There are so many events every year that mean you’re dipping your hand in your wallet for family and friends over and over. While this is a generous and wonderful thing to do, you have to be able to think about your personal budget and whether you can afford to keep buying gifts for everyone you know. Setting a budget for yourself on what you should spend on gifts through the year isn’t easy, especially when there are so many things you can spend your money on!

Firstly, agree with family who you should buy for and a maximum spend amount. If there are a lot of children in the family, then everyone agreeing to spending your money on just the children can be a nice balance. This way, the adults understand that the big occasions like Christmas are easily thought out and you can buy the gifts through the year so that you don’t have to worry too much about spending a huge chunk of money at once. If you need some great budget gift ideas, check out our list below so you can make some great choices on gifts for your family:

DIY gifts: One of the biggest ways you can save money on mass Christmas gifting for children and even for adults, is to make gifts yourself. Websites like Pinterest and others have some amazing diy creative ideas so that you can make your own gifts without spending out a lot of money. This can be anything from homemade chocolates and biscuits to soaps that you have made yourself. People really appreciate the thought that goes into DIY and when it’s gifting, there’s so much more than just money that goes into it.

Yourself: Okay, so you’re not going to wrap yourself in paper and post yourself to your friends, but the gift of your time can be so valuable. Elderly relatives will appreciate you volunteering to spend your time taking them shopping or helping them with housework. Sometimes, all they would care about is your company. Your nephews and nieces may have strung out, stressed out parents so gifting your time in babysitting can be invaluable to them.

Photos: Collages and books of photos from sites like this often have fantastic deals for people who want to pull their digital photographs off of social media and into a physical book. Photos don’t have to be hugely expensive and by collaging photos onto cushions or canvases, the older relatives you buy for can enjoy the sentimental value.

Days Out: There are so many deals on Groupon and even on the sides of cereal boxes. Instead of individual gifts, have everyone chip in for a day out at a theme park. Better yet, everyone can bring a basket of food for a picnic in the local park. The kids get to play, the adults get to chill out and you haven’t spent too much of your wages. Memories make for better gifts for the most part and you can capitalise on that!