Holiday season ideas for when cash is tight

With food, utility and fuel bills all going up at an alarming rate, we’re all feeling the pinch this year. The festive season is an opportunity to show our love to those most special in our lives and enjoy some treats together, and for many that comes with potential money worries. But it doesn’t have to mean creeping a step closer to bankruptcy – nor does it mean wasting those hard-earned pennies on cheap tat or a less than satisfying celebratory meal.

With that in mind, here are some top tips for enjoying the holiday season without breaking the bank.

Handmade gifts

Making a bespoke gift especially for a friend of family member is a beautiful way to express affection. Those already lucky enough to have crafty skills can get right to work – and even for those who don’t, this is a fun opportunity to learn a new skill while staying warm at home. The Internet is an enormous resource for learning crafts, with YouTube tutorials and websites of every kind. One of the nice things about making presents from scratch is there is endless scope for ideas (from baking to jewellery or knitted accessories and so much more), and the budget is in the hands of the creator.

Price trackers, discounts and cashback

Though there are, of course, quite a lot of dodgy websites claiming to offer valid coupon codes, there are a few that are in fact legit and can help save a fair bit, either with discounts or with cashback after purchasing. There are options for a huge range of products that are easily found with a little research (for example, a Cupshe coupon here for special lady friends), and TopCashback offer some serious rewards on purchases with popular retailers. Sites like Idealo provide the means to input a product and find not only the cheapest places to buy, but also price fluctuations so that purchases can be timed optimally.

Dinner hacks

The all-important family festive meal is often a big spend, and when family or friends are coming over the pressure is on to fill them up with something really special. But there are a range of penny savers to consider that will help make it a big blowout only as far as those waistlines are concerned. Shopping in advance where possible is always worth doing (things like wine and chocolates will keep for a while), and buying good quality frozen veg and Yorkshire puddings can cut down on prices and food waste. If there’s a meat main on the cards, pound for pound a whole chicken works out cheapest, but it’s well worth considering how much is actually needed and not buying anything unnecessarily large – in fact, for very small groups or those without huge ovens, individual portions such as chicken breasts can make more sense.

Reuse wrapping paper

Wrapping paper is a hugely wasteful tradition that sends endless piles of often unrecyclable waste to landfill every year – and in many cases the recipient of a gift barely even looks at at. To offset this expense, it’s always worth saving wrapping when one is given gifts so that it can be reused, or it’s easy and cheap to make unique paper with some colourful pens or pencils and a roll of basic white or brown paper. Even better, in the long term everyone could make like the Japanese and give gifts in beautiful pieces of fabric that can be reused and repurposed over and over again!

The editorial unit