Awesome Christmas Gifts: 5 Creative Ways To Saving For The Big Fam

If you have many people to purchase presents for, you are probably now used to watching your holiday budget spin out of control every year. The cost of purchasing a long list of family Christmas gifts adds up fast with the average American expected to spend 9 on holiday-related items. If you have a large extended family or a big clique of gift-exchanging friends, you might have found that your holiday expenses greatly surpass the not-so-grand figure.

In addition, many people are embracing the gift giving spirit and tend to be generous to a fault, with nearly 88.1 percent of people admitting that they will spend more than they can actually afford in the holiday season. To help spare you from some of the pain when the credit card bill arrives in January, here are a few smart cost-cutting strategies you can use for the best gift giving experience.

Shop Off-Season

Among the diverse ways of saving on Christmas gifts, one of them is shopping off-season. This means always keeping a list of upcoming holidays and gifts you intend to purchase, and taking this list with you every time you go shopping. If you find a price item in June on your Christmas gift list for someone, go ahead and purchase it – it is one less gift you will have to worry about come December.

Rotating Recipients And Getting Crafty

Create a deal with one side of the family where you rotate between your siblings and their families on who receives gifts. You can infuse a theme to the gift giving, and your kids will love putting together a family gift for their cousins.

On the other side of the family, you can come up with a homemade Christmas gifts deal – but sticking to a specified dollar amount is important because it is easy to overspend on craft supplies. Do you want a good idea? Why not have your children put together their favorite kid songs for their uncles and aunts when they become new parents!

Tier-Based Gift Giving

It is easy to go overboard from one year to the next. This is why you should consider using a three-tiered gift giving process. Tier one is for family where you exchange gifts with every individual in your immediate family, and set a budget for everyone. Tier 2 is for friends by getting them single-family gifts, while tier 3 is for co-workers and neighbors.

Once you establish a budget for each tier and the people in them, create a cash envelope for the tier. You only spend cash on what you buy for wrapping paper, supplies and gifts at sites like WearSaga.com. Once the cash in the envelope is gone, it’s all gone!

Focus On Experience

The best gifts for family should not be necessarily costly or extravagant. Consider offering experience gifts – for example, purchase tickets to the next big ball game or make plans to take your toddlers to a matinee movie. Sometimes, the most memorable gifts are those that you put some thought into, and not money.

Save Money

To help you counter the hefty hit the holiday season is likely to have on your budget, you and your spouse should decide in January how much you want to expend on each kid – as well as on yourselves – for birthdays and holidays in the coming year. Next, take the total and divide by 12, and place the amount into a savings account each month. By putting away some cash amount every month, you will not have to deal with panic whenever the holiday season is upon you.