The Christmas holidays- what an amazing time of year, festive fun, family days out, cosy evenings in and let’s not forget all that food! At AMBER, we appreciate that the expense can build up, so we’ve come up some ideas to help you and families keep the cost down during the festive season while still having fun!

Festive Fun at Home (Free or Very Cheap)

• Christmas movie night with blankets + hot chocolate- spending quality time at home with your loved ones is what the festive season is al about- choose time with you family and over spending money on them; memories last longer.

• DIY decorations (paper snowflakes, dried orange slices, salt-dough ornaments)- instructions are found on the BBC website and You tube have some brilliant DIY videos.

• Bake something simple – gingerbread, mince pies, or even festive popcorn- it’s a great way of getting the kids away from devices

• “Lights off + fairy lights only” evening for instant cosy vibes: really creating the mood of Xmas and the getting in the festive spirit.

• Board-game or card-game night- who doesn’t love a game night, adults, teenagers and younger kids. Invite family or friends over to make it a really enjoyable evening. If you type in ‘Christmas games’ on Instagram, you will find lots of ideas of free family fun games you can easily do at home.

• Festive karaoke on YouTube: get the whole family involved on some festive songs, or just any old songs. Make fun by choosing songs for each other.

• Make a gratitude jar for the year- teaching our children at a young age is extremely important . Model gratitude to them. Even taking them to help out with your local Christmas Child project will help our young people to see how people who are less fortunate that them live.

• Create a small hot-chocolate bar with toppings (budget version!) this is quite a nice one to do post the Xmas period when you have lots of leftover chocolate and other treats, and will stop them lingering in your cupboards all year!

• Puzzle night (printable puzzles are free online)- crosswords, word searches and even spelling time colouring and painting with them at home.

Out & About (Low-cost)

• Walk around local Christmas lights (usually free & magical): find out when you local Xmas light switch pens are- it’s always a fun day and evening full of free entertainment.

• Visit a Christmas market just to browse — you don’t have to buy anything. The markets are on now all over the country- again they always have free things for you to try and maybe give the children a £5 buget to see what they could get from it

• Charity shop festive outfit challenge (£5 budget!)

• Local winter fair / craft fair: find out where your local one will be and go check it out with your family.

• Ice skating (many places have cheap daytime slots)

• Visit a garden centre — they often go all out on decorations and will have various Xmas activities planned, especially on weekends and in the holidays,

• Photograph the neighbourhood decorations like a little photo treasure hunt.

Whatever you do over the festive season, take some time for yourself- even if it’s a daily walk, meeting a friend for a chat and spending time with your loved ones. The period is extremely busy and much of the time, mums are left to think of much of it. Don’t be too hard on yourself and more importantly remember, you’re not the only one- most parents will be feeling the same way.

If you do feel overwhelmed this Christmas period, take a look at our previous article on How to get out of a mom rut and avoid festive burnout this Christmas — AMBER