Low budget kids Christmas ideas

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Inspired by another thread asking if it's okay to buy second hand toys for a four year old, I thought now might be a good time for sharing low budget ideas that made your kids happy.

Mine are a bit bigger now so harder to get stuff second hand but from past success:

• there was a year my son wanted Marvel everything. The figures were really expensive but I managed to get a big bag of mixed sizes (probably not with all the bits they should have) for a couple of pounds. They were pointy and difficult to wrap and failed to have the wow factor of a big box like his little sister had as she was still in the lumps of plastic tot stage.

I managed to get two big storage boxes from The Works on sale. Like these but Marvel https://www.theworks.co.uk/p/storage-boxes/the-hungry-caterpillar-collapsible-storage-box/WKS_5051237030792.html?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsJO4BhDoARIsADDv4vCPh7vEvr91p_zKHDPB7k9eLO-TvxsOXrFZkhfzpVj4QVfjMqPHzc8aAq3zEALw_wcB
The random figures and bits went inside in shredded paper. Wrapped the boxes and we all enjoyed Christmas lucky dip.
The marvel obsession ended six months later but those boxes are still going strong.

• We discovered the joy of transfer printing paper one year. Bought a job lot of 100 little wooden flat baubles, made a template of circles to maximise each sheet, printed pictures of dogs, landmarks (anything personal to person we were giving them too) and ironed them on. You just have to remember to flip the image before printing. We also made about 50 for our own tree with all the animals, characters etc the kids wanted. Or their own drawings if you photograph them.

• Home Bargains do colour your own table cloths and placemats for under a pound. Great fun for the run up and brighten up the table. We put ours on the wall. Another year we had a colour your own little cardboard house from Lidl. It took up far too much space but the kids loved it.

All ideas welcome

Lovely idea. Mine are a bit older now but great things that have worked for me:

Drive or take. A bus to a different part of town and walk round their estates to see the lights.

kids draw up a menu for the big day and set the places

This one isn't really cheap but has been great for slightly older.

My kids really wanted to go to Edinburgh Zoo for a Christmas day out (they are animal mad). It's pretty expensive for a single day especially when the weather is unpredictable and in the most expensive part of the year.

So instead we took out family membership. It works out at about £15 a month and also gets you into Highland Wildlife park and some other reciprocal zoos.

I didn't tell them we had done it on first visit and instead gave them a home made printed voucher with the logo on attached to a little cuddly of their favourite animal at Christmas.

We've been quite a few times, used it for my son's birthday treat to Highland Wildlife Park and a summer visit to Chester zoo (you can go once on your pass). He loves getting his magazine too.

We'll just go a bit earlier and get this year's Christmas treat out of it as well so worth looking into these options for things near you.

We spend a whole afternoon icing gingerbread stars whilst listening to Christmas music, super fun and low cost.

Echo PP about seeing the lights - I used to play with DS to see who could see the most decorated houses on a trip. There's also a standard bus route in London that takes you past all the 'good' lights and costs £1.65 for the adult (kids free) rather than £25ish per head for a specific tour!

Get the kids involved in wrapping for family and friends. I get the Works 10 for 10 Christmas books and let DS pick which one he wants to give each friend.

Ooh @MoneyAndPercentages you've reminded me of the brilliant Christmas trees my friend once made using different sized stars going from biggest to smallest.

Might give that a go this year. Easier assembly than a gingerbread house.

We also enjoyed walking round people's light displays and being pretend judges picking first, second and third place.

Christmas is often remembered for experiences, rather than the gifts. So focus on doing lovely things. Making gingerbread houses, popcorn chains for the tree. Decorating the tree (I'm a control freak, so I give them a preselected bag and let them decorate). Christmas films with picky tea on Christmas eve. Walks, visiting neighbourhood lights, see if they do a light switch on near by. Get 1 main present, 2nd hand really is fine, a few stocking gifts.
Special Christmas day breakfast, dress the table to make it feel like an occasion.
Check out charity shops for pretty decor, Christmas jumpers, 2nd hand gifts.
Use vouchers from tesco (not sure what other supermarkets do) to either get treats for dinner, or trade in for gifts/experiences.
Above all, enjoy your time.

