Christmas – The Funky Thrifter

Budget Christmas Activities with Kids

December 8, 2019December 8, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Children, Christmas, Kids

This weekend, I took my kids to an enchanted garden at Antrim Castle Gardens. There are so many Santa experiences and winter wonderland—type events on now; you have to pick and choose what to attend if you’re on a budget. So, I decided to turn the enchanted garden trip into a mini day trip and make it a spending day for us.
We drove to a shopping outlet with a park and ride at it. My kids get inexpressibly excited by bus journeys. I guess we tend to walk or drive everywhere, so it feels like a treat to them. We stopped for hot chocolate and gingerbread men before getting the bus. I have one daughter that always likes the idea of hot chocolate better than the taste of it so I spent most of the time trying to persuade her to drink it 😀 but it was a nice idea 🙂

We took the bus to the garden and I was impressed by how elaborate it was. We spent nearly three hours there. You could buy tokens for the various old-fashioned rides, one of which was a train to meet Santa. There were food and coffee stalls and we had some Chinese food at the picnic benches. It was surprisingly quiet so I think choosing to go early in December was a good idea. There were no interminable queues for rides or stampedes for donuts.

There was a Santa’s workshop where the kids were given selection boxes. As well as the main features, there were separate lighted woods and hedges, fairies and princes and princesses on stilts and Christmas music playing throughout the gardens. I’ve decided I find outdoor activities with my kids much less stressful – the walking tires them out and everything feels less crowded. It was one of those events where you spend ten pounds for entry and thirty inside the gates, but I think it’s excusable as a one-off day out 🙂 It will give me incentive to seek out free events and activities to do at home for a while 🙂

The next day we were in need of a day in the house, so we made some Christmas cookies and played board games. I like to look out for board games throughout the year in charity shops. You can find a wide range of them for a couple of pounds and build up a collection for wintry days. I got some Halloween sprinkles for 10p this week, so we used them. If you aren’t perfectionistic about that type of thing, it’s a good way to buy sprinkles etc for nothing. (I like anything with skulls on it anyway :))

We watched The Grinch with the Christmas lights on, on what was a dark afternoon before going out to a free lantern parade near our house. The kids had made lanterns a couple of weeks earlier at a workshop. The parade walked about a mile led by a Santa sleigh and drummers, and we bumped into everyone we knew 🙂 It finished with a fireworks display that I was impressed by for such a small-scale event. I think I’m ready for some hibernation now and no spend weekends ahead after the busy nature of this weekend 🙂

10 More Ways to Save Money at Christmas

November 27, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Christmas, Family

A continuation of my other post about cutting costs at Christmas time with the help of some creativity 🙂

1. Reuse Christmas decorations. Don’t feel the need to buy new items every year. If you want to update what you have, get a couple of unusual Christmas baubles or make your own wreath. You can do this without spending any money. Just go for a walk in a forest and collect natural materials.

2. Pick one event you want to go to and skip the rest. If you have one thing to look forward to it feels much more special than if you book every available event. It stops the kids getting overwrought anyway. Christmas is hectic enough without adding additional pressure.

3. Have Christmas movies and popcorn at home. Instead of going to the cinema, just recreate it at home. Give your kids pretend tickets, make a snacks counter where they can help themselves and turn out all the lights.

4. Have hot chocolate in the dark with just the Christmas lights on 🙂 If you have a fire, light it – as well as creating a Christmas atmosphere, it saves on heating costs 🙂

5. Bake your own shortbread, gingerbread men or Christmas cake. Give them as presents in little pastry bags. You can find these in the baking section in most discount shops.

6. Have an agreed budget for presents with your family and friends. Instead of buying gifts for friends, put some money into organising a day out for Christmas coffee and treats together instead.

7. Don’t be affected by other people’s choices. Just because your friend chose to spend hundreds on their children or paid for them to go to every magical event in the area doesn’t mean you’re a bad parent because you can’t. Kids appreciate the time you spend with them and it’s ok to say no.

8. Don’t buy every kind of everything. You don’t need to have a five course meal with every dessert option and nine types of party platter. Keep it simple and make what people will actually eat. Underestimate how much you need, because at Christmas time we are brainwashed into buying a feast for four hundred with every poster we pass. You don’t need everything that’s on offer. You don’t need every drink available in the shops. Take the stress off yourself and make less.

