Buying gifts for your family, friends, and colleagues can be expensive, but it doesn’t have to be! If you’re on a tight budget, the good news is that whether you’re giving gifts for birthdays, anniversaries or the holidays, there are lots of wonderful presents you can give without spending all your hard-earned cash. To make it work, you should create a budget and consider what your recipients will love.

Don’t know where to start? Here are some tips on planning your budget and giving frugal but thoughtful gifts.

Planning your budget

When planning your budget, you should consider the following things:

• The number of people you’re giving gifts to and who they are (eg family, friends, colleagues).
• The reasons for giving the gifts (eg birthday, anniversary, wedding, baby shower, baptism, christening, Christmas, work-related event).
• The type of gifts you’re going to give for each person (eg bottle of wine, children’s toys, household items), plus their potential costs.

After you’ve taken your income and expenses into account, set aside some money for the gifts each month. You can also look at how much you spent on gifts in the previous year to determine how much to save this year. Or, you can set a budget limit of $300, for example, and then attribute dollar amounts to each person.

You can help stretch your budget by buying gifts during big sales or before the holiday season starts. You can also buy things at second-hand stores, bargain stores, or online stores and take advantage of coupons, discounts, and free shipping. You can save more money by buying in bulk (eg a gourmet basket with items that can be separated) or considering DIY craft ideas. Your other options include splitting the money between you and someone else, buying only one gift for each person, or buying gifts for an entire family or group instead of individuals.

On the other hand, taking on a side job can provide extra funds, especially for unexpected gifts that come up. Or you could add an extra 15% to your existing budget.

After you’ve created your budget, make sure to stick to it.

How to give the present on a budget and still be thoughtful

1. Make it personal

If the recipient loves travelling, compile a photo album of their favourite adventures. If they love music, make them a mixtape on a USB drive. If they’re a fan of movies, give them a movie basket with a classic or new movie, a bag of popcorn, yummy snacks, and drinks.

2. Make it from scratch

You can give handmade scarves, soap, lip balms, candles, cookies, or jam. The time and effort you put into making the gift will be appreciated by the recipient.

3. Make it an experience

For birthdays and holidays, you can gather everyone in the family or your friendship group and go ice skating for a day, watch a stage play, or go camping for one night. The money can be split between everyone. For your significant other, you can give them an inexpensive weekend getaway as a gift.

4. Give timeless gifts

If the recipient always travel, hike, visit the gym or go on business trips, give them a sling bag or backpack made from sturdy canvas so it’ll last for years.

5. Give versatile gifts

The versatile Turkish towel can be used as a scarf, sarong, beach towel, and picnic blanket. This’ll save you heaps of money and the recipient will surely love it.

6. Give practical gifts

Consider the likes and interests of your recipients and give them something practical, such as a journal and pens, a new coffee mug or a coffee maker, a drink blender, new headphones, a portable Bluetooth speaker, or compression bags for travel.

7. Give one gift for everyone

For Christmas or work-related events, you can give a plain white mug with a quote or message written on it with a Sharpie, and filled with delicious treats. You can also consider giving a gift basket filled with food and drink items or ingredients.

8. Give memories

You can turn your digital photos into something tangible and memorable. For example, choose a picture for each person on your list, print the image, and then frame it. Or you can consider creating a family or group album. You can also give memories by going on a night out with a friend and buying them dinner.

9. Offer your talents or services

If you’re good with a drill, you can show up at a family member or friend’s house one night with food and offer to fix the shelves they keep complaining about. If you’re good at organising things and your parents have boxes of old photos and keepsakes stacked up in closets, you can buy them a coffee and offer to go through the boxes. You can also help with babysitting or planting a garden.

Secure a personal loan even on a tight budget

With these tips, you should be able to give awesome gifts to your recipients while staying on budget. Just remember that a present that’s personal, timeless, and memorable no matter the price is the best gift you could ever give to someone.

If you’re still not sure about your budget, consider applying for a loan. SRG Finance specialises in same-day cash loans and we can help you with a personal loan to help you cover your budget shortfalls.