50 Free & Frugal Christmas Gifts That Are Also Fun & Personal

Plants

1. Foraged Christmas wreath

You can use oranges and dry them out, or go forage for evergreens, dried leaves, flowers, or whatever you can find, and make a beautiful Christmas wreath. If you dry them properly, they can be used, if stored correctly, for multiple years. 

2. Handmade Christmas garland

3. Foraged bouquet

4. Propagate plants

Throughout the year you can take cuttings and propagate your plants. They’ll be ready for Christmas to give people as plants. 

5. Homemade hanging basket

Crafts

6. Make macrame hangings

7. Make homemade potpourri

8 and 9. Draw or paint a picture

10. Make a scrapbook

11. Have their favorite photos printed

12. Embroider a beautiful picture

If you are good at embroidering things, you can embroider pillows or frame beautiful pictures. 

13. Knit something

Knit a scarf, a hat, socks, gloves, or all these things. 

14. Make candles

15. Make a personalized homemade snow globe

You can research it all online, save a jar and then collect little bits and bobs made to work at cake shops that you can use in the snow globes. 

16. Write a poem

17. Write someone a personalized story

18. Make soap

You can buy all of this online and give people beautiful homemade soaps with flowers. 

19. Grow your own food and gift it to people

Rethink gifting

20. Make coupons

This you can run off with. If you've got families that have children, make coupons for babysitting. What sort of thing does your loved one appreciate and give them coupons for that this year? 

21. Shop secondhand for your Christmas gifts

22. Secret Santas

Another way you can save money for Christmas is to set up a secret Santa rather than getting everyone gifts. Every year we have set up secret Santas, which means we have a £20 gift limit. If eight people get involved, you're only spending £20 rather than £160.

23. Regift things

Give something that you already have. We want to get something for someone that they like and appreciate. 

24. Agree not to give gifts this year

You can agree with your friends and family not to do gifts this year. Go out and do something together instead.

25. Bring and share events

Rather than giving gifts, let's agree with our friends and family not to give gifts and have a bring-and-share movie night or a bring-and-share walk, where you bring food, you bring movies, you bring treats, and you all spend time together rather than money. 

26. Make homemade decorations

27. Make homemade bath bombs or sugar scrubs

28. Make homemade Play-Doh

I made loads of homemade Play-Doh in all different colors. I made some for a three-and-a-half-year-old to put in his stocking. He played with Play-Doh all day. 

29. Give people books

I don't mean going to a new bookshop and buying all new books. I'm talking about going to a secondhand bookshop or a charity shop.

Food

30. Make homemade fudge

31. Homemade cookies

It's not just the cookies that are a gift, it's how you present them. You can put them in beautiful jars with a ribbon, or you can just put them on parchment paper with beautiful bows and yummy cookies. 

32. Make homemade gingerbread men or houses

33. Give people homemade honey

If you keep bees, make honey as gifts. 

34 and 35. Make homemade jams and chutneys

36. Make homemade brownies

37. Make homemade marshmallows

38. Make your own mulled wine spice kit

39. Make your own shortbread

40. Make your own homemade millionaire shortbread

41. Make your own homemade cakes

They can be carrot cakes, coffee, or homemade Christmas cakes. 

42. Make homemade muffins

43. Create homemade infused oils

There are hundreds of recipes online for homemade infused oils. 

44. Make little DIY cocktail kits

45 and 46. Santa and reindeer cones

These are great because they are super cute gifts for children or parties. 

47. Something in a jar

Rather than making the muffins, cakes, or brownies, you can make your kit in a jar for so much cheaper throughout the year. Collect your jars, and make beautiful labels with instructions on what they should do. 

48. Make hot chocolate kits

You can make these as luxurious or as basic as you like. You put all the ingredients into a container to make fun hot chocolates. 

49. Emergency sweet pack

I've seen these all over the place on Pinterest. You go to Ikea, get a frame, and fill it with all different sweets. Write on the front, Break Glass in Case of emergencies. Please don't break the glass, have a way for them to open it from the back.

50. Give popcorn

This can come in a few different ways. Popcorn kernels are cheap. You can buy big packs of popcorn kernels, and you only need a handful to fill a bag. You can make flavored popcorn or make popcorn like movie night kits where you add the different flavors and have everything ready for them to go, and they just put it all together. 

50 Frugal Christmas gifts

That is my 50 frugal Christmas gift ideas. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below, and add your ideas. Christmas gifts can be thoughtful without wrecking your budget.