9th December 2022 • My Family Our Needs
We all know being disabled or caring for a disabled person comes with its own costs, and never is that more apparent than at Christmas. We all want to give gifts and spread joy, but sometimes it can be hard to make your money stretch as much as you’d like. Fortunately, there are loads of great ways to show your loved one you care without breaking the bank, as Aoife Casson shares here.
If you want to spread a little Christmas cheer to your loved ones this festive season without emptying your wallet, check out my top five suggestions for gift giving on a budget.
Truffle Making
Difficulty: easy
Time commitment: medium
Cost: very low
Chocolate truffles are super easy to make and are very easy to glam up for a Christmas gift. Not only that, but you can personalise them to suit the person you’re giving them to by adding different flavourings or alcohol to suit the individual. Put them in a clean, empty jar and tie around it with ribbon to make the perfect gift. I love using this recipe from BBC Good Foods.
Top tip: Struggle with mobility? Use two teaspoons to form the truffles by passing a small amount of the mixture between each spoon to form a little ball. This will also make much less mess than rolling them in your hands!
Kitting/Crochet
Difficulty: medium/hard (depending on the pattern!)
Time commitment: high
Cost: medium
Nothing says ‘I love you’ like a handmade scarf or cosy blanket! I used to knit when I was little and learned to crochet over lockdown and I can say that, not only do handmade wool items make excellent gifts, but they’re also great to make when you’re sitting on the train or watching TV at home. Knitted and crocheted gifts do take a while to make, but the more you practise, the faster you’ll get, so if you were thinking of learning the craft, now is the time to do it!
Top tip: There are loads of really helpful guides on YouTube and one of my favourite places to get wool, LoveCrafts, has a whole area of its site dedicated to free knitting and crochet patterns! The amount you spend on your gift will really depend on the kind of wool you choose, but acrylic, DK yarn is a great place to start as it’s soft, sturdy, (usually) machine washable and comes in a whole range of colours at a very affordable price.
Book Swap
Difficulty: very easy
Time commitment: minimal
Cost: free!
If you’re a bookworm and your friends love reading too, consider having a book swap for Christmas. Simply choose a book you’ve read and loved, wrap it up and give it to your friends in exchange for one of their favourite books. Not only is this a great way to have a shared experience with your loved ones, but it also saves beautiful books from going into the bin.
Top tip: If you’re doing a book swap with lots of friends, write a short summary of the book on a gift tag, including the genre and what you loved about it. Then you can all lay the books out and choose the one that you think you’ll like the most. The great thing about this is that it gets better the more people you have involved.
Present Lucky Dip
Difficulty: easy
Time commitment: low
Cost: you choose
You’ve probably heard of Secret Santa, which is a great way to make sure everyone gets a gift. The system is great but it can be a bit of a faff trying to assign a person to everyone involved. The present lucky dip is an even better way to give presents to a large family or group of friends while saving money. All you have to do is set a budget and arrange a date (probably Christmas day if it’s your family) when you’ll all be together. Then, you just need to buy one present and wrap it up. On the day, all the presents go into a bag and everyone pulls one out at random. I did this with my team at work recently and it was great!
Top tip: Choose a gift that you think most people in the group would like.
The Gift of You
Difficulty: easy
Time commitment: high
Cost: free
Ultimately, Christmas is an expensive time of year and, this year in particular, we’re all feeling the pinch. It’s easy to get swept up in the festive season and feel the pressure to spend lots of money on the people you love, but it’s important to remember one thing:
Your loved ones love you more than anything you could buy them.
So, call them up and ask if you can do a low-cost, present-free Christmas this year, where the focus is on spending time with each other and being grateful for all the things you have. Chances are, they’ll be glad to have the present-buying pressure removed!