By monicabrand | Leave A Comment
Seriously. We find out next week if my husband – sole bread winner in our house – gets the ax. This list is reality for my family and maybe yours. Here are my ideas to help make Christmas fun, joyful and festive without breaking the bank.
1. As a family, help a charity. My kids are finally getting to that stage where they can help out with these kinds of things. Our church donates food baskets to needy families for Christmas. I plan to have my children help pack the baskets with goodies.
2. Take a walk. Bundle up baby and stroll through a lovely winter nature scene. Maybe there will be snow when you go. Snow is free, by the way.
3. Cuddle up in front of a glowing fire, read from Luke 2 or a child’s picture book together. Libraries can’t be beat.
4. Give a gift of TIME. As a stay-at-home mom and home educator, my time is a precious gift. I can turn off the computer and TV, lay aside the book, giving my loved ones and friends all of me. Not just a busy, distracted me.
5. Decorate the house together. Usually, I do this myself, but this year I plan to have this be a family activity. I’ll make hot chocolate, play Christmas music, let everyone have a say on how the tree looks and where to place the crèche. My 10-year-old daughter is eager to get started.
6. Make a new tradition. It just occurred to me while writing this post that we haven’t added any new traditions to our Christmas holiday in years. My kids love discussing who’s turn it is to place the star on top of the Christmas tree. They remember fondly when we go pick out the tree. I think this Christmas, we’ll add a new tradition to look forward to next year.
7. Make gifts instead of buying. Yes, there is a reason this is the last idea on my list. I like giving gifts, love getting gifts even more (I’m a big kid at heart), but I HATE that guilty feeling of having to give a gift because it’s expected. If you can’t get it all done, especially in this economy when money is tight, and you are one stressed-out parent, give yourself a gift: forget the list. What to do instead? See No. 1 and work your way down.
8. Your idea. What did I miss? Come on, parents, I need your help.
How would you make a memorable Christmas when there is no money to spare?
Monica Brand lives in New Jersey with her family. Follow her thoughts on faith, books and life at Paper Bridges.
Photo credit: Southernpixel
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We got a layoff last year for Christmas so I know where you’re coming from. We love to make and decorate Christmas cookies. We also spend time decorating the house as a family and we love to make hot chocolate and catch Christmas movies and specials on tv (it seems like there is one on tv just about everynight so you can be choosy, LOL). It’s hard when your short on money but if you make the holiday season more about family and spending time together, it really makes it special : )
One of the my kids favorite things is when we have ‘game night’. You can do that with things you have already. I usually make ‘party’ foods, which means I make everything small. Mini muffins, triple-decker sandwiches cut into small squares and speared with a toothpick, just stuff like that. Basically I take things we eat pretty much all the time and make them mini and put them on a tray and call it party food.
I did make a family fun night gift basket (well, it wasn’t actually in a basket, but you get the idea) for under $5. I bought a new jigsaw puzzle and deck of cards at the Dollar Tree and some sale candy I got at Walgreens. I included a couple packs of microwave popcorn I had already. I then printed off a bunch of card games – you may be surprised how many fun card games there are that are fun and right for kids. I did include some plastic spoons and instructions for the game ‘Spoons’. I hope the recipient had fun with it – I had fun putting it togther. I actually used contact paper and laminated the instructions and hole-punched them and put them on a ring, so they would stay together and last longer.
There are also a ton of printable games and crafts on the web. One of the favorite things I printed last year was this nativity scene. http://www.scrapbookscrapbook.com/free-printable-christmas-nativity.html
I like to sew and craft with my kids. You can do a lot with very little or no money as long as you are careful and creative. I’m not very creative, but I’m good with Google.
I hope you don’t experience the layoff. I was supposed to be layed off earlier this year, but ended up keeping my job.
God’s blessings to you and your family this Christmas!
we have no money right now because my husband is in school. we make sure to catch all the christmas specials on tv–we make it a big deal with popcorn and the whole family. we don’t watch much tv otherwise so watching the specials is even more “special” for the kids.
Depending on the age of your children, visit an Assisted Living facility during the holidays. Have the kids make cards for the residents or read The Night Before Christmas, the Bible Story or another Christmas book or poem. Sing Christmas Carols with the residents there.
Some of those folks have no one and it really feels ‘Christmasy’ to give of yourself to others. Can’t get much merrier than that.
My husband has been laid off since March. In 2000 he was laid off twice, the second time over the holidays. In 2001 he had JUST found work (McDonalds) after nearly a year of sporatic at best odd jobs. The last 9 years (half our married life) has been very hard and tight budgets – after 9 years of hard and tight budgets. That’s 18 Christmas’ on a shoe string budget.
What has become the highlight of our Christmas is doing up Christmas cards and seeing how many we get in the mail. It is the only time of the year that we splurge like that – 100 stamps all at the same time! Our tree is a after Christmas sale from a discount store – but once you get all the ornaments on it (most home made or gifts over the years) – it’s really rather pretty. And since most of the ornaments are homemade, there are nice memories attatched.
Wow, you asked the right girl
We’ve just managed to sell our previous house, so this is our first month for most of this year we don’t have a double mortgage on a single-income budget. Wow.
I’ve made all our gifts this year, and we’ve enjoyed free outings, like the lights at the local botanical gardens and church events and caroling in our neighborhood. We’ve cut our gift list down, too- everyone is much happier receiving one or two well-thought-out gifts. Our tree is from Ikea- they have $20 trees every year, and when you take it back for recycling you get a $10 gift certificate. That’s easy on the budget! We read a different part of the Christmas story from the scriptures each night with the kids- our 3 year old loves to tell us the story back.
Really, I like the smaller Christmases best. Good luck!!
My husband’s layoffs were always timed more with my pregnancies (about month 8, actually) – and so I know the stress that’s involved. I have no advice – just wanted to say I hope that everything works out for you and your family!!
Hi there!
WE are in the same boat right now, and my honey had a great idea! He started a “Blessing” list… anything that God has done, we are writing it down and keeping it in front of us
Merry Christmas!
Amy
We have only one person working in our home now that my husband is out of work and unable to find a new one yet given the economy. We are trying to focus on the things we CAN do like make cookies, decorate the tree, watch Christmas movies & doing some Christmas crafts. We are fortunate to live in a place that has a lot of local activities for families that are free or very inexpensive which has helped. This will be a tough year but we’ll get through it together & stay focused on what really matters to us – each other!
We have so been through this… two days before Christmas and nothing bought for the kids… I dashed out and got really cheap plain white t-shirts for all of them, and they spent the day decorating them and had a great fun project and a memory. Otherwise we do lots of free outings – on open days at museums and look for concerts and performances in the mall, that cost nothing!
Otherwise we made a list of exactly who we would like to give gifts too. Then we roamed our house and found heaps of giftable things that we could gift up. A book on herbs for a gardener, some unopened body cream for a granny and so on… Have a look you will be amazed the amount of things in your home that are giftable. Things that you really are not using.
Remembering that the people we love wouldn’t want us to go into debt for them.
We’re super-tight on money too. We’ve been enjoying free community events like a Christmas Street fair and plan to attend church Christmas programs. There are quite a few things to be a part of that don’t cost any money at all, you just have to look
What great ideas! Thanks everyone, keep them comin’.
As of today (Monday), we’re okay job-wise.
Monica