Frugal Gift Buying for Christmas and Year Round
By: Kati Pierce
Tags: Money Management, Gift Ideas, Family, Gifts, Christmas

Frugal Gift Buying for Christmas and Year Round

Start planning now for 2020

It’s that special time of year! Time to empty your pockets and spend spend spend on gifts for your loved ones, coworkers, neighbors!

But, wait!

What if I told you there’s a way to shop for presents without emptying your piggy bank?

Not only for Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza/Festivus, but also any time you need to give a gift or two.

Keep a Running List All Year

In early 2018, my niece shared a post about human organ stuffed animals. I “innocently” asked her which one she liked the most. When she answered the kidney, I added it to my running gift idea list. I keep the list on my phone in my Notes (Memo for you Androidians) and any time I hear about or see something someone wants throughout the year, I put it on the list.

This comes in handy, so I can check throughout the year for sales and buy all year long, I don’t overspend on some junk they don’t even want, and it makes me look magical.

Buy Gifts Throughout the Year

As I said, I buy Christmas gifts throughout the year. I keep a box just for gifts. I check out clearance aisles, sale racks, and thrift stores all year and pick up items I think my people would like or the items from the list I keep.

A bonus to this is when a gift-giving event comes up during the year, I can simply pluck an item from my gift box to give!

Sales, Sales, Sales

I mentioned sale shopping year round. But I rarely do Black Friday sales. I’m just to aggressive and don’t want to go to jail over a flat screen TV that’s 30% off. I also know that many of the items come back on sale with deep discounts before Christmas anyway. You just have to pay attention to regular prices (I use my list) and watch for when those prices drop.

Online Marketplaces

Craigslist, Facebook, Etsy, eBay, and the like are great places to get a great deal.

This year, one of my people asked for a tech item that retails for $300. I laughed and said “Fat chance!”

A few days later, I saw someone selling that item for $120 on a local Facebook Marketplace site. I was the first one to respond to the ad and had to drive 45 minutes to get it, but I got it! For less then HALF of a new one. And it’s in new condition.

If your people ask for expensive items and you simply can’t afford it, there are other options!

Handmade Gifts

Even if you’re not crafty, hear me out. I know several people who ARE crafty and even have amazing tools and materials to make amazing items.

You can offer to pay your friends and neighbors to make personalized, handmade gifts. I asked a friend of mine to created a logo and put it on a hoodie for me. $15 later, I have a great gift that would retail for $60 or more!

Those of you who ARE crafty, then you know you can make personalized gifts from materials laying around your house or even buy cheap materials to use.

Last year I made a bunch of those popular unicorn ornaments from shatter-proof clear balls, iridescent tinsel, clay, stickers, and sharpies. Total cost for them was about $25! They were great gifts for coworkers and friends!

Coupons and Discount Codes

I always search online for discount codes before I buy anything. I also sign up for every rewards program there is. I have a browser extension that goes through discount codes for me when I shop online.

Coupons in my area are less available than they used to be. But, if I see a coupon around the holidays for great small gift ideas or stocking stuffers, you better believe I’m digging my scissors out of the junk drawer and clipping away!

Most of my kids are adults now, so along with the usual candy, I also get things like travel sized toothbrushes, powder, antibacterial gel, Kleenex, etc. for their stockings. Coupons are GREAT for these items!

Regifting

Unused candles received at a White Elephant gift exchange, that weird cardinal figurine from your friend, the sweater that your grandma bought that’s a bit too tight in the chest because she doesn’t realize you have boobs or pecs. All of these things can and should be regifted.

If you will get no use out of an item, instead of taking it back to the store, throw it in the gift box and save it for regifting. There is no shame in it!

Scratch Tickets

These are great for anyone without a gambling problem. Spend $20 on $1 scratch tickets, throw them in a small gift box or even a nice card, and voila! You have a cheap gift for a coworker, adult kid, or a gift exchange.

We do these as stocking stuffers, but I’ve been known to give scratch tickets out as gifts as well. And, hey, someone may even get some cold, hard cash from it! It’s a win-win!

Free Promo Items

If you’re like me, you end up at various trade shows and fairs where a ton of promotional items are being given away for free. Flashlights, phone chargers, koozies, notebooks, pens, keychains, cups, mugs, stickers are all there for the taking.

I use these as gifts, stocking stuffers, and even prizes for our family New Year’s Eve party. I have a box full of promo items next to my box of gifts. Sometimes you can even scratch the logo off from the company that gave the swag to you!

Free Samples

I am a complete sucker for anything free, especially free samples. I belong to several free sample groups and websites. I run through these sites as often as possible and send in for freebies.

One caveat here is that free samples usually take six weeks or more to arrive. This means you will need to get these ordered throughout the year and stash them in your gift box.

Another warning: you WILL start receiving lots of spam in your inbox. I created an entirely separate Gmail account for freebies for this reason. I check it if I need to verify my email address and sometimes to see offers.

I’ve received, absolutely free; jewelry, vinyl stickers, a netipot, snacks, drink mixes, t-shirts, socks, makeup, bottle openers, keychains, and more!

Gifts from “All of Us”

This year, there were some high dollar gifts on a couple Christmas lists in my family. I’m talking $300 and up high dollars. So I did what any savvy gift giver would do, I asked the family to go in on the gifts together.

Rather than pay more than my budget, I was able to stay within my price ranges and still be able to get those expensive gifts. It also took a little strain off those going in on the gifts with me. I did the shopping and they just had to give me money!

Off-Brands/Generic

I’m a firm believer in “ you get what you pay for.” Some name brands are just better, but some off-brand generic items are just as good too.

If someone asks for an expensive item like Air Pods, there are a ton of off-brands that work just as well. Some even look almost identical to the Apple product.

Also, in the same vein, some name brands are now sold at Wal-Mart and Target for a bit cheaper than other high-end stores.

Buy in Bulk

Because we have so many people in our family to shop for, we have a warehouse store membership at Sam’s Club. There’s one close by and if you can swing it, buying in bulk can save you a lot of money and time.

Our store sells gift items like travel mugs and such in bulk. We can also by gift cards at discounted prices there. Most of the candy we put in stockings is from the Club as well, as we have 12 stockings to fill.

Sometimes around the holidays, the warehouse stores offer Open to the Public days where non-members can enjoy the discounts as well. Keep an eye out for those!

Gift Exchanges

If you have a large family to buy for, one idea is to implement gift exchanges instead of everyone buying for each person.

There are apps and websites that will manage the exchange for you or you can just draw names out of a hat. You can make the exchange fun by playing Dirty Santa, where gifts can be stolen up to three times (people can choose to steal or open a gift).

White Elephant gift exchanges can be fun, but tend to lack the personal and sentimental touches some people like to put into their gifts. With the White Elephant, everyone brings whatever they can find or regift already wrapped. The items get numbered and people draw a number and pick the gift that matches.

I once received a cardinal figurine in one of these gift exchanges. The person who gifted it thought it was the most beautiful thing in the world. It was not. The cardinal’s eyes were not even and the red paint was chipping off. This cardinal got regifted.