The need to save money at Christmas
This is a version of the article Creative ways to save money on cards, wrapping and gifts this Christmas that appeared on The Guardian website 04 December 2023.
With yet another Christmas during the current cost of living crisis and UK recession fears growing as shoppers cut spending ‘to save for Christmas’, 64% of all UK adults will be cutting back their spending versus last year. That’s according to the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Christmas amidst the Crunch 2 report, published in July 2023.
Many of us are looking for new ways to be thrifty in all areas. By being resourceful and creative, it is possible to save a lot of money on cards, wrapping and presents.
Involve your children!
Use children’s artwork for wrapping paper and making your own cards. Good old- fashioned potato prints are great for cards and decorating presents! Get your offspring cutting out cards and pictures and hole punching them for gift tags.
Ask your children for ideas. They can be the most creative, with fresh ideas, and if it’s their idea they will be more likely to want to be part of the creating!
Make your own cards and gift tags
Take an old Christmas card and cut out the picture, then make a frame from another one and stick onto thick paper or card to fold. Use a glitter pen to write personalised messages to complete the piece.
Make bookmarks by creatively cutting and shaping last year’s cards.
After Christmas, save the cards you have been sent for next year’s creations.
Reuse, recycle and make it as part of the gift!
Reuse wrapping paper, boxes and bags. This often gets bandied about as a tip that seems so obvious! However, it doesn’t matter how small the pieces are because you can stick them altogether for presents for children, who won’t notice! Or use them to make cards and gift tags. Cut up old cards to make new gift labels for bags or to embellish boxes.
Reuse gift bags and boxes for children. For young children, half the pleasure is opening the present and their attention span is short. So, delight them with lots of little things wrapped up in a box, or make it into a game as part of the present and wrap up a box lots of times using recycled paper, in pass-the-parcel style.
Old brown paper bags, maps, fabric can all make unusual, rustic and unique wrapping.
Sustainable gift wrap brand Curlicue has a wrapping tips page with tips, tricks and videos on how to make the most of wrapping paper and reduce waste, It has even more craft-focused ideas, such as how to make your own bows using offcuts.
A scarf can make great wrapping for another present, especially with ribbons and a bow. A bandana, hat or jumper could be used as fun way to gift wrap. Use natural items from outdoors, like pine cones and holly, to decorate. Decorate pots, containers and jars to put presents in as part of a gift.
Check out free resources on the web
The website Jolly Festive has masses of tips and tricks on how to save money on cards and wrapping.
A quick Internet search on “Home-made Christmas food gifts”, for example, will bring up lots of sites with a whole range of ideas.
Doing the same on Pinterest and Instagram will give you inspiration for ideas and there will always be links to find out more!
Email cards
Take a Christmas photo and email it to friends and family.
@thecomplainingcow Save money on Christmas cards #moneysavingtips #moneysaving #christmasmoney #christmascards #savingmoney
123 cards provides a free one-week trial for sending ecards, many of which are animated. You can also send free cards and choose to make a donation at Friends of the Earth. Or choose a charity to support by picking one and sending an ecard through Don’t send me a card. You can design your own ecard using Canva which has a variety of free images and also a free trial for premium pictures.
Consider videoing your own message and sending as a card:
What are you going to do if you're on Santa's naughty list?
Read a Christmas story as a card:
Father Christmas Comes up Trumps
Dress up in Christmas clothing and personalise a message to recipients. Or video yourself telling a Christmas story to young children. You can personalise this as you narrate the story, adding in or changing names of the child recipient. Upload to a platform like YouTube and set it to private. Send the child that link.
Father Christmas Needs a Wee
You could, of course, also write your own story which would be even better!
Judi and the pixie
Use sites that provide discounts for supermarkets and newsagents
If you do buy new, use sites such as Mad About Money which provides discounted vouchers to save when you order and Jam Doughnut offers pre-payment gift cards which you can use to earn reward points. These points build up and once you have received £10 worth, you can take out the cash. You can usually get about 5% discount. Download Honey which will track your purchases. Every time you go on a website and put items in your basket, it will search for available discount codes.
Save on postage
Remember to hand deliver cards where you can, even if that means some people get them later than those you posted! Make a list of who doesn’t need cards by post.
If you find a gift and see that you have to pay postage for delivery, check if you can top up the order with presents for other people, especially if there is a free postage option.
Save on postal costs by paying only once for delivery. Some companies will gift warp and provide a card for free, so you can send direct to your recipient. Small businesses specialising in hand-made items are particularly good for this. For example, The British Craft House lists all the businesses on its site that offer this service.
Letters up to 100g cost 75p each. First class is 50p more at £1.25, so it’s a considerable saving if you can make the last posting date for second class on 18 December. The last date for first class is 20 December.
For posting abroad see Royal Mail’s website for the dates for various countries. Keep the price down by making sure you qualify for the cheapest postage, especially if you are making your cards. Again, check Royal Mail’s website for details.
If you are buying items from Amazon and your basket totals less than £20, you may to have to pay for delivery. Check out this tool which will show items costing up to a few pounds. This means you can top up your basket to benefit from free delivery. For example, buying a bag of sweets for a pound might save you £5 on delivery!
Compare parcel delivery companies’ prices
Post Office customers can now send packages using DPD and Evri, as well as via Royal Mail. You can save money by purchasing postage from Royal Mail online. For example, a small parcel, maximum size 45 x 35 x 16cm and weighing less than 100g costs £3.29 online via Royal Mail. However, at the Post Office you would have to pay £3.49.
Use sites such as Parcel Monkey and Parcel2Go to compare prices from a variety of couriers, as this may well be cheaper than using the Post Office. Collection from home services are also available, which may save you time and money.
When wrapping your Christmas parcel, do take into account that the size and weight will have a big impact on the cost, so keep it compact.
Hand make presents
Hand made presents show you care and are thinking and making an effort, as well as potentially saving you money.
See How to save money and give thoughtful gifts this Christmas.
@thecomplainingcow How to save money when buying Christmas presents #MoneySavingTipsAndTricks #MoneySaving #ChristmasPresents #ChristmasSavings #ChristmasBook
Saving money and your rights at Christmas various posts with masses of ideas
