Stress Free Holidays-Your step-by-step plan to enjoy more and stress less this holiday season!
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Most parents want to give their children a magical Christmas experience, but what if money’s tight? Here are a few ideas to help your children enjoy Christmas without spending a lot of money.
Focus on Fun
Most of the fun of Christmas for our family centers around the experiences of the season rather than just receiving material gifts. We enjoy driving to see light displays, reading Christmas stories, watching Christmas movies, attending free holiday events and baking together.
We also make Simple “Gingerbread” Houses like the ones pictured above, as well as reindeer doughnuts.
Check out Frugal Family Fun here and The Peaceful Mom Christmas Countdown Activities for more fun and frugal ideas!
Add Some Surprise
Much the excitement for children is the element of surprise and wonder this time of year. Capitalize on this sense of wonder by stringing Christmas lights in unexpected places like bedroom windows or doorways, or around a table in the living room.
Hang paper snowflakes from the ceiling, create a candy advent calendar or hang jingle bells on every door knob in your house. Quietly decorate your child’s room with fake snow (quilt batting) and balloons while he’s asleep so he wakes up to a surprise.
When your kids look back on the holiday season, they’ll remember the little traditions you shared, not how much you spent.
Recycle Toys
It may be a new concept for some, but a great way to save money on toys is to recycle used toys from friends, yard sales and the thrift store. This strategy works best for younger children (and especially if you limit your children’s exposure to advertising), but I just found a cute makeup bag (with the tag attached) for one of my teenagers at a local thrift store.
When our children were smaller I shopped yard sales and thrift stores for toys throughout the year and put them away for Christmas. Many times I found items in like-new condition, or in great condition after a good cleaning. One of my favorite finds was a Fisher Price doll house with some of the furniture. I was able to purchase a few extra pieces from Ebay, and my girls and I played with that dollhouse for years.
Another idea is to check with other families to see if they want to do a toy exchange. They probably have some toys in good condition that their children have grown bored with or outgrown and would love to pass them on to a friend.
Wrap Creatively
A simple gift can seem much more exciting when you wrap it creatively. Here are a few ideas to get your creative juices flowing:
Scavenger Hunt- Make a list of clues which you wrap individually or place inside a blown up balloon. Have your child follow the clues to find the gift.
Box inside a Box– Wrap your child’s gift inside one box, then place that wrapped gift inside another box and so on. We sometimes put extra loose or heavy items in the box to keep the child guessing.
Gift in a Bottle-Watch my Creative Kid Gift Ideas Video here for details on this idea.
Ask for Help
As humbling as it may be to ask, there are plenty of organizations who want to help needy families during the holidays. Churches and food banks often have special programs to help purchase gifts for children and food banks will usually help with Christmas dinner too.
Early in our marriage we experienced a financial emergency right before the holidays. A friend took up a collection at work and gave us a box of gifts including toys and food. I was a little embarrassed to realize that we were the focus of the charitable giving that year, but it was a huge blessing to us and we were very grateful.
Communicate
Communicating with your children in an age appropriate way may help to lower their expectations. Our children are older (11-17) so we explain to them what the budget is and why we have a budget (so that we can enjoy more family time because I don’t work full time).
If they want an item that is outside the budget range, they are free to save money to add to the amount we give them. Two of my children have chosen this option in the past–one for a hand held game system and the other for an iPod.
Some parents would see this as cruel, but I believe that children can benefit from having limits set. Have you ever seen a child whose eyes glaze over after opening the sixth present in a row? The law of diminishing returns is definitely in effect here, and within a few minutes they are ready to move on to another activity leaving the mounds of paper and ribbon in a pile (and maybe the gifts too). Limiting gifts enables your child to be truly grateful for what they have and to realize that the world does not completely revolve around them.
Remember that the important thing for your children is to have fun and enjoy being with family. Focus on fun and creativity with a positive attitude rather than feeling guilty about not having much money, and you’ll have a much simpler and happier Christmas. You may even decide to have a simpler Christmas every year!