Going for a walk in the cold to see the lights then coming home for home made hot chocolate with marshmallows and watching a movie. I would do this any day over most activities 🥰

Secondhand is absolutely my biggest recommendation. One Christmas DS was in to paw patrol. I bought an entire bin bag’s worth of stuff secondhand for £30. Easily £200 new. Wrapped every item separately, he was in heaven!

My other recommendation is to take stuff on outings. Thermos of hot chocolate for a winter light trail, light up wands from cheap shops for bonfire night, theme toys if you’re going to the theatre (Bluey toy from Aldi saves a fortune when you can present it on arrival to the Bluey Big Shoa instead of £££ for one there!). It’s all the added extras which cost a fortune.

Vivid memories as a kid of my mum drawing Christmas tree outline on lining paper or wallpaper cut off on the back and us painting it and then cutting and sticking things out of free magazines to decorate the 'tree' it was the stuck on the door in the kitchen. I loved doing it and my mum only told us when we were older that we were short of money and so it was very cheap for us to do. I'm doing it this year with my kids.

Just wanted to jump on to say that you can save 6.8% in home bargains by using Jam doughnut cash back and I'm going to buy lots of cheap things in HB for Xmas to fill it up for my kids. A lot will be consumables.

To get the 6.8% off use a cash back site (jam doughnut) which I also use for my Tesco
Shop and other shops I use and I'm saving ££ - this is all savings you can put towards Xmas. Honestly it's a no brainer!

You just need to buy the voucher from Jam doughnut before you pay for your shop and use the voucher and not your card to pay and then the cash back goes in immediately! I do this actually at the checkout!

I also have a code for anyone who uses it to get £3 cash back in their pot immediately which is little start. Let me know if anyone wants the code. I've posted it in promos but can also post here.

Honestly it's a no brainer.

Omg this is such a lovely idea! What a beautiful thing your mum thought of ❤️

My girls are teens now but the one thing they want to do every year is make paper chains to decorate their rooms.
I usually buy a pre cut pack from home bargains for a couple of pounds and it keeps them entertained for hours.

I don't have a lot to spend on Christmas ever so I get a lot of things the kids need like nice body sprays, deodorants, cleansers, face cloths, mascara, pjs, books etc for stocking bits.
I'm following someone on Instagram who makes her own hampers mostly home bargains stuff for about a tenner. I'm doing a baking hamper for one of my kids this year as she likes that.
Amazon prime day has just gone but was a good discount on some of the skincare brands my three girls like. I got a light up scooter for 25 which was 50 in Smyth's toys.
I like second hand things too son will get a bike I'm looking at FB marketplace place for that.
Another child likes stationary and stuff for revision, shein is cheap for that as well as home bargains and the works

To add I already have a yearly membership to a local country estate garden thingy they have a light up trail will do that. The village has a carol evening free will do that. Winter dog walks we do anyway but will put some light up collars on the dogs

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2023/dec/13/how-to-make-perfect-speculaas-christmas-gift-recipe-felicity-cloake

I make these as gifts, they roll out and you can make any shape you like

I also make these, again they make great gifts. I got xmas bags from eBay or amazon and pop two or three chocolate blocks in a bag then tie the top with wrapping ribbon and curl the ends

I love your lucky dip idea! I have this difficulty with second hand, it's more eco and budget friendly but lacks the "wow" factor of a brand new sparkly box. Any other ideas for making a second hand gift more fun appreciated!

buy the Christmas bags - the large type with draw string and then (although ideas they are supposed to be as an alternative to wrapping paper) wrap that up with wrapping paper?

And relish the idea you haven't got piles of boxes as rubbish on xmas morning

We've set stuff up before - playmobil zoo got second hand for about £5, set it out on a low table and covered with Christmas tablecloth and a bow! She loved it and meant she could play with it straight away