How to Save Money on Christmas Shopping

Christmas is an expensive time: the average family spends around £700 ($930) on Christmas every year, making the holiday one of the year’s greatest expenses. However, the price of Christmas is only so high because many people do not bother squeezing every penny they spend for what it is truly worth. To get better value for your money, follow these simple tips.

Save the big gifts for important people

For many, Christmas has expanded to cover not only their family and loved ones, but also their friends, colleagues, and other, less significant acquaintances. This leads not only to people receiving a barrage of unwanted, low-quality gifts from those they barely know, but also to them being burdened with the obligation to return a gift of equal value. Social psychology research shows that we have an in-built Golden Rule - we wish to reciprocate what is done to us, which can be a scary and onerous job if everyone you know, no matter how slightly, showers you in expensive presents. Agreeing to exchange smaller gifts with people you know less can help both you and your acquaintances save money, by reducing the expense of the social obligation to exchange presents on both sides.

However, if most of the presents you give out are those to your family, and your family is large, you may choose to save money by agreeing only to give to children: adults, if they save long enough, can buy what they wish, but your jobless children are unable to do so. For this reason, your children are going to be in far more need for the occasional item than any adult in your life, and are going to appreciate it not only for the gesture, but also for the item itself.

Use your senses, not your wallet

When it comes to gifts, a cheap-looking gift that is very expensive has less appeal than an expensive-looking gift that is cheap. Many people appreciate the experience of owning an item much more than the price tag behind it, so, when gift-shopping, make sure that you look around for a cheaper alternative to an otherwise expensive item before committing to any purchases.

However, gifts should not be the only thing that you should apply this principle to: when it comes to food, you should strive to compare how a sample of an expensive version of a food tastes in comparison with a sample of a cheaper version before committing to buy copious amounts of said food for your Christmas dinner. This, hopefully, will help you avoid overpaying for minor (or sometimes undetectable) differences in food quality.

In any case, remember that even with inferior quality food, the defining difference between a good meal and a bad meal is preparation: most people will not mind a lower quality goose or turkey, so long as it is cooked in a way that appeals to the palate and is complemented well by the rest of the dinner table.

Skimp on the gift wrap

Ask yourself: what is the point in spending a boatload of money on something that is going to be shredded and binned? Do not hesitate to use cheap wrapping paper, no matter how flimsy or cheap it may look. After all, people mostly appreciate what is inside gift wrap, and often are not even able to remember what wrap the last gift they received came in. Plus, people are bound to appreciate you reinvesting the money you saved in the food and presents.

Make Christmas potluck

One of the biggest Christmas expenses by far is the catering: food and drink, besides gifts, are the greatest expense of Christmas. By outsourcing this cost to others in getting them to bring a meal to put on the table, you are not only easing your financial burden, but you are also saving yourself from the many stresses of cooking, like having to cater to specific dietary requirements, or having to guess how much everyone will eat: people with special needs and wants will cater for themselves, and if everyone contributes their fair share, there should naturally be enough food for everyone. Additionally, if you make Christmas a bring-your-own-bottle event, you can also save on costly Christmastide booze expenses, all the while avoiding the inconvenience of excess alcohol laying around.

Consider alternatives to gifts

Christmas does not have to strictly be about gifts: rewarding your guests with a collective night out at the cinema, a fancy restaurant dinner, or a day at an amusement park can pay off in not only costing less than having to buy everyone an individual, expensive gift, but also in providing fond memories of the occasion for years to come.