Budgeting for Holiday Gifts at Every Price Range

One of my most carefully cultivated life skills is in the art of gifting. I absolutely delight in gifting people when they least expect it, sneaking it on their front steps (or, once, on top of their car in the parking lot) and running away in elfish glee. For some reason it seems like nobody expects to get presents when they hit adulthood, so I love turning the tables on everyone close to me in that regard. No matter how much money I had to spend each year I still managed to churn out some neat presents, as budgeting for holiday gifts is just as much of a skill as the actual present-choosing itself.

My own gift expenses seem to go up every year, which they are. Thanks to my shiny financial management I’ve got more room in my budget AND more money to spend on them than ever. This is especially meaningful in COVID times since gifts are what we have left when we can’t meet in person for hugs and close socializing.

In General

There is no more applicable scenario of “it’s the thought that counts” than when it comes to gift-giving. The most treasured gifts are those that are meaningful, and to reach meaningful they have to first be thoughtful. (That might be the most philosophical sentence I’ve written this year.) People can tell when you’ve put thought into the gift; most people will love seeing that you invested more than dollars into your gift of choice.

If You’re Broke ($0-$10)

I was in this position for all of my life up until a couple of years ago. The most important part is deciding how much money you can really afford to spend. At this price range my go-tos for gifts are from four sources: my own handiwork, thrifting, candy bouquets, and getting creative.

Baked Goods

I’ve seen this done in several ways, including baking and crafting. If you’d rather spring for giving them homemade goodies, see if your friend(s) would be happy with baked goods. I had a manager once whose gift of choice to everyone around her was this homemade chocolate syrup she’d pour in a Mason jar and give to you. And I mean, who doesn’t love homemade goodies? There’s plenty of sites out there that give you ideas for inexpensive treats you can whip up, including plenty of easy options.

Baking your way to a neat gift is as expensive as you make it. In college my go-to was making super simple Nutella truffles, which everyone LOVED. This recipe is similar and shows all the ingredients would run you about $9, if you don’t have one of them on hand already. Just check to be sure your loved one doesn’t have dietary restrictions. You don’t want to gift them something they can’t enjoy!

Crafting Work – Décor, Embroidery, and More

Don’t want to touch the oven if you can help it? Then get your craft on! Being handy with a thread and needle is a top skill for making you rich, which further helps you out in the holiday season. Put your mark on a patch or pillow for your friend, like a nice little message or simple image.

This really works: with an embroidered message on a $5 throw pillow from Target, I moved a friend of mine to tears this last Christmas. They were tears of laughter because the message was an inside joke between us. Check out my Instagram if you’d like to see it in all its “#1” glory.

Use Freebies and Make it Special

If you genuinely have $0 but still want to gift them something nice, I got you. See if there’s something you can do for them that will itself be a gift. Maybe try scoring a free drink at Starbucks and treat your friend on a bad day. Or taking care of some errand you know they’ve been dreading. Or check out games from the library and have a board game night of fun and mayhem. Whatever fits the context of your relationship is the way to go. Again, true friends will still treasure what you gift them when that gift is something meaningful.

Get Creative at the Dollar Store

I really need to write a post on how amazing the dollar store is. If you haven’t been in one lately, you’re missing out on tons of (mostly) great deals. Take advantage of this in the holiday season; if you can only spend, say, $5 on a gift per person, this is one of your best bets for doing something cute. A few years ago, when I did indeed only had $5 to spend per person, I went there and made candy bouquets for my friends. It looked very similar to the below bouquet I found on Google, which goes for $30.

Their plates/bowls and home décor/knickknacks are also great, if you’d like to gift them something more along those lines. Use your best judgment here and choose what will be a valuable find.

Upcycle and More by Thrifting

I am all about secondhand treasure that, in turn, reduces our environmental impact. When it comes to gifting people things you got secondhand, however, you should do so with caveats. I wouldn’t gift any clothing, for example, unless your friend has explicitly stated that’s fine. The only time I’ve gifted a friend clothing was when I found a designer scarf I thought she’d like, and years later she STILL loves that thing!

Remember though that thrift stores have much, much more than threads. Besides clothes they’ve got books, games, art, funky décor, lamps, craft supplies, and honestly a ton of random odds and ends. At my local thrift store I found a cute print of a black cat for $2. I took it home and painted some white spots on it so it’d look exactly like my friend’s cat and that was her surprise birthday gift. See what else you can fine – and possibly upcycle – while you’re in there.

