Here are our top tips for Christmas shopping on a budget and saving cash this festive season.

Christmas on a budget might seem like a daunting task, but in reality, it can be a fun challenge. 

We all want to impress at Christmas time, particularly as it’s one of the best times of year to show our love and appreciation for one another. However, with things being more costly of late, it’s naturally got many worried about how they’ll treat their loved ones.

Fortunately, we’ve come up with a ton of ways you can save money this Christmas. In addition to our 100 money-saving tips for students, read on to find out how to do Christmas on a budget. We’ve got all the Christmas saving tips to do with gifts, dinner and Christmas decorations.

Christmas gift money-saving tips

Christmas budgeting needn’t be tough. With our tips, you’ll see just how easy it can be. Below are a ton of ideas on how to save money at Christmas, including food, decoration, and more. 

Make a Christmas budget 

The first thing to start with is making your Christmas shopping budget. Knowing how much you have to spend for this year’s gifting season will help you map out what you can and can’t afford.

Make use of a Christmas budget planner, whether it’s one you create your own or one you find online. It’ll help you categorise your budget for presents, food, decorations and other spending priorities.

If you’re in need of extra cash this season, check out our side hustle ideas or consider taking on Christmas temp jobs.

Prioritise your Christmas purchases

While you may want to make this year’s Christmas extra special, it’s going to be hard without the budget to do so. We certainly don’t recommend capping out your overdraft either.

To work with Christmas shopping on a budget, write down a list of everyone you want to gift for this season. Can you arrange secret Santa with a spending cap if you have enough people in on it? Who can you afford not to gift this Christmas? 

The sad reality is that you may not be able to get something for everyone. With the current climate, people are bound to be understanding though, so try not to take it to heart.

Stuck on ideas? We’ve got a few Christmas gift ideas based on your Zodiac.

Beware of Christmas ‘deals’

Tons of retailers are going to shower you with offers, deals and “once it’s gone, it’s gone” messaging. It’s easy to get sucked in, believe us.

Have an honest conversation with yourself and ask if you really need to buy whatever item it is that’s being marketed to you. Can those boots wait? Can you use that money to buy a gift for a loved one instead? Be sure to stick to your budget and try not to get caught out on too many deals.

On the flip side, if they’re deals on presents you want to buy for loved ones, be sure to compare them to other retailers so you can get the best deal out there.

Use price trackers to decide when to buy gifts

Sign up to retailers you wish to buy from. They’ll often have a price tracker on the item(s) you wish to buy (especially if you’ve already added them to your wishlist). They might send an email saying the price has dropped or stock is low. 

There are also a few different apps you can download to keep track of prices:

• PriceSpyUK
• Idealo
• Camelcamelcamel
• Keepa (for Amazon)
• PriceRunnerUK

These apps not only track price fluctuations for the items you want, but they’ll also tell you where to get them cheaper too! Be sure not to wait too long though, we’ve got deets on the last orders for Christmas delivery you’ll need to keep handy.

Try Secret Santa with a small budget

Christmas shopping on a budget should be fun. We touched on the idea of Secret Santa before. Why? Because it can be a seriously cheap alternative way to gifting your loved ones this Christmas.

If you have no idea what Secret Santa is, it’s essentially picking names out of a hat (or an online generator — whichever randomises your giftee!). Whoever you get is the person you buy for and no one else, meaning everyone gets a gift and no one is left out!

Plus, Secret Santa usually has a budget that’s pre-determined, like £5, £10 — the idea is to keep it cheap and cheerful. 

Buy cheap gift cards on eBay

Gift cards as presents always go down well, especially if you can’t afford the actual thing you want to buy (or you have no idea what to buy!).

eBay is one of the best sites to buy cheap Christmas gifts, including gift cards. Some even have savings off their retail value. 

eBay has tons of retailers you can get a giftcard for. Notable brands include ASOS, Xbox Game Pass, Deliveroo, and thousands more.