For over 100 ideas from readers check out this Facebook post.
How do you help your kids have have Christmas fun on a budget? Leave a comment.
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We practice the WANT, NEED, WEAR, READ idea, plus stockings and St. Nicholas Day boot treats & Bible study. Our kiddos still receive presents from family and friends.
Great idea Dawn!
Having 5 blessings can be expensive, especially on a single income. We have decided this year to minimize the presents and focus on Jesus being the reason for the season. We will be getting a small gift for each child along with a gift certificate which will allow them to go have one on one time experiencing something in their interest.
My 13 year old loves cooking and enjoys packing his lunch for school. I was able to get him a Coleman thermos 1/2 price – paying $9.99 – so that he can broaden his lunches to include warm ones. I will then give him a gift certificate for a cooking class where he and I can share time together and learn some new skills.
This allows us to budget accordingly so that there isn’t that BIG expense at Christmas time and give them an anticipation of one on one time with mom. Tying in the fact that there was great anticipation for Jesus.
I LOVE this idea! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
Having 5 blessings can be expensive, especially on a single income. We have decided this year to minimize the presents and focus on Jesus being the reason for the season. We will be getting a small gift for each child along with a gift certificate which will allow them to go have one on one time experiencing something in their interest.
My 13 year old loves cooking and enjoys packing his lunch for school. I was able to get him a Coleman thermos 1/2 price – paying $9.99 – so that he can broaden his lunches to include warm ones. I will then give him a gift certificate for a cooking class where he and I can share time together and learn some new skills.
This allows us to budget accordingly so that there isn’t that BIG expense at Christmas time and give them an anticipation of one on one time with mom. Tying in the fact that there was great anticipation for Jesus.
I LOVE this idea! Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment. 🙂
I was talking with my daughter, some of her more memorable Christmas gifts were individually wrapped small gifts—crayons a color book etc. or the times in their stockings were the first of several notes taking them to another place inside or outside to continue on the hunt for their gift.
Little did they know that those years there was no money to purchase anything. Many times hand made dolls or puzzles were at the end of the hunt.
Still no money so the grand kids will have to learn there is much love in the thought and planning when there is little money in the pocket
I agree with you Lin – making memories with our kids is what counts.
This is a great post! Christmas has been tight since the year we cut up our CC and started the cash only rule. :/ I know that’s a great thing but at the time rather scary! We have utilized a few of your points over the years such as yard sale or thrift store bought toys. I have also reused our own toys! For instance, we have 3 daughters. The second one got a small pink rocking horse one year. She outgrew it about a year ago when our baby was about 6 months old. I decided to put it in the attic until this Christmas…the baby is 19m old and the perfect age for that little rocking horse. She’s never seen it before so a great way to reuse and it still seems new to her.
One little tip is to have your kids write out what they want for Christmas but then go back and number them in order of what they want the most down to the least. You know they won’t get it all, (and we tell ours that) but you have something to work with, plan for, and then try to locate those items you choose at their best prices.
Christmas is 100% cash. Last year was exceptionally tight. My husband and I went without gifts. This past year, God really blessed my online handmade business. It has provided our entire Christmas this year!!! Because I wasn’t able to get anything for my husband last year, this year I saved back some I would’ve reinvested in my shop and I was able to purchase a large item he has been wanting (not needing) for a while!!! I am so excited for Christmas this year!
julie
I am so glad that your shop is doing well Julie. That’s terrific! I know it feels good to be able to buy gifts for your family, but I am really proud of you that you sacrificed last year instead of going into debt like a lot of people would. Good for you!
Well, my take is a bit different. We homeschool. We’ve been studying different Christmas celebrations around the world. One thing that keeps popping up is that Three Kings Day is January 6, and kids will put their shoes out the night of January 5. Youngest DD suggested doing it as well. I suggested putting out our stockings that night. My hope is that I will find some time Dec 26, 27, 28 to get to a store and find “stocking stuffers” on clearance.
