The holiday season is a time of joy, warmth, and cherished memories with loved ones. However, amidst the flurry of festive activities, the pressure to find the perfect gift can sometimes overshadow the true spirit of giving. This year, let’s shift the focus back to what really matters: showing our appreciation for the special people in our lives without the stress of overspending.
Thoughtful holiday gifts don’t have to come with a hefty price tag. In fact, with a little creativity and planning, you can give presents that are both meaningful and budget-friendly.
Whether you’re crafting a handmade token or discovering a unique find, join us on this journey to uncover a treasure trove of gift ideas that will warm hearts and keep your wallet happy. Let’s make this holiday season one to remember, filled with genuine gestures of love and gratitude.
Holiday shopping can make you feel as if the “reason for the season” is emptying your wallet, but it doesn’t have to be that way. There are plenty of ways to save money on holiday gifts, entertainment and dining out through the holidays.
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What is a good holiday gift budget when trying to save money?
A good holiday gift budget when trying to save money can vary depending on your personal financial situation, the number of people you’re buying for, and your overall holiday spending goals. However, a general guideline is to allocate about $10 to $30 per person.
This range allows for thoughtful and meaningful gifts without overspending. It’s also helpful to set a total holiday budget that includes all expenses, such as decorations, food, and travel, to ensure you stay within your means. Prioritizing handmade or personalized gifts can also add value without increasing costs.
Inexpensive holiday gifts that don’t feel cheap
Here are some of my best cheap holiday shopping tips and giving tips to help you save money this holiday season while letting your friends and family know you care. You can get cheap holiday gifts, without actually feeling or appearing cheap!
Shop online strategically
If you shop online, you can avoid the crowds and often get better deals. Here are my tips for affordable holiday gifts.
Amazon: Before I purchase anything, I check to see if Amazon sells it for a lower price (it often does). You can also sign up for a free one-month trial of Amazon Prime to get FREE two-day shipping regardless of order price. This is one of my favorite cheap gift sites for finding gifts on a budget.
As a bonus, Amazon Prime gives you free streaming of TV shows and movies, as well as unlimited access to books and magazines. With Amazon, you can create shopping lists and wishlists throughout the year as you’re browsing, which makes it easy to keep track of items you may want to give or to get.
- GIFT BASKETS FOR WOMEN: Each gift basket is carefully selected and beautifully packaged, including 4 x 30ml Scented Hand Cream + 4 x 90g Scented Candles, this heartfelt and thoughtful christmas gifts happy birthday present will surely make her feel loved and happy!
- RELAXING SPA SCENTED CANDLES: The candles gift set contains 4 jars of scented candles in different flavours, lavender, rose, jasmine and Lemon. The candles are made of high quality natural soya wax and 8% natural oils, which contains essential oils to help you relax and relieve stress, bringing you a pleasant and peaceful experience and creating a good family atmosphere.
- NATURAL HAND LOTION GIFT SET: Mini hand cream travel size with natural ingredients, plant essential oils, enriched Shea Butter, Honey, Lavender, Rose, and VE，Deeply moisturizing and moisturizing for Your hands, mourns your hands silky-soft, smooth and rejuvenated. Non-greasy formula absorbs quickly, long-lasting makes feel comfortable all day. Works well for all skin type. It is a best gifts for women friendship.
- 20 Pack Plant Fragrance Body Lotion: 10 Pleasant Fragrances: Shea Butter, Honey, Lavender, Rose,Blueberry, Green Tea,Chamomile,Aloe,Coconut,Milk. Pick and choose your favorite scent based on your mood at the moment from our 10 natural fragrances
- Mini Small Travel Size Lotion Sets: These are perfect when traveling because they do not take too much space and what is best is that you have 10 fragances to choose from. The size of the container is the best to take everywhere. The tubes are portable, making them easy to fit in your purse or bag. Also, these are the perfect size to gift to your friends and/or family
- Luxurious Natural Ingredients: Featuring fresh-cut fragrances of botanicals , shea butter, sweet almond oil, aloe. This rich, deeply hydrating and moisturizing body cream leaves hands soften, smooth and rejuvenated
Cash back sites: Tada and Rakuten. These sites gives you cash back for online shopping: 1% to 30%, plus additional coupon codes may be available. Before you purchase something online, log into one of these accounts and shop through its link to that online store. Not all stores are covered by each, so sometimes it helps to check each one for the best percentage.
I’ve earned more than $520 in the past several years using cash-back shopping. If you forget to log in through one of these accounts before you fill your shopping bag, you can usually close of out the site and log in with a cash-back site and when you return to your cart of the shopping website, your items should still be available and you’ll get the cash back.
Etsy.com. Handmade and unique gifts are my favorites to give and get, and this is my favorite place to find inexpensive gifts online. Etsy.com has millions of great gifts that can be narrowed down by categories, prices and more. Shipping costs are usually reasonable.
Craft fairs and unique local stores
If you’d rather shop in person, you can still save money. The first tip is to avoid the mall — unless you are going there for something specific that is advertised at a great price. Otherwise, you’ll end up paying too much and giving gifts with little creativity. Here are some better places to buy gifts:
Craft fairs, art shows and community markets are fantastic places to get unique and inexpensive gifts. Check out your local On the Cheap site for information about local holiday bazaars and craft fairs.
