A frugal Christmas

[absolutelyknackeredcow]

Our income has been massively hit by Covid. I have had to take a pay cut and my husband (main earner) has has a pay cut, has been on furlough since June and is likely to be made redundant.
We are not on the bread line - and for that we are very grateful - but things are massively, massively tighter than before.

What free and cheap things can we do - either catering or otherwise to reduce costs ?

We make our Xmas pud - which the children enjoy - but thought it would be nice for others to post their ideas

The biggest thing you can do is cut back on who you are buying for.
Other people will be in the same boat, no one wants to be the one to suggest it but when I did people were delighted.

Hi sorry to read about your struggles. I just wanted to share this website about frugal Christmas recipies. cookingonabootstrap.com/tag/christmas/

Werewolf
www.playwerewolf.co/rules
All the kids that come here ALWAYS want to play this - no need to buy the game or use playing cards or make your own.

That’s wink murder! Good game though.

@Fullof

The biggest thing you can do is cut back on who you are buying for. Other people will be in the same boat, no one wants to be the one to suggest it but when I did people were delighted.

I agree with this. Christmas got so much easier when I stopped wasting time buying things people did need anyway!

Do secret Santa for all adults or don’t buy gifts for adults, tell them in advance though. Concentrate on the children.

How old are your kids? If they are young, ASDA do a really good range of wooden real world play toys (similar to Melissa and Doug etc but much cheaper.) Bought my DS a toaster, tea set and wooden vegetables years ago and they still look like new despite being played with regularly....

Watch the cost of stockings...was horrified last year when I realised I'd spent £35 on DS's! Most of the stuff barely got looked at.

This year am keeping it cheap and simple. He is getting:
Chocolate pennies
Haribo
Socks
Trolls blind bag
Felt tips or crayons
Bubble bath
Blowing bubbles

FB marketplace is full of toys people are clearing out. Loads of Playmobil/brio/ dolls houses on our local one.

Do you know what, Christmas dinner is like a posh Sunday roast so that’s what we have, but to make it fancy I set the table with Christmas stuff, (B&Ms specials, table cloth, place mats, nice crackers). And I treat us to a fancy pudding, something I would never normally buy, a big chocolate cake or some such.

The food shop is slightly more than I would usually spend, but then I’m an Aldi girl so it’s kind of impossible to spend a fortune.

Never buy turkey, have a small piece of pork and a chicken. Everyone is happy with that.

Instead of buying board games/jigsaws/DVDs, do a temporary swap with someone else just over the Christmas holidays so you have something new-to-you to do.

I make sure my regular walks take me past a few charity shops and always have a look in to see what's there. I always find a few extra gifts/stocking fillers that way - either things that are new in the packaging or things that I know the person won't mind being second hand, like out of print books.

I agree with other posters about the following:

Homemade gifts can work out really quite expensive depending on what it is, especially baking. It can also be stressful/depressing if you're only doing it because you have to, and can't afford to make mistakes with it.

Stockings and filled advent calendars can really add up. Better to buy a few bigger things to fill a stocking than loads of little bits.

Poundland is your friend. I always used to buy the £1 pack of 10 sheets of wrapping paper in 5 designs, rather than having to wrap all my gifts in the same paper from one big roll.

Buy less, buy when you see things on offer, buy practical presents you would buy otherwise (stockings contain socks and pants etc).

The last few years most of the supermarkets have run an offer the week before Christmas with veg eg potatoes, carrots, sprouts, parsnips for really great prices. Last year a trip to both Lidl and M&S gave us a great selection of Christmas dinner veggies for around £5. Usually Lidl/Aldi start it off and all the others follow with some similar offer...

We were in the Works and Poundland today and they both had some great Christmas crafting stuff (if that’s something your kids would like). Poundland usually has some character bath foam. Last year I found Aldi was brilliant for great value Christmas chocolate.

DD and DSD also get a decent amount of things wrapped up which is basic stuff they need eg new toothbrush, pants / vests etc. I keep a close eye on local FB groups for items like books, toys. As people above have said lots of folks will be having a clear out between now and Christmas.

This year I am trying to pick things up between now and December as there seem to be more offers round about now, rather than late December.

Loving all the suggestions here and on this board generally for things go to which don’t involve spending much.

Last year I put the kids name on a huge kiliner type jars from Ikea and filled it with their favourite sweet from the poundshop. Picked up a couple of bags a week The vinyl stickers (from eBay) came in a range of fonts and colours. DS Black Marvel script. DD Rose gold frozen script for 1.39 each free postage. Kids loved it.

One of our favourite Christmas tradition is ELF night. We watch Elf with popcorn and we wear ancient Elf hats (again from the poundshop) kid groan and say the film is cheesy. But we all love it.