8 Things To Do Instead of Exchanging Gifts At Christmas

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With the cost of pretty much everything going up, here are some budget-friendly ideas for things to do instead of exchanging gifts this Christmas.

How to Cut Down on Christmas Gifts

Before we look at ways to completely eliminate gift-giving, it might be worth looking at ways you can minimise the number of gifts you need to buy.

While most of us have probably reduced gift exchanges down to just close friends and family, this year may see the need to limit that further, due to having less disposable income.

You might also want to limit gift-giving for other reasons. While small gifts such as toiletries or biscuits are a lovely gesture, many of us simply don’t need any more.

If you have children, you might also want to cut back on the number of toys they receive, especially when they already have plenty to play with.

Then there’s the environmental impact to consider. We tend to overconsume at Christmas, which can lead to more food waste and unwanted items ending up in landfill.

Switch To Kids Only

This could mean telling friends and family that you’ll only be buying for the children in the family (or friendship group) this year and not buying for any adults. Or you could agree that you all only buy for your own children and no one else’s.

Introduce A Gift Amnesty

This means no buying of gifts at all between adults or children or in whichever configuration works best for your family.

For us, we’ve agreed that my husband and I won’t exchange gifts with my parents, but they will still buy for our daughter (their granddaughter) and I’ll pick up one or two small token gifts for her to give to them.

We have agreed to spend some of that money on a day out at a Panto but for us, it still works out that we are spending considerably less.

Arrange A Secret Santa

Put everyone’s name in a hat and then draw names out at random. Everyone gets a gift but this limits how much is spent (agree to a spending limit beforehand). You could also do couples if that would work better for your family, ie buying joint gifts rather than the individual. Elfster is a great way to arrange this.

Agreed Spends

If you still want to buy for everyone or are struggling to get everyone on board, you could agree to only a certain amount for each person. If people choose to spend more than that, that’s their issue.

Charity Shop/Thrift Shop Challenge

A bit like secret Santa but everyone buys a gift from a charity shop or thrift shop.

They can either be for a specific person or all put inside a bag and given out at random.

You can get some amazing bits in charity shops but be aware that anything too silly might just end up back there come January!

Try the Icelandic Christmas Book Tradition

If you’re looking for a way to exchange less presents at Christmas time, you could try the Icelandic tradition of Jólabókaflóðið, which is also known as the Christmas Book Flood.

In Iceland, books are traditionally exchanged on Christmas Eve, with everyone settling down to enjoy their new book as the evening draws in.

It’s a lovely idea for families who enjoy reading, and you could make it even more special by adding hot chocolate and a few festive treats.

Rather than buying lots of presents, everyone could choose one book for another family member, or you could agree to a book swap where each person brings along a book for someone else.

You could even use second-hand books to keep the cost down.

Now is the time to start talking to friends and family about this, before they start buying things ready for the festive season.

Talking about money is hard, but things are going to be tough for pretty much everyone this year, and others might feel relieved that you brought it up.

What To Do When You Have No Money For Christmas

8 Things To Do Instead of Exchanging Gifts At Christmas

Here are some ideas for what you can do as a family instead of exchanging gifts. They can help fill some of the time on Christmas Day or Boxing Day if you’re exchanging fewer gifts this year, or be used as fun family activities in and around the festive period.

Instead of buying presents for everyone, you could agree to spend time together doing something fun and making memories. It doesn’t have to cost much, either. From family baking and board games to a Christmas day out, there are plenty of ways to enjoy time together without spending a fortune on gifts.

While some of these do have a small cost involved, I’ve tried to keep things to £5 or under, with options where you can pool resources with other family members or use items you already have.

This should still amount to considerably less than buying for everyone in your family (I hope!).

Here are eight things to do instead of exchanging gifts with family and friends at Christmas.

1. Enjoy A Family Baking Day

I love the idea of ‘Stir Up Sunday’, but as I don’t like Christmas Pudding or Christmas Cake, it’s not something I’ve ever participated in.

This year, in the week before Christmas I’m heading to Mum’s for some family baking. I’m going to buy a gingerbread house kit and a couple of festive cake kits and raid my cupboards for anything else we might need.

Festive baking sessions could be a great way to spend time with cousins, nieces, nephews and other family friends instead of buying gifts. Everyone just contributes some ingredients, ready-made mixes or decorating items instead.

The festive bakes made could even be wrapped in plastic and gifted to grandparents or other family members.

2. Christmas Grinch/Bitch Raffle

This is something we did the night before our wedding, organised by one of my lovely friends and everyone really enjoyed it. It works best with a large group of people, at least ten, and it might not be suitable for younger children.

You will need 4-5 prizes, maybe a couple of extras if there is a lot of you (I’m talking 20+). The prizes don’t need to be anything special, think something small from Poundland, chocolates, sweets etc but they do need to be wrapped up and ideally in different shapes and sizes.