If Things are “Small Scale” ($10-$25)

I put “small scale” in quotes for a reason. Once you’ve figured out how to gift people with single-digit dollars, budgeting for holiday gifts at this range just opens up the possibilities further. At this price range you’re open to a ton more holiday gift options than you might think.

You might also choose to gift more than just one item in this price range. There was one year I made personalized gift baskets for my closest friends; some included books, some wine, some houseware odds and ends. All of them had some kind of candy in with them. I only have one photo of my baskets from that year but GOSH AREN’T THEY NICE??

At this price range you can also go the gift card route, if you so choose. Personally I’d only gift someone this if one of two conditions are met:

1. I’m genuinely unsure what to get them, or
2. They’re a wet rag and never know what they want as a gift, thus insisting the only satisfactory one is a gift card. To be fair this was me in high school, being a shy teenager and all; gift cards back then meant free reign to spend on whatever my heart desired at the strip mall by the highway.

Note: don’t feel bad if a gift card’s the best you can think of.

Hey, there might be someone out there you want to gift but just plum don’t know that well. Like an unfailingly helpful neighbor, a friendly coworker from another department, or a relative you love but aren’t close with. In these cases of acquaintance-ship I’d place the $10 gift card as thoughtful in and of itself. It says “hey, we’re not that close but I still wanted to do something for you in appreciation for how awesome you’ve been”.

You’ve Made It ($25-$50)

This is the first year I’m in this range myself (for some of my giftees) and it feels AWESOME. During my temp days a big-hearted realtor gave me a $50 gift card, which at the time was an unmatched display of generosity. Now I’m dumping this much on my friends and it’s even MORE awesome. This time around you can go even crazier if you so choose; I have to rein in my impulses and not go too overboard.

I’m friends with a couple that loves to go on long hiking trips through mountains and forest reserves. This obviously doesn’t provide much opportunity for electric outlets or recharging their electronics. To remedy this I got them a portable solar charger and battery! (That’s an affiliate link.) This is also kind of a gift for myself too, because I love living vicariously through their Instagram photos of said hikes. Nobody said your gifts have to be completely selfless, right?

Anyway, I’ve got another friend who’s living in NYC for her grad school program. She’s constantly hard at work studying in her shoebox apartment down there. I say she deserves something awesome like a huge blanket hoodie for maximum coziness this winter. (That’s an affiliate link.) It’s basically an upgraded Snuggie and nothing sounds better to me in quarantine than that.

You’re Ballin ($50+)

Dude. I’m still amazed I can dump this much money on other friends. My brother’s getting the bulk of this because I’ll be both hosting him for New Year’s and trying to make up for this pandemic year. For other friends, though, they’re getting lavish gifts.

There’s two in particular I’m especially proud of. I’ve got another friend who’s also entered a grad program this year, but chose to do so in London. That meant I had to figure out how to ship her a gift overseas while dealing with customs and all the other crap to do with international shipping. Until, that is, I recalled I wouldn’t have to.

Instead, I simply ordered some gifts (courtesy of the Tate Museum!) and put down her London address in the shipping info. Boom, now she’s getting specialty art supplies and books that’s set to deliver tomorrow. And full disclosure: I totally forgot to convert the pound price to dollar price so this was more expensive that I had planned. No regrets though.

And this is the present I’m most excited for gifting one of my oldest friends: a noble title. This friend is really into fantasy books/movies and – no joke – SWORDFIGHTS on a regular basis (aka historical European martial arts). She’s also got Scottish ancestry so I went and made her a Scottish lady. $65-ish bought her a while five square feet of land which, via Established Titles, means she’s officially part of the Scots nobility.

I can’t wait until I start gifting people subscription boxes, which I’m already planning for the coming years. Your friend/loved one gets monthly reminders of your joy and gratitude that they exist with a subscription picked just for them? God tier gifting.

But Really, it’s Not About the Price Tag

The rules are the same no matter what you’re budgeting for holiday gifts: make it meaningful, show you’ve put thought into it, get creative if you can. It’s luckily not so much about how expensive your gifts are, but again how much of yourself you’ve put into it.

If it IS about the price tag to your giftee, you can safely write them off as an entitled twat and only gift them $3 candles from then on, if anything. And I do mean that to a T. There are currently four candles sitting on my counter destined to the ungrateful – but obligatory – giftees on my holiday list. In case you think I don’t practice my own advice.

Cover image credit: Mel Poole via Unsplash