Buy local and unique. Columbus has some fantastic independent local shops that have both useful and unique gifts, as do many other cities. If I can’t find what I’m looking for online, I like to browse these shops for inspiration. Plus, when you buy local, more of the money that you spend stays in your community.
Chain discount stores offer a good selection and lower prices – but they aren’t quite as original. I prefer Marshall’s, TJ Maxx and Urban Outfitters for inexpensive gifts. If you must go to the standard big box stores, make sure you sign up for email updates and/or like them on Facebook so you’ll know about special “deals of the day” and sales.
Make your own gifts
Be creative — homemade food and handmade items can be some of the most useful and unique gifts. There are tons of online tutorials for handmade and homemade gifts online. These 15 quick and easy handmade Christmas gift ideas are a great place to start!
Examples I’ve given or received include homemade candy, mason jar baking/cookie mixes, homemade soups, jellies, homemade vanilla extract, spicy peanut butter (just blend in spices), wine and jewelry.
One year, I made a bunch of recycled magazine bowls out of torn out magazine pages and added some wrapped goodies to the bowls.
Photo gifts are very popular and inexpensive as well, and perfect for friends and family. Some photo gifts can be picked up in your local drugstore the next day, so these are great for meaningful, last-minute gifts.
- 【MULTIPLE FRAMES & STURDY MATERIAL】: Bulk of 10 pieces 5x7 picture frame set in the same sizes. These frames come with high definition acrylic to protect your picture from dust.
- 【SIZE】: These 5 x 7 picture frame are designed to fit 4x6 photo with mat or 5x7 photo without mat. Mat opening designed slightly smaller than photo itself in order to hold it strongly. It’s not a defect. The display size will be 0.5inch smaller than the photo size to better stable the photo and prevent it from falling off.
- 【EASY MOUNTING & PRATICAL】: Spring type action to remove, easy to put picture into that it will no more be a dreaded chore to change them out as the children and grandchildren grow. Perfect decoration and great gift for festival.
- Versatile Sizes for Display: Vittanly 15-Pack Multi-Size Picture Frame Set includes 3x 8x10", 6x 5x7", and 6x 4x6" frames. Perfect for showcasing family photos, artwork in living rooms, bedrooms, and offices
- Sturdy & Ready-to-Use Construction： Crafted from scratch-resistant MDF wood with shatter-proof plexiglass. It not only provides a great view of your photos but also protects them from dust and scratches
- Gallery Wall – Mix & Match Designs: Effortlessly create curated displays with 3 complementary sizes. Arrange verticallyorhorizontally for dynamic layouts, or separate frames to decorate shelves, desks, and entryways
Another thought is to give your “favorite things” or favorite treats. I do a “fun food” gift bag for a Yankee swap gift exchange every year at work that contains local and fun foods and it is always the most “swapped” gift of all.
You could do all sorts of themes for this — for a foodie or someone learning to cook (favorite kitchen tools, spices, etc), friend bag (favorite lip gloss, lip balm, nail polish, files, bath products), etc. Creativity is often what makes a gift great, not money spent.
- One pack of three 0.15-ounce ChapStick Moisturizer Original Lip Balm Tubes, SPF 15 and Skin Protectant
- ChapStick Original Moisturizer keeps your lips hydrated and protected from sun's rays for up to eight hours
- Unflavored Original ChapStick Moisturizer is familiar and comforting
- One pack of 3 Chapstick tubes
- Keeps lips hydrated
- Portable and easy to apply when you need it most
What are your tips for thoughtful holiday gifts on a budget?
If you liked this article, you may also enjoy:
15 quick and easy handmade gift ideas
Easy recipes for homemade food gifts
I have found over the years that one gift someone really wants or can use is better than ten useless items. One year I gave everyone in my family a battery charger with rechargeable batteries, and it’s still the one everyone talks about.
On the other hand, finding small but fun gifts at big discounts throughout the year is one way to fill up the space under the tree. :) Examples are freebies you get when purchasing from the department store makeup counter, or an inexpensive electric toothbrush you bought with a coupon when it was on sale, a themed gift basket with free samples, simple card games or puzzles, free photobooks or a free photo enlargement in a nice frame.
A few times I’ve even given an actual daily deal voucher as a gift, but not every family member understands its value. :) Most of the time I use the vouchers to buy the gifts.
Rewards programs, hands down. I trade all of mine in for Amazon GCs since, as you said, most items are sold there.
Also, social buying sites. My mom just moved to Alaska, so her birthday present was a $20 certificate to The Body Shop, to help with the dry/chapped skin from the cold. She was thrilled and I paid $10 (and got 7% cash back because I love cash-back sites).
By the way, don’t forget about Mr. Rebates, Extrabux and BeFrugal.com. Those three tend to the have the highest rates. But, of course, always check to be sure.
I like the idea of Pinterest for homemade goodies. I don’t give those anymore because I don’t have the time/energy/organization. But I *love* getting things that someone made. More time and thought are usually put into them.