Frugal Christmas thread

[ThisisCollie2022]

Anyone up for a frugal Christmas thread?

Homemade crafts, gifts, decorations, gift ideas and frugal festive food etc

Also ideas on how to keep the children busy would be great!

I know it's August but the best frugal tip is to be prepared so am thinking ahead now :)

I'm joining this as I will be trying not to be wasteful this year, we have had some very frugal Christmases and I need to get back to that way again. I will have a proper read of the big list tomorrow!

I’m also on resties Christmas thread and there are some bargains to be had.
I got some quality paper a couple of years ago but it’s bot Christmas as such and reversible so also does for throughout the year.
Aldi Christmas paper is the best imo and 99p a roll (or was)

I save my Tesco points up to use at Xmas.

I am working my way through all the odd stuff in my fridge as I want to make mincemeat soon but refuse to buy empty jars. Maybe there’s room for a pre- Christmas frugal thread of ‘what tf to do with this beetroot and tapenade?’

collie thanks for the list. Quickly notes everything down.

Does anyone have a link to fail safe dehydrated orange slices? I tried them last year and failed.

We are doing homemade cards and tags. I did them as an emergency last year & they are back by popular demand.

The tree is the same one we have used every year since it came into our lives after being adopted post Christmas one year. £4 quid in the clearance sale. It is looking a little less plush these days but each year we cover it in yet more decorations..... Decorations are added to each Jan and embellished in the run up to the tree decoration day.

Food is anything other than turkey, Christmas pudding and mince pies. I am thinking of duck.....

I also usually use my nectar points at Christmas too. I normally have about £50-60 but this year I lost my job and needed to redeem the points on fuel :(

So I predict that by Christmas I might have £20 on the Nectar but I'm not sure as we've had to cut back massively on food.

There's only 3 of us, so we never do turkey. I dont think i even like turkey 🤣... We love gammon so might have that!

We also don't like Christmas pudding so I might make Christmassy brownies!

Great thread!

I usually buy the kids stuff throughout the year to spread the cost, but I noticed last year I bought lots of tat that kept them going for only five mins. I've changed strategy this year, I've been selling stuff and doing Shoppix app since the beginning of the year to save the Xmas money. I'm at £250 already and I'm really pleased. I'm going to give each kid a budget and go out with a list, once the moneys gone it's gone, but I know it will be only on things they want.

My tips are NT with own hot chocolate.

Making salt dough for little ones. Doubles up as a present for grandparents.

Me and my husband only get each other small things.

The kids always pick us a pair of socks each.

Winter walks with homemade scavenger hunts. I take a bag of haribo and let them have one every time they find something.

Build a blanket fort and have movie night.

Make Christmas shadow puppets and tell a story.

@ThisisCollie2022 the Aldi normal gammon is fine. The cheap one for about 3.80 ish. It’s the one I get at Christmas. Far lesss salty than the butchers one

@chouxpetitfilous Thanks for mentioning hot chocolate! I might actually have to do hot chocolate mugs as gifts this year - charity shop mug, couple of sachets of hot chocolate and a baking paper twist of marshmallows. Good for my half-dozen in-person friend/family gifts that doesn't cost much as can at least be consumed!

Other than that, I'm getting on the sock knitting. Did someone say they got cheap wool from somewhere? I'm thinking a place like Aldi? I think I got some from there before.

I've already been eyeing up a couple of places where there are evergreens and I might be able to snip a few small branches to make a cheap door wreath. I think I have a wire coat hanger somewhere, tie the branches and add a couple of orange slices, pine cones and red/gold ribbons and job's a good'un!

Thank you for all the other money-saving ideas on here!

Look at when your schools break up. Ours is the 23rd December so there is mot much time before Christmas to keep them busy and after they have their gifts it’s much easier.

My oldest can’t quite tell the time yet but I think this is the last year we can get away with it. Unknown to the children have an early, lunch, dinner and bath and then stay up late to watch Christmas film and have a “midnight feast”. Kids think it’s amazing but they are not up really late so they don’t get grumpy.

@KatherineofGaunt I’ve found cheap yarn in charity shops, including v underpriced 100% wool. Kemps wool shop online have generous discounts in the clearance section.

