For our Christmas gift budget, I work really hard to spend no more than $10/person without it seeming cheap and not thoughtful. Sometimes I buy a more expensive item that is on clearance for the budgeted price. We do splurge a little on each other but we don’t tend to buy each other birthday gifts, we don’t do anniversary gifts, and we don’t do anything for Valentine’s Day. Christmas is the one time of year we buy gifts for each other so we are allowed to splurge a little.
Often we make our Christmas gifts for the rest of the family. Typically it is food gifts so the week before Christmas is crazy with baking gifts and desserts and getting ready as we also host Christmas.
This year I want to do something nicer than food gifts or random things I threw together. I also want to make that week before Christmas a little less hectic. So I am spending a lot of time on Pinterest looking for ideas. I have a number of ideas but I can’t share them with you. Family reads this blog so I don’t want them to figure anything out ahead of time. 🙂
We also save money on Christmas gifts by using the Amazon gift cards I earn through Swagbucks and ExpoTV. We’re getting Abby a nice play kitchen for Christmas. I’m hoping to pay for at least half of it if not all of it with gift cards.
Last year we managed to spend only $24 on the gifts for others. I had budgeted $75. I’m hoping to do just as well. I’m not entirely sure what my Christmas gift budget will be this year but should be about the same. With gifts for Abby and each other, it bumps the budget up to about $300. Hopefully, we won’t even get close to that but sometimes Matt will squirrel away money from little side jobs and get me something big.
What about you all? How do you keep Christmas frugal without it feeling cheap?
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