With the year we’ve all had in 2020, 2021 can’t come soon enough! However, i am very excited for Christmas and to have a bit of extra cheer and festive spirit. Most people seem to be putting up their decorations, trees and light up early this year and i don’t blame them! We so far have a small tree up that we have named the smiley tree as it always makes us smile. I figure the more joy you can bring in to your lives at the moment, the better. So many people have been through a terrible time – loosing jobs and family members or friends. With money worries up the wazoo, i thought i’d put together a helpful list of ideas on how to have Christmas on a budget.
Homemade
A great way to reduce costs over the festive period is to make what you can yourself. Whether it’s the gifts themselves, your Christmas decorations, cards, advent calendars…etc. The more you can make yourself, the cheaper it will be.
For example, you could make your entire family a home baked Christmas hamper full of the things they love. Batch bake cookies, mince pies, Christmas cakes – and put them into the hampers. It won’t cost you very much, other than your time and the basic ingredients. Plus, this way you’ll have made loads of your gifts all at once.
Then there is also making things like your Christmas wreath and cards. You could even get the kids involved to make the cards for your friends and family to give them the personalised touch.
Most of what you need to make a wreath can be found whilst out on a walk, so take the kids out and get them picking the foliage you’ll need. Then the extras like cinnamon sticks you can buy from a supermarket. Even pine cones can be found lying around under trees so you don’t need to spend a fortune!
Budget Friendly Ideas
Getting your family in to the spirit of Christmas doesn’t mean spending much money at all. You just need to get creative! Get them involved in making paper chain Christmas decorations, or baking delicious goodies.
I remember as a young child we would always have great fun making, then eating our home made gingerbread house. Plus, it would keep us busy for hours! You can find simple gingerbread recipes online that you can cut into the shapes you’ll need to make your house. Then just buy a few sweets they can use as decorations.
Watch Christmas Films
Or, if you aren’t really into baking then perhaps you could all watch a few Christmas films. Get in some popcorn and hunker down watching old movies together. A very cheap option and you can’t really go wrong with it!
Films such as – Home Alone, Elf & Santa Clause are great for all the family to enjoy.
Play Games
A great tradition to start around Christmas time is to play games. Board games, card games, puzzles…etc. Whatever it is your family might enjoy doing together. I think a lot of us forget that Christmas is meant to be all about spending time with family, not about how much we spend or the gifts we get.
How do you like to spend your Christmas on a budget?
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