{"id":236801,"date":"2018-11-27T08:49:30","date_gmt":"2018-11-27T16:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/getrichslowly.org\/?p=236801"},"modified":"2023-12-05T14:20:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T21:20:13","slug":"christmas-on-a-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.getrichslowly.org\/christmas-on-a-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas on a budget: How to save money on Christmas gifts (and still have fun)"},"content":{"rendered":"

HO<\/span> HO<\/span> HO<\/span>!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Just like that, the holiday season is upon us!<\/p>\n

This year, I intend to do most of my Christmas shopping during a three-week tour of Europe<\/a> with my cousins. We’re deliberately visiting as many Christmas markets as possible, so I hope to find a variety of interesting and unusual gifts for my family and friends. (They need to be small, though. I don’t have much space to carry things home.)<\/p>\n

While I’m buying new (and possibly expensive) gifts this year, that’s not normally my style. I’m a fan of keeping Christmas frugal.<\/p>\n

Being a frugal shopper doesn’t mean you can’t give thoughtful gifts though. In fact, my experience has shown that it’s often more fun and rewarding to impose limits on gift-giving. These limits breed creativity and inspiration. “Christmas on a budget” doesn’t have to mean “Christmas without fun”.<\/p>\n

This article contains some smart ways to save money on Christmas gifts while celebrating the season. (These tips are great for Christmas, for Hanukkah, for Kwanzaa, for Festivus, or for whatever feast you celebrate this time of year.)<\/p>\n

It’s an amazing frugal Christmas savings spectacular!<\/p>\n

\"Frugal<\/p>\n

<\/span>What Kids Really Want for Christmas<\/span><\/h2>\n

I have this idea in my head that kids become mercenaries at Christmas, demanding the newest, most popular toys. I’m not sure how I’ve arrived at this notion because that’s certainly not how my brothers and I were when we were younger. Sure, we wanted cool stuff, but we never made demands.<\/p>\n

In fact, Dad used to tell the story of how ashamed he was one Christmas when he and Mom were going through a particularly rough patch. They were always poor and struggling with money<\/a>, but this year was especially bad. They couldn’t afford Christmas presents for us three boys. Rather than cry about it, we went through the toys we already had, wrapped them up, and gave them to each other.<\/p>\n

I have only a dim memory of this myself, but Dad used to talk about it often.<\/p>\n

This bit of personal family history reminds me of Unplug the Christmas Machine<\/em><\/a> by Jo Robinson and Jean Coppock Staeheli. This book urges readers to escape the commercialism of the holiday season, to make it a “joyful, stress-free” time for the family. In a chapter entitled “The Four Things Children Really Want for Christmas”, the authors write:<\/p>\n

One concern voiced by most parents is that of shielding their children from the excesses of holiday commercialism. While adults can mute the TV when the ads get annoying, children are defenseless against the onslaught of ads. As early as the age of four or five, they can lose the ability to be delighted by the sights and sounds of Christmas, only to gain a two-month-long obsession with brand-name toys. Suddenly, all they seem to care about is how many presents they will be getting and how many days are left until they unwrap them.<\/p>\n

Many parents find it a challenge to create a simple value-centered Christmas in the midst of all the commercial pressure. But the task is made much easier when parents keep in mind the four things that children really want for Christmas.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Robinson and Staeheli argue that children don’t really want clothes and toys and games. The four things they actually want are:<\/p>\n