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It is five days before Christmas. The Christmas budget is spent, but you feel like you haven’t done anything as a family. You aren’t in the Christmas spirit this year, but are determined to pull together a few Christmas traditions for your new little family! Cheap Christmas traditions are the ultimate way to weave in fun, seasonal memories without breaking your bank.
First and foremost, remember that you DO NOT have to do it all. No matter what social media is telling you, no mom is doing all 25 of these traditions. All of the Christmas traditions that you see on social media these days can make you feel like you have to compete with the other families on your friends list. Update: You Don’t.
Social media can make it feel like every family does every single Christmas traditions and they are one big happy family. It can even trick you into believing that every kid in those matching pajamas didn’t throw a fit right before that picture (or during. or after.) Or that the teenagers willingly participated in the tradition and had a good attitude the whole time. Update: The chances are slim.
Social media can be hard to navigate around when it comes to the holidays, but there are plenty of Christmas traditions that look great but don’t have to break your budget! If you are on a Christmas budget, here is a blog post of 8 things that can help save your budget! One of the tips on there is to pick and choose the traditions that mean the most to you.
I always suggest picking at most FOUR cheap traditions and maybe one more expensive one if you have the budget for it. At the bottom of this blog post I have attached a worksheet to help you create your Christmas budget!
Here are my top 25 Christmas traditions that are under $25 (with most under $10!)
1) Drive around and look at Christmas lights
Price: The cost of gas
Optional: Cost of hot cocoa
One of my favorite Christmas traditions is loading up the car, make some hot cocoa at home, and playing Christmas music on the radio while driving around looking at lights. There are apps out there or some towns do maps of the best Christmas light displays. Sometimes you can just drive around and find some great ones! I have personally found that communities around golf courses can be a really great spot for lot of houses with lights
2) Get an ornament that describes the year
Price: $5-15
Every year since I was in 8th grade, we buy an ornament that describes the year. It is fun to look back and remember the years past. In the future, I would love for each of us to have our own little trees with all of our own memories on them.
One for the year that I got accepted into University of Nebraska. Another for my first year as a college student with a full time job that I basically lived off of coffee. An ornament to represent my first half marathon. It has become a tradition that we get one. In 2020, I got one that says “Mama Est. 2020” and we have already started the tradition for my son! The “E” ornament was the year when I was a teenager and I thought I was too cool to participate in the tradition, so I got the first ornament that I saw that worked. I love this tradition because every year when we put up the tree, it is a reminder of the years.
3) Decorate the Christmas tree
Price: Upfront about $25-$100.
Tip: Get a used tree from a thrift store or a yard sale in the summer, but use the same stuff every year.
This tradition doesn’t have to be expensive, but it is still one of my favorite! Turn on some Christmas music, dance around the living room, have fun with it. Remember that your tree doesn’t have to look like the ones on Instagram. When I was a college student, I went to Goodwill and got a Christmas tree for $11. I used that tree every year until our first year in our house. The first Christmas in the house, we donated all of our extra decorations after we put up what we wanted and bought some new ones to fill our space!
4) Matching Christmas pajamas
Price: $10-25 per person
Money Saving Tip: shop sales and thrift stores!
Okay. This one really doesn’t fit into the cheap traditions, but it is definitely at the top of my list for favorites with kids! This is another tradition that can be a little expensive up front, but if you buy some for everyone the first year, then the adults can use the same ones over again and just purchase a new set for the kids! 2020 is the first year that we are doing this! We had 1 pair of pants and a onesie, so we just needed shirts and another set of pants!
I have three money saving tips for this tradition. First, pick a pattern or style that isn’t necessarily “Christmas.” You could easily do black pajama pants or just plaid. I have done the red “buffalo check” for the last few years and I just pair it with a white or black tee. Second, if you can shop thrift stores, see if you can find your pattern in a few sizes for your family. The third would be to shop early and shop sales. Fill in what you still need with sales. Don’t wait until December 20th and try to get them all!
5) Baking cookies
Price: $1-$10
Bonus Tip: take them to your local police department or fire station!
Baking cookies can be a fun tradition no matter your baking skills! I remember being a child and watching my grandma bake 10 different types of cookies. The week before Christmas was sun up to sun down in the kitchen with cookies and snacks and by Christmas Eve, every single counter space was filled with cookies. You don’t have to be a great baker to make this fun. Get premade cookies and premade frosting and just enjoy! At some stores, you can even buy cookies that are already cut out, you just bake them and decorate! Dollar tree has cookie mixes that are super easy to use!
