As we head towards the holiday season, many families are taking a minute to examine their budgets and try to figure out how to make their holiday season special without breaking the bank. If you are trying to figure out where you can hold the line on spending while keeping everyone happy, this handy guide will help you get everything you need to be taken care of.
Choose gift swaps instead of buying for everyone
One of the big expenses throughout the holidays tends to be gift giving. If you have a big family, instead of trying to buy for everyone, consider organizing a gift swap or Secret Santa event. You can set dollar amount limits so that everyone gets a present at about the same value, and make sure that everyone has something to unwrap without everyone needing to spend a great deal of money.
Sometimes people feel awkward or cheap suggesting that a swap might be a better gift giving option for a family, but they often find that everyone else has been trying to find a way to suggest it, too.
Craft gifts instead of buying
Another option would be to craft gifts instead of buying them. This is only a good option if you’re a fairly experienced crafter, however, and it’s worth remembering that what you aren’t giving in dollars you are ultimately giving in time. It takes many more hours, for example, to knit a hat, than it does to buy one.
But if you are interested in looking into crafting to reduce your gift giving expenses, there are many ideas online of inexpensive crafts that you can make, from cookie jars to handknit items to quick sewn gifts. Make sure not to try and make something at the last minute, just in case your craft doesn’t come out looking like you want it to.
Invest in a fake tree
Fake Christmas trees used to be really awful. They were ugly, sparse, and smelled chemical. Modern fake trees are full, easy to decorate, and easy to store. Once you buy a fake tree, it’s good for years to come.
You can choose one that’s pre-decorated, if you don’t want to bother with it but still want the ambiance of the holidays, or you can get one that’s just greenery, and decorate it exactly as you like. You can even consider choosing a funky color like silver, gold, pink, or purple, to take your holiday in a less traditional direction.
Stick to your budget
Every year, my family makes a holiday budget. We include gift giving for each other, gift giving for other people, and how much we want to spend on events happening in and around our town. But budgets don’t help if you don’t follow them. Track your spending carefully, just like you do with all other budget categories, and when you run out of money in a category, don’t spend any more!
Sticking to your budget can feel confining at first, but when you get used to the idea of balancing your spending with your budget, it can feel much more liberating. You can let go of money woes, and know that your spending is working properly, and is within your control.
Choose a few traditions
Especially when families have young children, there can be a lot of pressure to create a magical holiday season. It can feel like you need to go to everything, decorate everything, bake everything, and tell every story. This is especially true when you spend a lot of time on social media, and see everyone’s decorated gingerbread creations and carefully constructed Elf on a Shelf placements.
The truth is that kids had magical holidays before social media, and will continue to have magical holidays when we have moved on from sharing photos that show ourselves as perfect at all times.
If you’re wondering what traditions you should embrace this holiday season, and which ones you can let slide, talk to your family. Much like everyone being relieved when someone finally mentions the gift swap, your family might be delighted to have someone say “Are we too busy over the holidays?”
Opening that conversation can feel frightening, but think of it as an opportunity to really narrow down what you are going to do during the holiday, and make sure that every event has maximum impact. By choosing carefully what you’re going to do, you’re budgeting your time, just like you do your money. You will have a more relaxed and more affordable holiday season by planning carefully ahead.
What tips do you offer to those who are trying to figure out how to save a little bit of money this holiday season, without compromising on the fun?