makes me sad that people get into debt because they think that their child simply must have all the popular, overpriced toys his friend Johnny at school is getting for Christmas.

Or they think they need to compete in the gift-giving department and that their gifts must be fancy and expensive to be appreciated. Or they think they need to obey Miss Manners and buy gifts for practically every person they’ve encountered during the year.

Spending money does not equal happiness. It never has and it never will. Remember that, and enjoy every second of your frugal Christmas. And further, enjoy every second of your January and beyond, with your wallets and your bank accounts solidly in the black. It’s a great feeling!

How to have an awesome Christmas on a tight budget | Orison Orchards (2024)

40 Tips for an Amazing Christmas on a Budget