12 Smart Ways to Save Money on Gifts

Looking to save money on gifts? Who isn’t! No matter how old we get, receiving gifts can never become boring. No matter the occasion, we are always looking forward to getting gifts from family and friends.

But what happens when you are the one who is giving the gifts? Things can get a little difficult as you think “what’s the best gift to get?” or “How can I give the best gifts without blowing my budget?”

This article is sponsored by Best Gift Listings. 

As for “where to find the best gift ideas,” you can check out Best Gift Listings, there you can find great gift ideas for any person, any occasion, and with any budget.

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Now, let’s discuss a solution to the later, “How can I give the best gifts without blowing my budget?” You see gifting with a budget is a smart thing, so if you are doing this already, kudos.

We’ve put together the tips below to help you stick to that awesome financially responsible budget. Here are 12 Smart ways that you can save money for gifts.

1. Find a Badass Budget Calculator

If you haven’t gotten a budget already, this is arguable one of the best to go about saving money on gifts. Budgets are fantastic because they serve as a perfect guide on how to spend on gifting. If you want to get even better results, you want to get a budget calculator made specific for gift giving. Click here to check our FREE Gift-Giving Budget Calculator.

This is the budget calculator that many of our readers use for their Christmas gift-giving budgeting, however, it can serve you and help you save a great deal of money ALL year round!

You can also search for gift-giving budget calculators on the internet if you don’t like our free budget calculator. The internet is filled with tremendous amounts of resources and answers for almost any problem you might encounter while gifting.

Just make sure you are NOT paying for a budget calculator because you can always get something better than that FOR free. Besides, we are trying to save money not squander it, right?

Related: How to make extra money in time for Christmas

2. DIY a Gift

That’s right. If you have a creative side to you AND you want to save money. You might think of creating your very own gift. This can give you a lot of creative and financial freedom.

Additionally, because you are the maker of the gifts, you get to save a lot more money than if you might have bought it.

You can even buy a gift like an inexpensive printable coupon book template that you can cut and put together so that you can customize it to your own (or the recipient’s) taste.

It’s just like making your lunch rather than eating out at a restaurant every day for lunch.

You can save tremendous amounts of money by doing this and that money can come around to help you with something else down the line. You never know!

3. Don the Apron

If you’ve got the talented side of Gordon Ramsey in you, you could use that to your money-saving advantage. How can you use that in gifting? You can bake, cook, roast, fry something for your gift recipient.

Do you have a cookie recipe that everyone is always praising? Do you have awesome international food that you would like your friends to try? Perhaps, you can make cool beverages that can be packaged as gifts.

Whatever it is, as long you can bring it to life in the kitchen and feel comfortable serving it to others, then you’ve got a green light.

Just make sure you follow good gifting etiquette and watch out for allergies or foods that they dislike.

Related: 8 Ways to earn cashback from your Holiday shopping

4. Save Money with Apps and Extensions

You can save a lot of money with you and the apps available to be used on it. Apps like iBotta, Christmas Gift List (a budget calculator), and ShopSavvy can help you save tremendous amounts of money.

You could also use browser extensions like Honey browser extension or Wikibuy Saver to save money. These extensions will gather deals, coupon codes, and savings from all over the internet to help you save money on gifting. You know just because you want to give an awesome gift does not mean that you have to break the bank to do so.

5. Buy before the “Hots” season – shop beforehand

Growing up, you probably remember your parents shopping for back to school items in October or for Christmas classics in August. You know there is a reason why. They are being smart and shopping for these items when they’re in stock BUT not in season.

Shopping for your Christmas gift list in august is great because retailers are likely displaying these items but have not jacked up the prices.

Related: Ultimate gifts for entrepreneurs

You can come in and grab those gift items then and save much more on them. If you did not know that this works, you should seriously consider giving it a try because you would be amazed. It’s one of the best and wisest ways to save lots of money on gifts, no matter who or when you are giving the gift.

6. Give ‘em Some Cash Instead

For some people, giving cash might be a “no-go zone.” The reason is that some people might find it insulting that you are giving them cash as a gift. If you’ve got creative freedom and your recipient doesn’t mind or is the appropriate person (like a college student) then cash could be the best gift you can give.

The best part is that you can give cash as a gift without being tacky about it!

How? Gift Cards! Surely, you can always give someone an old fashion stack of bills as a gift but it’s better to present it as a gift – because that is exactly what it should be in the first place.

A great way to do this is by giving your recipient a nice envelope with a gift card. There are loads of gift cards to choose from. Just try to see to it that the gift card that you give is one that they want. If you know that they want to shop at Sephora, then there you go, give them a Sephora gift card.

This saves you from the hassle of shopping for the gift.

Additionally, chances are that they’re going to be happiest with whatever they can buy with the gift card because they picked it. Now, if you don’t know a particular store favorite, you can give them a generic gift card like a visa card or an Amazon gift card.

