100 Frugal Ways to Enjoy the Holiday Spirit With Your Family

This year you don’t have to be pulled down by the commercialism of the holiday season. Instead, you can use these 100 Frugal Ways to Enjoy the Holiday Spirit With Your Family.

From simple nights at home, to helping those around your neighborhood, you can join with your loved ones to really focus back on the origins of the holidays and why they are important to remember every year.

100 Frugal Ways to Enjoy the Holiday Spirit With Your Family

Spend more nights in with electronics off and focusing on each other.
Volunteer together at local events for the homeless or less privileged.
Teach your children about the real St. Nicholas and why he gave children gifts.
Make homemade holiday flavored treats like pies, cakes, cookies or candy. Here is an Easy Peppermint Bark Recipe perfect for the holidays.
Take your family to an area live nativity scene.
Teach your children what the first Thanksgiving really was about.
Send cards or letters to family members out of town. Not a generic message, but a real hand-written message.
Make holiday foods and share with neighbors.
Help your neighbors rake leaves or shovel their driveways if it is already snowing.
Attend a local holiday parade.
Pay it forward by buying a meal for a stranger.
Put up holiday decorations outside as well as inside your home.
Volunteer to clean or assist with holiday decorations at your local church.
Make homemade gifts in a jar to give to friends and family instead of buying gifts. This Harvest Spice Latte Sugar Scrub would be a nice way to pamper friends and relatives.
Go caroling with your local church.
Volunteer at a local soup kitchen on Thanksgiving or Christmas day.
Read the Christmas story from the Bible together as a family.
Have a family board game night instead of movie night out.
Spend an evening together crafting homemade gifts for the members of your immediate family instead of buying gifts.
Drive around town to see local holiday light displays.
Make homemade apple cider or hot cocoa and drink it outside in the cold. Here are 10 Homemade Hot Cocoa Recipes.
Attend a holiday church service as a family.
Watch holiday movies like A Christmas Story, The Miracle On 34^th St., White Christmas, or Home Alone.
Host a neighborhood holiday party with appetizers and desserts.
Chop down your own Christmas tree for your home.
Make snow angels.
Visit a local nursing home or retirement center to cheer up those who don’t have family in the area.
Decorate your tree with homemade ornaments made by your family. Here is a DIY Canning Jar Lid Wreath Ornament that looks easy enough for any family member.
Go ice skating at a local ice rink.
Pass down family secret recipes to your kids.
Go see a holiday play at a local theater or school.
Make a new family holiday tradition with games, movies, foods or events.
Volunteer to ring the bell for the Salvation Army at a local store.
Pass out blankets, scarves, socks, mittens and hats to the homeless in your community.
Find real mistletoe in a tree to cut down and put in entryways of your home.
Make food baskets or boxes to leave on the porch of someone you know who is in need.
Take family photos to use on your holiday cards, or simply to commemorate the holiday.
Make homemade decorations like paper chains, or string popcorn and cranberries. This DIY Dried Fruit Garland is another festive option.
Make your own holiday stockings to go on the mantle.
Make a gingerbread house or homemade gingerbread men
Build a snowman in your front yard.
Gather pine cones and coat them in glitter and cinnamon essential oil for a fun table decoration.
Volunteer to help plan or organize your local church holiday program.
Babysit for a single parent who needs help during the holidays.
Have your children make homemade gifts for their friends and teachers.
Go sledding in the snow.
Go visit Santa Claus with your family and get everyones picture on his lap.
Volunteer to read stories to kids at a local hospital.
Take a meal or treats to your local fire department or police department.
Buy a few inexpensive toys and donate to the local orphanage or kids home.
Make care packages for soldiers who are stationed away from home.
Go stargazing on a clear winter night using an app to help learn what constellations are visible.
Make your own version of a fruit cake.
Share at least one holiday tradition from another culture with your family.
Color in coloring books with your kids.
Make homemade toys like painted blocks, rag dolls or even doll houses with your family.
Spend a weekend with “no electricity” by cooking meals over an open flame, heating your home with wood heat, and doing things like reading, playing games or playing cards with your family.
Take a nature hike looking for items you could use to decorate or cook for the holidays.
Invite someone in need to share a holiday meal with you.
Don’t forget to give gifts to service people like your mail carrier, bank teller, house keeper, dog sitter, or babysitter.
Make homemade eggnog with and without alcohol.
Read a book together as a family instead of watching television.
Volunteer to help with the local Angel Tree to buy gifts for those in need.
Make snow ice cream if your area has snow.
Listen to great holiday music.
Make a holiday wreath using branches, leaves and berries from your yard.
Decorate your mailbox.
Create a holiday song “mix tape” for your family to listen to.
Make a holiday family photo collage to commemorate past holiday events with your family.
Memorize a holiday poem as a family.
Make a holiday photo shadow box together using images from past holidays.
Take pictures together for a new custom calendar for the next year.
Go window shopping with the family.
Bake cookies and share fresh from the oven with your neighbors.
Create a thankful jar by adding slips of paper with things to be thankful for in a mason jar. Let everyone in the family contribute to the jar.
Make spiced tea using Tang, Instant Tea and Instant Lemonade to enjoy with your kids.
Make paper snowflakes with the kids to hang as decorations in your home.
Go camping and eat food over an open fire outside.
Let your kids pick what to do for the holidays instead of the traditional trek to your family events.
Make homemade air fresheners in holiday scents using essential oils. This tutorial on how to Make Your Own Air Freshener can get you started.
Melt old crayons and pour into molds to make unique fun shapes for your kids to have new crayons for themselves or to share with friends.
Make homemade scented candles using bits of old candles, wicks and essential oils in random heat proof containers.
Dress the kids in their pajamas and wrap up in blankets for a nighttime drive looking at Christmas lights. Take a stroller walk if it’s warm enough where you live!
Send holiday cards to soldiers stationed overseas.
Make freezer meals for someone who is in need, has poor health, or is facing a tough time.
Send a card or letter to someone you know who is facing a first holiday without a loved one.
Go snow skiing with your family.
Make an Advent calendar and go through it each day with your family.
Make cookies to put out for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
Make homemade handprint holiday tree ornaments with clay, paint, clear glass ornaments or similar to document each year.
Make a family holiday recipe cookbook to print and share with others at your family gathering.
Have a snowball fight then drink hot cocoa or cider to warm up afterwards.
Volunteer at the local library to read books in the kids’ department during holiday breaks.
Invite a veteran to share a meal with your family during the holiday season.
Make homemade puzzles or games using things like craft strips, pictures, glue, and marbles.
Teach your kids classic games like jacks, checkers, chess, or how to play solitaire.
Make your own Youtube music video of your family singing along with a favorite holiday song.
Prepare emergency kits for homeless in your community using things like travel soaps, shampoos, washcloths, aspirin, ibuprofen, band-aids and hand sanitizer you have picked up for free or cheap with coupons.
Teach your kids how to crack nuts with a classic nutcracker.
Make your own holiday stained glass using wax paper and crayon shavings for beautiful window decorations.

These frugal ways to enjoy the holiday spirit with your family are great for bringing you closer together while giving you just what you need to teach your children all about the real reasons behind the holidays.