9. Save all your leftovers and use them in different ways so you don’t sicken yourself with Christmas food 🙂 Freeze whatever you won’t use right away. For example, use cranberry sauce in sandwiches, with cheese and crackers, with melted Brie. Fry leftover veg to make a stir fry, or blend them to make soup.

10. Keep cards and gift bags for kids’ crafts or to use for future projects. You could make your own cards for next year by cutting out the images and arranging them in different ways or add them to gift bags to make personalised ones. Reuse things you would typically throw away. There is so much unnecessary waste around Christmas time and I like to minimise it where I can.

Hope this post gives you a few ideas of ways to reduce spending around Christmas time and to use what you already have 🙂

10 Easy Ways to Save Money at Christmas

November 19, 2019 by Keelan LaForge, posted in Budgeting, Christmas

There is so much expense leading up to Christmas, particularly when you have kids. I was thinking of some ideas of how to save money leading up to the most expensive, I mean, wonderful time of the year. I hope these give people a few ideas 🙂

1. Make hampers. You can get a basket from the pound shop and fill it with whatever you like, wrapping it in cellophane and ribbon. You can adapt it to suit anyone – sweets, alcohol, afternoon tea, beauty products, manicure set, stationery, reading (eg, fill with books, bookmarks, a teacup, tea bags etc.)

2. Get your kids to make your Christmas cards/get supplies from the pound shop and make your own personal ones.

3. Get cheaper drinks. It’s easy to find mulled wine and Buck’s Fizz at a reasonable price and it doesn’t cost as much as spirits. Or buy own brand ones. I love the coffee cream liqueur from Lidl and I can’t tell the difference between it and a branded bottle.

4. Don’t go overboard. I think the reason why so many people end up with money troubles in January is that they feel pressured to overspend and spoil their kids. In my experience, the more thoughtfully you buy fewer presents for kids, the more they enjoy it. They’d rather have one thing they love and a few treats than half the contents of the nearest toy shop. By next year most of it will probably be in a charity shop or cluttering up your house anyway.

5. Make your own mince pies. Buy a large jar of mincemeat in a discount shop and make a simple pastry to encase it. Use it as an activity to do with your kids instead of taking them to an activity with charges.

6. Make driving to see the Christmas lights an event. The most magical part of my childhood was when we got into the car, went into town and drove in a loop around the City Hall to see the lights. Drive around your neighbourhood to see decorations or take the bus into town to walk and look at the lights. (If you live in Belfast, there are light projection shows for free across the road from Castlecourt from 4pm from 16th November until 10th January.) There is also a free Christmas light switch on in most towns.

7. Eurospar are holding free Christmas parties in various locations leading up to Christmas. Ask in your local one about the date for theirs. Select a couple of low cost events and turn them into special days instead of a catalogue of events that tire kids out and leave you penniless and emotionally spent.

8. Buy less meat. The most expensive part of Christmas dinner is the meat and if you’re living on a tight budget, don’t feel under pressure to provide turkey, ham and all the trimmings. Choose one kind of meat, chicken legs or lamb and make extra pigs in blankets or cocktail sausages – everyone in my house seems to prefer them to the turkey anyway 🙂 Alternatively, buy a frozen turkey crown and slow cook with lots of basting. It will taste just as moist as a fresh one. Serve smaller portions of meat and bulk it out with potatoes and stuffing.

9. Buy one Christmas food item on sale every week. If you save things up as you go, it’s easier to accumulate everything you need without noticing the dent in your budget. Just check the freezer and cupboards periodically in case you forget what you have and buy doubles 🙂

10. Go to a Christmas market with a set amount of cash. If you operate in cash and set a limit, you have to be inventive and think about what you really want to buy. I think a lot of overspending comes from always assuming everyone in a group or family has to have an elaborate meal/every available option. Simplify things. Get a hot dog to share with your kids, or some mini donuts for everyone to share. Have dinner at home afterwards.

I feel like I’ve reached the end of this post and this only glazes the surface of ideas for Christmas on a budget, so I’ll write a continuation of this post soon 🙂