6) Christmas movies
Price: Netflix/Hulu/Amazon Prime Subscription
This is probably my number one Christmas tradition. From Thanksgiving til Christmas, we probably watch 4-5 Christmas movies a week! Some nights we watch two of them! Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon all have awesome Christmas movie options for those without cable!
7) Family Treats on Christmas Eve
Price: $5-$10
Having a little fun snack as a family before bed on Christmas Eve can be a fun tradition. Grab some popcorn, candy, or hot cocoa and sit around the table as a family. This can pretty much be paired with any of the other traditions like watching a movie or reading the Christmas story!
8) Making paper snowflakes
Price: $1-5
If you have never made a paper snowflake, you are missing out on fun and a mess! There are tons of easy tutorials, but basically you fold a piece of paper into quarters and start cutting fun shapes out of it! When you unfold the paper, it makes symmetrical shapes! Then you can hang your snowflakes on the fridge, windows, or glass doors as a cheap decoration! If you want to be really adventurous you can add a little bit of glitter to them!
9) Make your own Christmas cards
Price: $1-$5
A little bit of construction paper, scissors, glue, and markers can go a long way for some cute Christmas cards to place on the mantle/tv stand! Get as creative or simple as you would like. Make it a tradition to write the year and your favorite things about the year or things you were super interested in that year and watch them grow and change with years to come! This is such a fun plan with kids to have them gift cards for holidays to other people too!
10) Make mason jar snow globes!
Price: $5-$15
Mason Jar snow globes are the perfect little decoration or gift made with things that are cheap/easy to find! You can do all sorts of things with things you can find at the dollar store too!
11) Playing board games/cards together on Christmas Eve/Day
Price: $0-$15
There is always that awkward lull at every family event between the meal and when you want to go home. Often times you want to spend time with everyone after the meal and board games or cards are the perfect thing to fill the time! (It’s better than talking about politics or religion with your Uncle Fred.) You can usually find some board games on sale between Black Friday and Christmas! Next family gathering, have everyone bring a board game from home! You can even check out this reindeer inflatable antler ring toss game!
12) Gingerbread House Competition Tradition
Price: $10-25
Gingerbread houses are a tradition that we don’t participate in, but it can be a ton of fun! I have seen some absolutely gorgeous ones and I have seen some that look like toddlers put them together! (Hint: They are harder than you think.) It can get a little bit more expensive if you get the premade kits, but I have seen people glue together cardboard just to decorate! If you don’t plan on eating it, anything goes! Pinterest has a ton of ideas for doing it cheap and easy!
13) Buy an advent calendar
Price: $1-10
Advent calendars can be full of goodies! They make them with chocolate, wine, whiskey, socks, and pretty much anything else you can think of to put in a calendar! These can be a fun way to countdown til Christmas with younger children so they don’t ask if today is Christmas every single day! I found a advent calendars that includes dressing the reindeer’s antlers!
14) Santa letter tradition
Price: $1-$5
Letter’s to Santa is a great tradition with younger kids in the house! I remember every year as a child writing a letter to Santa! Our local post office always had a mailbox to the North Pole for mailing letters to Santa! I remember my dad taking me down to the mailbox so we could mail my letter as a kid!
15) Christmas music dance party
Price: $0
Money Saving Tip: Use Youtube for all of the Christmas songs/playlists
Singing and dancing around the living room with little ones is a great tradition when they are little! There are a ton of YouTube or Spotify playlists for songs for all ages!
16) Take funny pictures in front of the Christmas tree!
Price: $0-$10 if you print them
Bonus: Use Santa/Elf Hats for added fun!
This is always fun! Dressing up (or wearing pajamas) and taking pictures in front of the Christmas tree is a fun tradition to start with little ones to watch them grow! Bonus fun can include hats and other props! I have now done this with my kid! I have this tripod to use year around, but I actually just take a video of us hanging out by the tree and then I can go back into the video and pause/ screenshot the moments that are picture worthy instead of trying to get the “picture perfect” moment at the right time.
