Best Frugal Christmas Gifts

There is no doubt that the Christmas season can push your sanity AND your budget to its very limits. However, as I always say, expensive doesn’t always mean better. Check out the best frugal Christmas gifts you can give this year.

Christmas really can be the most wonderful time of the year! You’re surrounded by delicious cookies, beautiful light displays, and best of all, ugly Christmas sweaters galore!

However, it can certainly be unbearably stressful. What do you get the person who has everything and wants nothing? Can you afford it? How can you be sure that they’ll use it?

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all the gifts I have given and received over the years, you don’t have to go broke to show someone you care.

Check out some of the best frugal Christmas gifts you can give this year.

Homemade Desserts

Do you love to bake? Do you have an old family candy recipe? How about a top secret, always a crowd pleaser cookie recipe? Take some time to bake that up and use it as a gift.

From my experience, folks ADORE homemade food and very rarely will they turn it down. Making a delicious dessert will go a long way, especially for those people that are limited on space or really don’t need/want anything.

You don’t think one dessert is enough? Make up a “Dessert of the Month” club – where every month you make a new recipe!

I will give full credit for this idea to my mother because this is what she gave to all of our neighbors when I was growing up. My mom is a well-known baker, so everyone always waited not so patiently for their cookie of the month.

If you’re stumped on what dessert to make, please feel free to steal my favorites:

• Brown Butter Bourbon Snickerdoodles from Alexandra’s Kitchen
• Guiness Cupcakes with Baileys Frosting from Cincy Shopper
• Almond Joy Cheesecake Bars from Cookin’ with Mima
• Baileys Irish Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies from Baker by Nature
• Coconut Blossoms from Life is like Honey
• Coconut Key Lime Crinkle Cookies from Foodtastic Mom
• Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Baker by Nature
• Apple Butter Snickerdoodles by Crazy for Crust

If you love to bake like I do, this is a great and frugal way to share your talents and hobbies with others.

Homemade Edible Gifts

While I love to bake, I don’t have the patience to make other things such as applesauce, jams, or chocolate bombs. I just don’t and I accept this about myself.

If you’re someone who is graced with more patience than me, there are literally THOUSANDS of homemade, edible, and frugal Christmas gifts you can give to someone.

Making them is not as hard as you may think either!

Here’s just a few ideas that come to mind:

• Homemade Vanilla Extract
• Hot Chocolate Ornaments
• Homemade Jam
• Homemade Applesauce
• Cookie Mix in a jar
• Chai Latte in a Jar
• Homemade Dog Treats
• Homemade Spiced Vodka
• Hot Chocolate Bombs

I am a crafter at heart and I always get an overwhelming response to the homemade edible gifts that I actually have the patience to make. Most people would never dream of making it themselves, but they are so thankful for the idea!

Handcrafted Decor

Are you a knitter or crocheter? Do you macrame or make candles? Do you have an eye for decor?

Put your talents to good use because not everybody has the same talent that you do. Most people will be thoroughly impressed by something that you thought came naturally to everyone!

Not only do I love GIVING this type of gift, I absolutely LOVE receiving it as well.

YOU MADE THIS!? For me!? Aw, shucks.

I recently asked a friend of mine what the best gift I had ever given him was. His response was the shadow box I made him a few years back.

It took me all of an hour and less than $50 to put together a shadow box for him to display all his accomplishments and memories from his career.

To me, It was simple. To him, it was memorable.

Here’s some ideas for handcrafted home decor:

• Shadow box
• Macrame Plant holder
• Original Painting
• String Art
• Framed Picture of a favorite memory
• Hand Painted wall sign
• DIY Candle

Your talent is a gift. It should be shared with those you love!

Just Ask

This is an important time to remember that we are talking about frugal Christmas gifts, not cheap Christmas gifts.

Being frugal is about being intentional with your money. The last thing you want to do is waste money on something that the person you are buying for doesn’t really want.

Maybe the person you’re buying for needs a new kitchen appliance or a new article of clothing. Heck, maybe they need new work boots or new tires on their car. Sure, it’s boring but it’s necessary.

By asking someone exactly what they want, you can rest assured that you are getting something they will use and love!

I’ve been told that I can sometimes be an overly practical person, but please do not buy me useless junk! Please ask me what I want if you really want to buy me something. If I don’t send you the exact link, I will certainly give you an idea!

Plus, I will be SO appreciative to not have to spend my own money on it.

Cold. Hard. Cash

I know my older generation folks hate when I say this but seriously, whatever you were going to spend on gifts can just be given to me in cash.

We all have bills to pay and things we want to do that require money (*cough cough* travel).

Money can help someone worry less about their rent, their mortgage, their electric bill, or their car payment that month.

I think it is one the best and easiest frugal Christmas gifts out there.

If you’re scared of being boring, there are so many creative ways to gift money other than just putting it in a card.

Seriously, someone who is asking for money actually needs it. They aren’t just out of ideas.

Time

Time is the most expensive gift we can give. We are only given so much and none of us know when it will run out.

Your 90-year-old grandparents don’t want another dish towel or Christmas ornament, they want your time. I can guarantee that they will appreciate that more than anything money could buy.

What are some ways to give your time to someone this year?

• Spend the day together – Pick a day where you can go out to get lunch, do some shopping, see a show, or get ice cream. Or do all those things at once – that’s one heck of a day.
• Bake something together – You can give that person one of the Cookie in a Jar kits I mentioned earlier, then pick a day where you will come help them bake it.
• Be there – Spending time with someone doesn’t mean you have to be doing something. If you pick a night to come over to watch a movie and simply listen, that is gift enough.
• Take a trip – Take a weekend and go away together. It can be a beach trip in the summer or a road trip in the fall. Book a trip and split the cost.
• Make the drive – Do you have family or friends that live far away? Put an intentional effort towards making the drive to see them.

A creative thing I like to do is buy gift cards and then frame them to let someone know what we will be doing on our day together.

For example, I would get a Chick-fil-a, a Target, and a Sweet Frog gift card for my niece. Then, I will put them all in a frame and write “A day with Aunt Alexis” at the top. That way she has her own “money” to spend and there’s a limit so I don’t go broke taking her out!

It’s not so much about the lunch, or the new dress, or the ice cream…it’s about having the time to get caught up on her life.

Tomorrow is never promised. Make the time today.

The best frugal Christmas gifts are often those that are the least complicated.

Put your talents to good use, help someone get something that they think is financially unattainable, or simply bless them with your time.

The Christmas season can be stressful, but it can also be beautiful.

Happy gifting, happy saving, and Happy Holidays everyone!