Hobbycraft have lots of free patterns including little Xmas decs for using up odds and ends (but warning, their cheap WI yarn is pants), and if you have a library card, the Libby app has simply knitting and the knitter magazines for free.

You can tell I am also planning to knit lots of gifts!

Garden centres are often good for Christmassy trips. They often have a Santa's grotto at a reasonable price but even if not, they will have decorations up and Christmas music on - depends on the age of kids though, my 3 YO would love it but a 10 year old maybe not! Similarly a walk round the town to look at lights, i a scavenger hunt - who cam spot a Santa, first to count 15 red lights etc.

Find out if nearby towns do any events. Ours has a Christmas market, carol singing evening in market Square, classical music concert in the cathedral, Christmas light switch on, winter carnival, lantern parade, mini cinema etc. All free or cheap

An Am Dram panto would be a much cheaper alternative to a professional one.

If you collect clubcard vouchers, you can get 3x value for some events, I know Longleat light show is included.

Wool in pound land (the green one) was 3 balls for €2, I will check this morning when I’m in

I love our gardens center at Christmas. There are 2 that are excellent displays

Thanks life. The saltiness does bother me so I'll keep an eye out for Aldis.

Love seeing familiar names!

This thread is so lovely, thanks to everyone who has contributed.

I made some decorations yesterday, I thought if I give it a go then at least I'll know if they're good enough and they were amazing!! Very pleased. (Wooden scrabble letter tree decs)

@elQuintoConyo I’m doing cross-stitches too, just got some sparkly gold thread to do some with.

We picked blackberries on Saturday and are making blackberry gin for gifts. Might also make Christmas pudding vodka because that was a hit a few years ago.

Rather than buying “to nanny and grandad” etc Christmas cards we buy the ones you insert a photo into and take a nice festive photo of the kids.

We’ve already got Christmas duvets, pyjamas and jumpers so will be reusing those. Plenty of National Trust walks and I’m going to copy a friend and take hotdogs in a thermos flask for a different sort of picnic!

It’s all year round collie, bottom of the bacon section

Pleased the flapjack worked, I think it’ fairy robust recipe and can try s as le tweaking,

who has lonelys chocolate one? That’s another good one apparently

If you soak it overnight before you cook it and then change the water that helps with the saltiness. I also buy unsalted rather than salted which still tastes good but not as salty. I then boil it and use the water for ham soup!

I had alliums in my garden this summer and I’ve been hanging them to dry in the shed for my Christmas wreath. Might be too late for this year but worth remembering for next year.

Haven’t yet Rtft and also haven’t even started to think about Xmas yet if I’m honest but I’m placemarking so I remember to come back here! Some great ideas. Thanks @ThisisCollie2022

I'm hoping to arrange a Christmas Jumper swap/sale through our village school uniform exchange FB page.

We always count down to Christmas wit the Nativity! Films. First one the first weekend of Dec, second one the second w/e etc.

There's a forest nearby with a few trees that people always add decorations and Christmas wishes to absent friends to. Add in a visit to the nearby cafe and that's a good Christmas Day out. The cafe is painted red/white spots (from when the Tour de France passed several years ago now), which makes it feel Christmassy.

We'll go to the (next) village Christmas lights switch on, listen to the silver band and have a drink at the cricket club.

DD will bake.

My dc will be 11 and 14 by Christmas, so grown out of a lot of stuff, but these have become our traditions.

Oh... we havn't done (big) presents for adults for a good decade..

Last year I bought some Xmas stamps like Xmas tree and ink stampers in different colours. I made my Xmas cards helped by my eldest grandchild.

I also made a list of Xmas things we might see eg a star, a bell, Rudolph etc and we went looking at decorations in peoples windows and ticked off the things we found. Started beginning of December and went mid December and few days before Xmas and actually crossed off everything on our list. Our prize was an Aldi chocolate Santa to nibble on. Grandchildren got very excited when we found them all. Always hot chocolate on return home with little marshmallows in and chocolate powder sprinkles. This activity cost nothing.

I made the wreath to go on my front door.

I made a Xmas display from Holly, sprayed fir cones and leaves I picked from garden and sprayed. Made my mil a display too.
Cost a few pence for can of silver spray.