Make Christmas presents by hand

The best personal gifts are the ones you make by hand. If you’re crafty or like to draw, why not consider some of these cheap Christmas gift ideas:

• Knitting or crocheting
• Drawing or painting a portrait
• Making a personalised design and sticking it on an item like a mug or storage box
• Baking cakes or cookies.

Do IOUs and buy gifts in the Boxing Day sales

Boxing Day and January sales are where the real shopping starts for most people.

Why? Because that’s when prices get seriously slashed. So, if you’re seriously struggling to afford gifts for Christmas, consider putting in an IOU and gifting after the big day instead.

It might seem to make Christmas Day redundant, but that’s not what the day is about. So really, it shouldn’t matter when you do your gift giving! Plus, we’re sure everyone will be up for saving some extra cash and want to get in on post-Christmas gifting too.

Get cashback on your Christmas shopping

You should be using this tip all year round.

When you shop for anything online, using cashback sites, as the name suggests, can give you cashback on your purchases. While the amounts are small, they’re enough to add up over time.

Here are some reputable cashback sites to consider:

• Quidco
• TopCashBack
• SwagBucks
• Rakuten
• Swapi.

Use loyalty points or supermarket savings schemes

The cheapest supermarkets for delivery also happen to have loyalty point schemes too. The best thing about saving schemes is that you can use the points and/or vouchers you accumulate to put towards a future purchase and take money off your bill. Perfect if you’re shopping for Christmas food and gifts!

Supermarket savings schemes

Below are the best supermarket saving schemes to use in the UK:

• Asda (bonus of up to around 5%)
• Co-op (bonus of up to around 4%)
• Iceland (bonus of up to 5%)
• Morrisons (bonus of up to 3%)
• Tesco (bonus of up to 6%).

Agree not to buy Christmas presents this year

Lastly, if buying gifts is really stressing you out (and your loved ones), why not remove the stress altogether and just not buy gifts this year?

Everyone is going through it right now, so it’s only understandable if you can’t get gifts. If anything, it’ll provide a ton of relief for others too. This tip works great for both friends or family, especially if you’re Christmas shopping on a budget already and struggling to stick to the allotted money.

If you really want to show appreciation this Christmas time, why not put the money towards the Christmas Dinner instead? That way, you can all enjoy something together, rather than having the additional gift giving to worry about.

Spend less on your Christmas dinner

People celebrating with a Christmas dinner tend to go all out. There are ways to make it cheap though. In fact, in 2021, the cheapest Christmas dinner could be bought from Aldi at just £27.38 (using the cheapest ingredients), followed by Lidl at £27.47.

We all have our preferences on where to get our food from, though. And sadly, some may not be able to afford all the trimmings…or can you? 

Here are some saving tips that you can put towards having a cheap Christmas dinner that’s still epic and super tasty:

• Put the cash away you’d otherwise spend on a daily/weekly coffee (that £3-£5 seriously adds up!)
• Shop in advance for your Christmas dinner
• Cook your Christmas dinner yourself — have you tried making your own cranberry sauce instead?
• Find cheaper alternatives to Christmas favourites 
• Got leftovers from Christmas Eve? Add them to your Christmas dinner table!

Spend less on your Christmas decorating

We’re all feeling the financial pinch this year. Decorating your home for Christmas is something that really brings people together. In fact, some go all out on their Christmas decorating.

This year, things might look different and the thought of decorating might cause a little financial anxiety. Instead, we have a ton of frugal Christmas decorating ideas you’ll appreciate:

• Make your own cheap baubles (pom-poms are easy to make at home)
• Make bunting out of bandanas and scarves
• Use jam jars for lighting with fairy lights or battery-powered tealights
• Bake edible table decorations like gingerbread men
• Use ribbons to hang Christmas cards
• Use real pinecones and leaves from the outdoors to make wreaths
• If you’re wondering how to decorate the outdoors for Christmas on a budget, simple things like garden lights and wrapping your door in ribbon can spruce up your festive spirit 
• Punch holes in food tins to use as lanterns.

We hope these Christmas on-a-budget ideas have given you some food for thought. Sign up to Student Beans to get access to savings across thousands of brands, including fashion student deals, home student offers and much more.