MoneyMagpie Editor and financial expert Vicky Parry shares tips on how to give meaningful gifts this Christmas without spending anything out of your budget
Even though we’re only just into October, planning now means you could give great Christmas gifts this year without spending anything extra from your usual monthly budget.
With some forward planning, you can either make your own gifts or raise extra cash in time for Christmas so you won’t be eating into your grocery allowance.
Claim your cashback
If you use a cashback website like TopCashback or Quidco, now is the time to convert your earnings into real cash.
It’s so easy to leave a balance growing over time in your cashback account, but the money in your account won’t earn interest while it’s there. While many offer small bonuses for paying out in a retailer gift card, consider claiming the cold, hard cash this time – it’ll mean you can be more flexible with how you spend it on your Christmas gifts.
Remember, too, to claim supermarket loyalty vouchers and points to get extra cash to spend in-store. Pick up some stocking fillers, foodie gifts, or a nice bottle of bubbly without spending anything from your usual grocery shop thanks to loyalty prices and vouchers.
Switch bank account now
Switching your current account could nab you around £200, but to get it before Christmas it’s time to act now.
Lloyds Bank offers a £200 switching bonus, while Nationwide, Natwest, and First Direct have £175 on offer (plus extras like Disney subscriptions or a £25 Amazon gift card).
Shop around to find the best deal and make sure you’re eligible. You often can’t get the bonus if you have been a recent customer of a bank in the same group or have claimed an offer from the same bank in recent years. Check the fine print and always use the Current Account Switching Service to ensure your account switch is smooth.
Clear your clutter to raise cash
If you’ve got clothes with the tags still on that you’ve never got around to returning, or gifts still in the box from last year that you can’t regift back to the person who gave it to you, get yourself on eBay.
It’s now free for sellers to list items on eBay, and you only pay a small fee if you want to promote your listing (or you’re selling a vehicle). This takes a lot of risk out of listing your stuff, and it’s a great time of year to sell your stuff as people start looking for gifts.
If eBay isn’t your thing, or your items aren’t brand new, use Facebook Marketplace or Vinted to sell your good quality second-hand items to raise some extra cash for your Christmas budget.
Get crafty
The second way to give Christmas gifts without spending anything is to use your crafting skills to make something meaningful from things you already own.
Raid your wardrobe for clothes that still have the label on, or items you’ve just never quite connected with, and turn them into an embroidered or patched upcycled fashion piece. Or use leftover paint from when you decorated the house to upcycle small items of furniture like bedside cabinets and coffee tables.
If you’ve got a cupboard of forgotten hobbies like knitting, crochet, polymer clay or anything similar, use up your existing materials with DIY gifts.
If you’ve claimed some money from your cashback or received a bank switching bonus, why not design your own Christmas gifts with photographs or meaningful message?
Printing sites like Vistaprint have so many Christmas gift options, you could design a wall calendar with a different photo of you and your loved one each month of the year. Or, create a blanket or cushion with your face on so they never forget you while you’re apart. You can put your design on almost anything you can think of, and the end result is a unique gift they’ll treasure.
Find freebies for a day out
Honest conversations with your loved ones are important around Christmas, especially when everyone is facing a tightened purse in the cost of living crisis. But you could also make a game of it that also means you can give the gift of time spent with your loved one into the New Year.
Challenge each other to find the best freebies for free drink, food, and activities and plan a day to spend together and claim everything you’ve found. With some savvy planning, you could get three meals, coffee, cinema tickets, and even a cocktail if you start signing up to loyalty apps and searching for freebie codes now.
Create stockings with samples
While you’re hunting for freebie vouchers, make the most of it by claiming everything you can get your hands on, too.
Set up a unique email address for this, as you can get a lot of emails once you start signing up to things. Search websites like MoneyMagpie, LatestFreeStuff, and MagicFreebies for free samples of everything from baby products to makeup and more.
And when you’re buying your usual items through the month, look for other freebies that come with them, too. For example, lots of beauty sites will offer a free sample to try products before you open the large one. Or you could go old school and visit some department stores to get free samples of makeup, beauty, and perfumes.
Bulk buy and split
Using the cash you’ve raised from selling your clutter, claiming cashback, or switching banks, buy items that you can split into smaller gifts and create hampers for your friends and family.
Split multipacks of items across several hampers to make cost-effective gifts. You can also pick up some items from budget shops like Poundland and B&M, such as mugs to go in a hot chocolate hamper. Gift boxes like this are fun to theme, too: foodie gifts, beauty boxes, movie night in hampers, they are easy to tailor to a theme or your recipient’s favourite things with a few inexpensive touches.
And don’t worry about finding hampers to use, either. Keep boxes from deliveries between now and Christmas and cover them in wrapping paper. Or, keep the cost down and use brown paper that you draw on – or get the kids to decorate.
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