17) Make a holiday greeting video/ Christmas letter’s and send to love ones
Price: Free-$10 if you print them
While everyone used to send a Christmas Letter/Card, they have become a thing of the past! Instead of printing them off and sending them, why not make a mini video with your family, tree, and traditions to capture the fun and share it with your friends! This promotes less waste, spending and clutter, but still allows you to connect! I do still have a few people on my list that I will throw a card and pictures in the mail! This tripod is great instead of trying to hold the phone!
18) Buy socks or gloves (or both) for a homeless shelter
Price: $1-$15
Money Saving Tip: Get them from the dollar tree!
Christmas always seems to be a time to give back a little more and to take time to be thankful for what you have! If you have a local dollar store, making it a family tradition to buy socks and gloves to donate to a local organization can be a good reminder of what you already have.
19) Make it a tradition to clean out toys!
Price: Free!
Another moment to take time to remember all of the things that you already have can be to help little ones decide which toys they no longer need and would like to donate! This helps them make room for the new toys they will receive, but also appreciate what they already own. It also keeps from finding random toys in the bottom of the toy box years later! Whether you decide to sell them to teach them money skills or donate them to a family in need, these moments are great teaching moments!
20) Adopt a child/family/grandparent and go shopping for them!
Price: $10
There are plenty of opportunities during the Christmas season to give back, but sometimes the most simple things can mean the most! I know some stores have trees with ornaments to represent the kids/families that need adopted for the holidays! You can shop and turn in the ornament and the store does most of the work for you! But there are plenty of organizations that are looking for a little extra help during this season to make every kid’s Christmas special!
21) Read The Christmas story out of the Bible (if religious) or attend a Christmas service
Price: Free
Money Saving Tip: Download the YouVersion Bible App if you don’t have a hard copy
As a kid, I remember always going to the Christmas Eve candlelight service. I was so excited when I was old enough to hold my own candle! It was something we did as a family before heading to Grandma’s for dinner and presents! If you have a faith/religion that you belong to, it can be a good moment for reflection! If you start on December 1st, you can read a chapter of the book of Luke every day until Christmas!
22) Milk and cookies for Santa and sprinkle reindeer food on the lawn before bed
Price: $1-5
We always did milk and cookies for Santa as a kid! Santa would always take two bites because if he was going to eat cookies at every house, he couldn’t fill up on them at just one house! Reindeer food was a tradition that I read about from someone else! Mix together quick oats and baking sprinkles and sprinkle it on the lawn so the reindeer have a quick snack!
23) Make a Christmas Scavenger Hunt (or see if your town has one)
Price: $0-15
Our town has Christmas lights throughout downtown that are shaped like the 12 days of Christmas. You can drive or walk up and down the blocks to find all 12 of them or you can look online for a map so you know where they all are! My old roommate and I decided to get hot cocoa one night and drive up and down. We would spot one, find a place to park and take a picture of each one! We laughed so incredibly hard at the struggles of parking downtown, of finding them, and of trying to navigate the one ways of downtown while still locating each one!
24) Host a Dollar Store Gift Exchange
Price: $1-$5 per person
This has always sounded like fun to me! There are two ways I have heard to do it. You can either do it where each person has $1 per person in the family or that you draw names and each person has $5 for that person. Then, go into the store as a family and pick out items that would create a little basket of each persons favorite things! You can do their favorite snacks, little toys, or anything that they would love! As the kids get a little older, it can be fun to have them pick out one thing per person!
25) Breakfast Tradition on Christmas morning
Price: $1-15
Picking something super specific for breakfast on Christmas morning can really make it feel like Christmas. You can really choose from anything, but some ideas are cinnamon rolls, pancakes, waffles, or French toast. Growing up, I remember having cinnamon rolls and some kind of casserole every single Christmas morning. My mom would start the casserole as we started opening presents and then breakfast was ready when we finished opening presents.
Reminder: Give Yourself Grace with Traditions
In 2020, we are going through a pandemic. Lots of us have experienced loss or hardships this year. No one is expecting perfecting from you or your family. If you truly aren’t in the Christmas spirit, that is okay.
2020 is your chance to say no to traditions that don’t bring you joy. Traditions that you don’t like. And create new ones.
Whatever traditions that you decide to partake in, remember that your family is NOT expecting you to do them all. If they are old enough, ask them about their favorite activities. Or if you have super little ones like I do, pick FOUR traditions to do throughout the season! If something doesn’t work for your family and you don’t enjoy it, this is your permission to NOT do it next year.
What FOUR traditions do you want to carry on with your family?
