It’s the most wonderful time of the year, as the song goes. The festive season is a perfect opportunity to spend time with loved ones and create cherished winter memories together.
That doesn’t need to stop if you’re on a budget, either.
Here’s a list of the best free (or cheap) ways to help you create winter memories on a budget. From festive forts, to making new traditions – there’s something to help everyone sprinkle a little festive magic this year.
Build a festive fort
Grab some spare bedsheets or blankets and gather up the cushions to make a festive fort. Set your dining room chairs, or something similar, back-to-back and a good distance apart, before throwing a sheet over it. Pile your cushions and blankets inside and enjoy.
Now, string up some fairy lights (if you have any), grab a hot chocolate and enjoy a Christmas movie under your makeshift stars.
Acts of kindness
The festive season is a great time to spread a little holiday cheer. Why not knock on your neighbour and have a chat, or call up a friend or loved one who you haven’t spoken to in ages? You could go through the cupboards and gather unopened food to donate to a local food bank, or give your untouched presents from last Christmas to charity.
The Action for Happiness charity also shares a free, downloadable calendar on their website each month where every day has a different act of kindness (for yourself, or to do for others).
Get down with DIY decorations
Deck the halls with boughs of holly – literally. Homemade decorations can be more than newspaper chains or paper snowflakes. Go on a woodland walk and collect pinecones to paint together as a family and tie to the Christmas tree. All you’ll need is some string and paint – but glittery nail varnish could work fine, too.
Or, you could snip a few springs of holly or ivy from the park to decorate your hearth or dinner table with. Make sure not remove any stones or shells from beaches, though.
Snowmen pancakes
Pancakes are not just for February. Whisk up some pancake batter from your classic cupboard staples – flour, eggs and milk – and make snowmen pancakes. Follow a recipe online or, if you don’t have the ingredients to hand, you can usually buy pre-mixed batter for £1 (including vegan alternatives, too).
Dollop two circles into a heated pan alongside a splash of oil or butter. Make one circle bigger than the other, and slightly overlap them to make your snowman – making sure they’re lightly golden on each side. Then, decorate to your heart’s desire.
Start your own traditions
Each family have their own traditions – some leave signs of Santa Claus’ footprints by sprinkling flour or glitter in the house, while others have a cheeky Elf on the Shelf. Make this winter the one you set up your own family traditions to be enjoyed for years to come.
You could watch the Snowman film on Christmas Eve together, bake cookies for Santa, or go to a farm shop and pick out a carrot for Rudolf. You could light a candle for loved ones that are no longer with us, or even have a chilly Boxing Day dip.
Write out some Christmas IOUs
The festive season can be expensive if you’re buying multiple gifts. Lessen the focus on the materialistic and write out some Christmas IOUs to go in their card. Design and write out your own cheques to your partner to do the chores for a week, or for the kids to have control of the TV for a weekend.
You could promise to do something nice for a friend, or even offer to take your parents out for a beach walk and coffee. The possibilities are endless.
Visit an animal shelter and donate
Say hello to our furry friends that are looking for a home this winter, all while doing good. Gather up any spare blankets, bedding, towels or quilts (not feathered) and drop them off at an animal shelter.
Dogs Trust centres are usually looking for donations, as well as Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, and many local adoption shelters. It could be worth ringing in advance first to let them know you’re coming first and what to bring with you.
Grab a hairbrush for Christmas karaoke
We’ve all done movie marathons, but how about Christmas karaoke? Type in ‘Christmas karaoke’ into Youtube and choose from your favourite festive jingles – all complete with lyrics to sing along to.
Make a night of it and get dressed up in your finest dancing gear – completing the picture with flashing disco lights, if you have any. You don’t even need a karaoke machine, just a hairbrush will do.
‘Bring a thing’ Christmas dinner
It seems like the shops get stocked up with festive food earlier and earlier this year. Stick to a budget and avoid a big dinner with all the trimmings when catching up with loved ones in the run up to the big day and invite everyone to ‘bring a thing’ instead.
Trust the nature of ‘pot luck’ and assign everyone a meal (you could even spin the wheel with names instead) – like starters, sides, cheese, breads, mains, drinks, dessert, snacks. Set an appropriate budget, and a theme (it could be nostalgia, or meals beginning with the same letter as their name).
Write a letter to Santa – and get one back
Have a night in with the kids and write letters to Santa – and get one back. If you have a first- or second-class postage stamp lying around (otherwise, they’re currently priced from 85p for second-class), you could get a letter from Santa from the Royal Mail.
Write Santa’s address on the envelope (provided on the Royal Mail website), your child’s age and address, and pop in the post. The final postage date for 2024 is December 9, and the expected wait time is around 10 days.
Embrace the Icelandic tradition of the ‘Yule book flood’
Each Christmas Eve in Iceland, households swap books and drink hot chocolate while they read together long into the night. The tradition is called Jólabókaflóðið, roughly translated into English as ‘Christmas/Yule book flood’.
You could create your very own book swap by setting a budget with your family and having a book secret Santa. Buy a book you think they’d love, or magazines for little kids, and read together one night in the run up to Christmas.
There are plenty of ways to make Christmas memories on a budget this year, making it a happy holiday to remember.
Prices listed accurate as at October 2024.