7. Find Deals on Amazon

Speaking of Amazon, Did you know that Amazon has a Daily Deals page that you can browse to find thousands of incredible gift deals. We are talking anywhere 5% off to 60% off!

That’s right! Amazon is flooded with these deals and you should take a day or two to see what comes up. You just might be surprised by the gift inspiration you find.

Maybe you find that a nice Keurig coffee maker just went from $120 down to $80 and that it would be a great gift for your cousin’s wedding.

Now, would you like to miss that huge discount? Of course not, so consider checking out Amazon deals so that you can save tons of money while giving quality gifts.

Check out these other incredible money-saving hacks for shopping at Amazon. 

 

8. Make the Gift Priceless

Put Meaning and History Behind the Gift: This is one of the top ways to save money on gifts while still delivering world-class gifts.

If you find a way to slow down the next time that you think about gifting and find ways to put some “rich history” into the gift, you can significantly increase the value of the gift while keeping expenses down.

Here’s an example:

Instead of buying a digital picture frame, you could buy a couple of frames from your favorite arts and crafts shop, buy some ribbon, grab some photos of the “good ‘ol times” in order to make a gift that they will never forget.

The best part is, your wallet doesn’t sweat much and you give them a gift that they would never discard even in the unforeseen circumstances.

9. Remain Levelheaded

If you know that you are someone who makes promises to buy gifts that are way over your budget then you might think of slowing down with the St. Nicolas spirit. If it’s your niceness, be a little bit realistic about your budget.

Remember, your budget is your friend and should be treated like such.

You can ask your recipient about their ideal gifts as they might suggest a gift that works great with your budget.

Whatever you do, do not buy gifts that overshoot your budget just to impress others or just to have the best gift in the house. It’s not worth it because, chances, are that those people probably do not care.

After all, it is always great gift-giving etiquette to take price tags off of gifts and include a gift recipient instead, just in case they want to return the gift to the merchant. Keep your ego in check and give gifts that fit your budget, believe us, you and your recipient will be happier this way.

10. Shop with a “closed list.”

What does it mean to shop with a closed list? Shopping with a closed list means that ones you assign a gift to everyone on your list, their gift doesn’t change unless something dire happens.

Such instances of flexibility can arise if the gift retailer(s) no longer sell that gift or that person (the recipient) specifically asks you for a substitute gift that is still in your price budget.

Any other deviations from these parameters are not to be considered. This can greatly help you in saving money on gifts because you know exactly what to buy, what store to buy it for the best price, hence leaving no room for second-guessing.

Related: 100 Ways to save money every day

Have you ever found yourself at a store with hopes of “grabbing a few things” and then ended up buying four times as much as your intent budget yet you didn’t really find everything you wanted to get to begin with?

That’s exactly what happens when you don’t have a closed list. Not just a “list.” You have to make sure that everyone’s gift is essentially set in stone and then you take that list and shop those exact items. It will save you loads of time and lots of money.

11. Think Year Long

One of the most “disciplined” but “could be game-like” ways to save money is to think about gifting all year long. If it is June and you know that your awesome niece is graduating high school in the next year during May.

Or maybe your best friend will buy a house in about 8 months and will invite you to the housewarming dinner that will happen shortly after, well, then you can start planning, crafting, and setting money aside for the gifts, in advance.

A lot of the stress that eats our money when gifting comes from the fact that we do not give ourselves enough time to find the money or the perfect gift for that occasion.

You can solve this by thinking of a gift occasion in advance and then proceed to put away small amounts of money so that by the time the occasion rolls around, you’ve got the gift in a bag – literary!

12. Compare Prices

You always want to make sure that you shop for the best prices on your gifts. All retailers and manufacturers are not the same. So, make sure that you search for the best gift prices by shopping for different suppliers fo the gift.

Some retailers might be selling the item cheaper in order to compete with bigger retailers. Others might offer a “buy this, get this free (or half off)” deal which might benefit your gift.

Never overlooking shopping around for the best prices. You see, you probably shop around for the best prices all the time. You do it when you buy groceries as you browse different brands, sizes, and designs.

When you bought your car’s insurance, you probably shopped around for the best prices. So, if we do it so much, then it makes perfect sense that we should do it when shopping for gifts.

Now, those are 12 awesome ways to save money while gifting, if you would like to see more gift guides, make sure to check out Best Gift Listings. 

We hope that you found value in this list and that you walked away knowing a few news ways to save money on gifts.

Whether you want to find gifts for your sweet grandmother’s birthday, national best friend’s day, or your dog-loving neighbor, note that Best Gift Listings has you covered with great gift ideas and gift guides.

John Ede is the Editor-in-Chief at Best Gift Listings. He enjoys gifting, acting, fitness, and saving money. Best Gift Listings is a website that helps awesome people like you by giving them great gift advice and cool gift ideas, no matter the person, occasion, or budget.