Christmas Budget Dwindling? Frugal Gift Ideas and Crafts

Is your Christmas budget dwindling? Become quite versed in making Christmas happen for cheap with these frugal gift ideas and crafts.

I love giving gifts and am too stubborn to just tell the family “we are not doing gifts this year”. So I have been determined to make Christmas gifts happen, regardless of our budget!

Frugal Gift Ideas and Crafts For A Dwindling Christmas Budget

Here are a couple of last minute cheap or free gift ideas:

How to Make Salt Dough Ornaments

These are so easy! All you need is 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of salt and 1 cup of flour. You gently mix the three ingredients together and kneed for about 10-15 minutes.

Once the dough is smooth, roll out and cut out your ornaments. And cut them out with different cookie cutters. I bake mine at 200 degrees for several hours. I then flip them and let them cool overnight.

I got artsy on the one above but you can make them as simple as you want. I even let my kids paint them and then write Merry Christmas on top as a gift for the grandparents.

How to Make a Homemade Car Play Mat

This is so easy! I took a white curtain I was not using and cut it in half. I dyed it brown (optional). Then painted a city scene with roads and all on top. You don’t have to be artistic! You can just paint a simple road scene with no pictures. It’s most likely for a boy right?! If you are artistic have fun! I did mine in the theme of Savannah. I painted River Street, downtown, the beach, parks, a baseball field, and football field.

I made one for my nephew with an “Atlanta theme”. Bottom line is it cost me almost nothing! It was time consuming but because I could fold it up and work on different sections at a time, it was easy to work on! You can spend as much or as little money on this project! It has a big impact and is more than just another toy! Two years later this is still one of my son’s favorite toys!

Frugal Dress up Clothes Ideas

Last year I made my kids dress up clothes. I got some things from Goodwill and such but this is a simple pattern for animals. I just cut two pieces of fabric to size and sewed them around a piece of elastic. Simple and easy. Paint some masks from Michael’s and your good to go. Here is my awesome husband modeling the frog I made. I wish I had a better picture but it is basically two flaps of fabric sewn to elastic… super easy!!!

How to Do a Kids Bedroom Re-Do as a Gift

This year we are doing something different but fun for the kids! We are rearranging their room! This can cost as little or as much as you want! We are changing some things and they have some new ‘presents’ in each of their room but for the most part it has a big impact for a little price! On Christmas Eve they will sleep in our bedroom and wake up on Christmas morning and unwrap their door to find a “new” room. Santa and his elves will be working late but it will be worth it!

Happy gifting and Merry Christmas!

by Trisha Tanner