If you’re going to be with a large group of adults, ask some of them to contribute a gift to the game. They can all still join in, although you do need one person to be the caller.

The other thing you need for this is a book of raffle tickets.

Everyone playing the game is given two raffle ticket strips (or single numbers if you’d prefer) and the corresponding tickets are folded and added to a bucket/bowl/Christmas hat, whatever you have handy!

The caller pulls out a ticket from the bucket/bowl/Christmas hat and whoever has that number claims a prize. This continues until all the prizes have been claimed from the caller.

The caller then continues to call out tickets, so the next person has to steal their gift from someone else. This carries on until all the tickets have been called.

If you have a prize at the end, you get to keep it.

This game is so much fun and a bit different from traditional Christmas games.

People end up coveting a particular gift because they think it’s worth the most, people might hide their gifts round the back of the sofa, and Uncle Tim might end up with two gifts at once and then nothing at the end.

It’s silly and fun, but because of the prize-stealing element might not be ideal for very young kiddies although you could provide consolation sweeties and chocolates too.

If you don’t like the idea of calling it a ‘Bitch Raffle’ you could call it a ‘Grinch Raffle’ instead. You could also do this with Bingo prizes instead of a raffle.

3. Charity Donations

Donating to charity during a cost-of-living crisis might be the last thing on your mind.

However, agreeing to donate to charity instead of giving gifts means others don’t need to know how much you contributed on their behalf.

You could also help collect donations for a foodbank from family members instead of exchanging gifts.

4. Things To Do Instead of Exchanging Gifts At Christmas: Christmas Quiz

I’ve written about my love of quizzing a lot on my blog and I really enjoy getting my teeth into a good quiz.

There are usually plenty of Christmas quizzes locally although there is the entry fee and cost of drinks to consider.

If you’d rather quiz at home there are loads of printable Christmas quizzes online. Don’t forget to add a couple of easy rounds for any children that might be there!

5. Host A Board Game Night

Just like quizzes, I’m also a big fan of board games. As most people have at least a couple lurking at the back of the cupboard, it should be fairly easy to come up with enough for several hours of fun.

While brand new board games are expensive to buy, there are loads of charity shops, often starting at around £2 if you did want to pick up something new to you and your family.

Remember to mix up the type of games you play so everyone has a chance at winning – while I love a quiz-themed game, my husband loves Monopoly and my daughter likes games that involve drawing such as Pictionary.

6. Christmas Scavenger Hunt

Scavenger hunts are great fun for children and adults alike. They can be for inside the home or for an afternoon walk around your local area. You can actually collect things or tick off items on a list or a combination of both.

Things to look for could include:

• An Angel or Fairy
• A Robin (on a Christmas card or decoration perhaps)
• Pinecones
• Santa Hat
• Candy Canes
• Snowman
• Wreath
• Holly

7. Go Carol Singing

I know some people will really relish this idea, while others might find it totally cringe. I think it might depend on how musically inclined you and your family are.

If door-to-door carol singing doesn’t appeal there are usually lots of organised events in the run-up to Christmas, keep an eye on your local events pages.

8. Christmas Family Movie Night

While I know lots of people already do this over the festive period, I’m talking about really making a night of it.

Get the kids to make tickets for everyone.

Dim the lights.

Borrow a projector if you can.

Make your own popcorn.

Really enjoy spending time together.

As an alternative, you could arrange a family cinema trip to watch a Christmas movie. Our local cinema does this, and as the films are older, tickets are usually around £3-£5 per person.

Christmas Days Out Instead of Gifts

Finally, if you’re looking for a family day out and aren’t as limited by budget, here are a few ideas for things you could do together before Christmas, pooling your money for a day out instead of buying individual gifts.

Go To A Christmas Light Trail

There are loads of Christmas light trails all around the country, and they can be a lovely way to spend an evening together as a family.

You could finish off with a meal afterwards, or keep things cheap and cheerful by grabbing a McDonald’s all together.

Visit Longleat Festival of Light

This one is definitely more expensive, but I think it’s worth it. You also get to spend the day at Longleat beforehand, so it can be a full family day out rather than just an evening looking at the lights.

Try Sledging At A Local Ski Slope

We have a local ski slope near us where you can go sledging, and it’s great fun. Half an hour of sledging followed by hot chocolate and marshmallows around a campfire sounds like a lovely way to spend time together over Christmas.

Arrange A Family Meal Out

Instead of buying gifts for everyone, you could agree to go out for a family meal at a local pub or restaurant. You could set a budget beforehand so everyone knows what to expect.

Hire A Village Hall

This could be perfect for larger families who want to get together without having to squeeze everyone into one person’s house.

You could hire a village hall, get a bouncy castle for the kids and ask everyone to bring a plate of food to share.

I hope this post has given you some ideas for things to do instead of exchanging gifts at Christmas!

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