I think they’ve enjoyed the different cultures. I know I have.
Ooh, I LOVE that idea Melinda! You are saving money and learning at the same time. 🙂
My kids are young…6, 5, and 3. All of their gifts except 1 came from thrift stores, and garage sales. I spent less than $100 on everything…including special outfits for church. Many of them are still new in the box. One is a boxed set of three books and 10 dinosaurs to put together. It will be fun for homeschooling…it also is still shrink wrapped and cost $1.99 (the price new was in the $45 range). There are a bunch of building toys all still in original packages that I spent $10 on and cost over $150…double check on small parts all being there…these were perfect. A refurbished/painted…dollhouse and homemade dolls…less than $20. And plenty of pink and purple and frill…my friend bought the dollhouse new for $150, and I got it at her garage sale for $5. There are always books (which I buy for .50 most of the time).
That is awesome Michelle! I love shopping thrift stores and garage sales, especially for children’s items. You can find some amazing deals.
This year is a tight year for us as well – and with the kids being older (17,15,12,10 and 8) – it seems harder to know how to still make it fun, special and enjoyable . . . as I know they have their hearts set on more expensive “toys”. It was much easier when they were little!
This year we are just getting them each an item around $25 – and then pooling the rest of the money to buy a family gift . . . something we call can enjoy. We love watching movies – and every friday night is Fun Family Friday. As much as I’d like to say we play board games and do a variety of things . . . a lot of times it’s a movie that everyone wants to watch instead. We have a very old, small TV . . . so this year we are looking at getting a bigger TV so as to enjoy our Fun Family Friday nights even more. (And we are also making more of an effort to play games and do other things as a family . . . to build memories and bring more laughter into the house!)
In the past we’ve saved credit card points to spend on a trip to Great Wolf Lodge instead of buying a bunch of toys that would be cluttering the house a week later, not being played with much.
It is challenging . . . but it’s good for all of us to learn how to think creatively with regards to gifts, to what’s truly important, and how to show that we love each other in other ways besides toys and gifts.
Thanks for sharing this post! It’s encouraging!
Happy Holidays!
Lori 🙂
Great ideas Lori! My kids requested a new tv this year as well, but it’s not in the budget. We’ll just have to keep watching on the non-HD, 30 inch screen on a 36 inch deep monitor–hahaha!
Yes – it’s not really in our cash budget . . . but we have quite a lot of credit card points to get free gift cards to the place we might buy the TV. Though . . . the TV’s that we would love to get and the ones we can afford with our points . . . are 2 different things! We’ll see.
We have the “rule of three” which says that each child gets three gifts: one or two from us and the remaining from Santa. Why three? That’s what Jesus got. It works well to help us keep our budget. Plus the kids get plenty of other gifts from family…in fact it’s still too many in my opinion! We’ve also asked family to consider giving an experience instead of more stuff. Bowling certificates, zoo tickets…things we all enjoy together as a family.
Thank you so much for this post! I am a stay at home mom to three girls and because of this we have a very tight budget. Christmas is often stressful because we want to give them everything on their list but financially it’s just not possible. This post reminded me that Christmas is not about getting them everything..it’s about enjoying and celebrating the little things!! Christmas is about Joy..not stress! Thanks again!!:0)
You are very welcome Libby! We have a tight budget as well, but find that the things we enjoy most don’t cost that much.
I think that understanding that it is OUR guilt that keeps us with these ridiculous expectations for the holidays. If we always got our children just a few things – literally they would appreciate them, not expect more and the things they asked for would be what they really wanted. If you don’t have money in an emergency fund, for your bills, for all the things we need but learn to live without – then you have no business spending tons of money on Christmas. Also it really is a disservice to your kids and yourself. If we want our kids to know that THINGS don’t matter but RELATIONSHIPS then that is what we should show them. Make the holidays about memories and doing things together – not spending money! This is my new philosophy anyways and coming from a family that spoiled me rotten and seeing the negative effect it had on me and my psyche and my life has me determined I’m sticking to it!