It’s no secret that the holidays can get crazy expensive—parties, dinners, gifts, booze, travel, you know the yearly drill. That said, there are some clever techniques to get through the season without totally draining your bank account. Here are eight ways to save money without dampening your holiday spirit this year:
Keep an Eye on Your Spending
It can be easy to go overboard finding the perfect presents for your loved ones. That’s why it’s important to establish who you’ll purchase gifts for, along with a budget for how much you’ll spend on each person. Use a holiday budgeting calculator (yes, those exist!) to set a spending amount for gifts, wrapping supplies, baking, and travel.
But remember that once you set a budget, you have to stick to it. Track your purchases to make sure you don’t overspend—no matter how much you want to buy your partner that nice watch.
Participate in Gift Exchanges
Don’t run yourself ragged shopping for an extensive giftee list; take part in a gift exchange instead. Secret Santa is one popular way to shop within a budget, and it allows you to spend more time and effort finding a great present for your recipient—use Elfster to set up a Secret Santa exchange by creating a participant list, spending limit, and deadline. But for something a little different, try a rotation box where each person donates a few low-cost items with a personal card before sending it off to the next person, who takes a few items out and adds their own gifts and card, and so on.
Chip in for a Group Trip
How about something that everyone can enjoy: a destination vacation! Pool your money together with your loved ones for a trip to South America’s sprawling golden beaches or Europe’s historic landmarks. Stay organized with a group trip planner: share destination ideas, set available dates, and build itineraries. Planning ahead will ensure that no one misses out.
Make Your Own Gifts
Avoid the mall crowds altogether by making handmade gifts. At this time of year, everyone can use a scarf or pair of gloves to warm up (bonus: you can cater to your friends’ geeky sides—check out these pop culture-inspired knitting projects). You can also build something useful like a spice rack for your culinary-inclined friends, a shoe shelf for your fashionista pals, an iPod dock for music lovers, or a wine rack for the connoisseurs.
Or maybe you love to spend time in the kitchen: share delicious holiday treats like candy cane-shaped sugar cookies and hot chocolate meringue pie or create your own infused alcohols. But if you lack the time, try something simpler like handmade bath salts for the ones who enjoy a good soak.
Get Creative With Wrapping
Create a storage space for old gift bags and leftover wrapping paper to reuse. Or mix it up: use leftover fabrics or tissue paper to package your presents. We also love gifts in mason jars with a simple ribbon as decoration—very Pinterest-worthy.
Take Party Planning Shortcuts
The holidays are one of the best times to host, but the expenses add up quickly. If you want to do something a bit more special than a Facebook event, send your invites online through Paperless Post. Then enlist your family and friends to help by assigning a task to each person: party decorations, dish preparations (use the Pepperplate app to plan the menu, or go with a potluck dinner), bartending, DJing, etc. You can see if people are willing to contribute items like speakers, chairs, or a karaoke machine to help pull the whole thing together.
Stick With the Classics
If you’re looking for fun group activities that require less planning, the old traditions still work best: check out beautiful Christmas light displays; curl up with some hot cocoa and watch classic holiday movies at home; go outside and build a snowman, have an epic snowball fight, or try sledding.
Travel by Bus
You might be traveling during the holidays, and that can be stressful by itself. Save your gas money and the exorbitant fares airlines charge at this time of year. Instead, travel by bus. Find the cheapest route via Greyhound or Megabus by using a trip planner. That way, you can chill with a fun mobile game or catch some z’s rather than dealing with the stresses of maddening holiday traffic.
As you can see, you have a lot of money-saving options that still allow you to enjoy the holidays. All you have to do is get creative so that you don’t start January off by staring woefully at your receipts.