Christmas is one of the busiest time of year for many people. Shopping, office parties, school programs, concerts, local parades and events…it is really easy to over commit, get busy with everything, and forget to enjoy the true meaning of Christmas altogether. This year, make the holidays less hectic with these 5 ways to simplify Christmas and focus on what matters.
While it may be tempting to want to spend a lot of money and rack up a lot of debt, it really isn’t necessary in order to have a wonderful and fulfilling holiday. So, if you are working on paying down bills and improving your credit, don’t worry. You can still stay on track with some of these minimalist Christmas ideas!
Limit the gifts
Yes, it is fun for your child to run down stairs at thecrack of dawn on Christmas morning and tear open a huge pile of gifts! But as any parent knows, that huge mountainof gifts that took hours and hours to wrap, and probably hundreds of dollars tobuy, is opened in about 30 seconds. Andif you’re lucky, maybe the kids will play with them for a few hours… but theywill probably be tossed aside within a few days. That’s the sad truth of over-gifting to yourkids. When they receive too many gifts,they tend to appreciate them less. Thisyear, minimize the gifts and ask your child what one or two items are thatthey’d really like to receive. Insteadof helping put together a wish list that is a mile long, help them decide whichitems they actually use and appreciate the most.
Related article: 10 Ways to Avoid Overspending at Christmas
Here’s a free printable to help your kids come up with somegifts that they want, but also how they can give back at Christmas too!
Sign up below to download your FREE printable Christmas list!
For adults, limiting the gifts can still be fun. Here are few ideas to help your familyorganize the limited gift-giving:
- Have each adult family member draw one name andthen buy a gift for just that person.Set a gift budget of $25 or $50 dollars, for example… much lessexpensive than buying gifts for everyone!
- Have a random drawing. Everyone who wants to participate buys a giftfor a set dollar amount that would be appropriate for anyone to receive (giftcards, money, lotto tickets, etc.), then draw to see what number you get—that’sthe order that gifts will be chosen.When it’s your turn, you can take a gift that has already been opened oryou can take your chances and pick an un-opened gift. In this game, the person with the last numbergets the pick of the gifts. Lots of funand everyone ends up with something nice!
- Have a white elephant gift exchange. Okay, you won’t get any good gifts, but thesecan be pretty entertaining!
- Create coupons for gifts. These don’t cost a thing because you aregiving of your time. For example, youcould gift your time to do the following: cooking dinner one night, wash thecar, etc.
- Book exchange.If you are like me, once you’ve read a book, you literally never read itagain (unless it’s the Bible), so you may as well, pick one of those books,wrap it up, and gift it!
Related post: Don’tWaste Money on Christmas Gifts that No One Wants
Be on the lookout forsales
While there are several great deals on Black Friday or CyberMonday, you can also pick up gifts throughout the year that you find onclearance or other good sales. Yes, youhave to find a good hiding spot and hope that your kids or spouse don’t find itbefore Christmas, but getting gifts early can save you a ton of money!
But, waiting until the holiday season isn’t always badeither. Many retailers offer “free”items with a purchase around Christmas.Be on the lookout for places that offer an additional gift card withminimum purchase.
Give of your time atChristmas
While the holidays are fun and exciting for many, there aresome that experience loneliness, anxiety, and poverty. Giving of your time and volunteering cantruly brighten someone else’s holiday season!Volunteering is also a great way to teach your kids gratitude atChristmas. If your children are used togetting a mountain of gifts, it may be hard for them to imagine that not allchildren are that fortunate. Here are afew ways to give of your time this year:
- Ring the bell to collect money for Salvation Army
- Volunteer at a soup kitchen
- Go caroling at a nursing home
- Collect toys for sick children or children inneed at Christmas
- Pack a shoebox for children around theworld through Samaritan’sPurse
Join a Christmascookie exchange
Instead of getting bogged down with all that baking atChristmastime, get together with a group of friends that also like to makeChristmas cookies and goodies. You onlyneed to bake one type of cookie, but you must make enough to exchange with theothers. So, if your group has ten peoplein it, you will end up taking home ten different types of cookies. So you will have a lot of variety on yourcookie tray for parties and family gatherings, but won’t have to make all thosedifferent recipes! Depending on howdetailed and organized you want to be, your group can make a list of cookies tochoose from, or everyone can just bring whatever they want.
Make an AdventCalendar
You don’t need to buy anything, you don’t need to make anything fancy, just focus on fun family activities for Christmas with these Advent calendar ideas!
This one is made of wood and just has simple envelopes hanging from string. It also make a beautiful Christmas decoration! But you could just create the envelope activities and put them in a basket with the number on it and countdown the days until Christmas that way.
