Are you looking for ways to make Christmas magical this year but on a bit of a budget? I don’t blame you, with the cost of living constantly rising most people are finding it harder to spend like they usually would at this time of year. However, here are a few ideas that are either free or cheap that can be used to help you and your family have a magical Christmas, even on a budget.
Write letters to Santa
Get the whole family together and write your lists to Santa, adults included! You don’t need fancy paper or special stickers just use what you have in the house and then let the kid decorate their letters and envelopes if they want too. Plus if you send them to
Santa/Father Christmas
Santa’s Grotto
Reindeerland
XM4 5HQ
and include your address you might just get a magical reply too!
Christmas Movie Night
Grab the blankets, make some hot chocolate, dish out the popcorn and all snuggle up on the sofa to watch a Christmas movie or 6!
Christmas bedding
Christmas bedding isn’t free but it can be really affordable and you can get your monies worth especially if you use it from the 1st December for the whole month making every bed time magical for your little ones. Terry’s have lots of fabulous designs available with prices as low as £10 for a single set, they even have glow in the dark ones to for an extra magical surprise.
Decorate the tree together
Turn every Christmas activity in to a big magical event like decorating the tree. Plan a time when you will all be home, including the teenagers, blast out some Christmas tunes, maybe even pour yourself a mulled wine if you have any and then decorate the tree together and reminisce of years gone by as you look at all the hand made decorations they have made.
Gingerbread house building/decorating competition
You can pick up a gingerbread house decorating kit for as low as £5 in home bargains or £8 online now so why not invite some family or friends round and have a decorating session. If you’re brave enough you could even turn it in to a competition and see which team can create the most magical gingerbread house of all!
If you love to bake and already have a cupboard full of ingredients then you could always try and make the gingerbread house from scratch too.
Church
Whether you are an avid church goer or not, Christmas is a time when all are welcome so check out your local church for festive activities and services and enjoy singing carols and meeting new people. The atmosphere in church around Christmas time is always so lovely, especially if you can attend the nativity or midnight mass.
Neighborhood Walks
Another free event that can make your Christmas magical is wrapping up warm and taking a stroll around your area looking for decorated houses. Not any in your area then head to the next town or village along and see what theirs are like.
Craft Night
Gather friends or family for a night of making ornaments or Christmas decorations. You can pick up lots of craft sets for cheap these days but lets be honest whats better that using old boxes, sticky back plastic and gg cartons. Re live your blue peter days and show the kids how it’s really done. Not creative? A quick google search will bring up lots of ideas that can inspire you.
Book Advent
A book advent is one of our favourite family traditions. Every year I wrap up 24 Christmas themed books and they then open up a new book everyday during December and we read it together before bed. This absolutely does not need to be expensive, I use the same books every year and occasional buy 1 or 2 new ones from charity shops. As we don’t tend to read Christmas books during the year they always seem new and exciting, even if we did read them the previous year. If you don’t already have books then just do 1 a week