How to Save Money on Unique Christmas Gifts

Times are tight, and Christmas time can be very expensive, but the following is a guide for how to save money on unique Christmas gifts:

First, you have to understand what makes a unique Christmas gift. You can’t save money on it if you do not know what it is. So, in general a unique Christmas gift is something that you do not get everyday. Usually this means that it is very expensive, or it is personalized. If it is very expensive, then you defeat the goal of saving money on it, so let’s take a look at personalized and home made gifts.

The first is personalized gifts. Personalized gifts can be anything. You can get a purse, a ring, an ornament, a shirt, etc. Anything that can be a gift can be made into a personalized gift. Visit something like www.personalizationmall.com, www.personalize.com, www.mypublisher.com, www.shutterfly.com, etc. these are all sites that allow you to personalize gift options. You might personalize them with words, phrases, etc. Or, you might personalize them with photographs. The idea here is to make a gift unique by putting a special phrase, or a photograph on it.

The second personalized gift is one that is home made. This can be almost anything as well. People make jewelry, clothing, wood items, and more by hand and give them for Christmas. You can make a piece of pottery, and color it to perfectly match their home. You can make them a piece of jewelry that has charms with photographs of their children, etc. Home made gifts hold a unique appeal because they are not just an item, but a gift of the heart.

So, now you know what a unique Christmas gift is, but how can you get them for less? Try the following tips:

1. Look for coupons. You can get coupons to almost any store or site. It is easier to get discounts online because you can simply do a Google search for them. You just have to type in the site name followed by “coupon” to get a dollar amount or percentage off the normal retail price. However, many of these are printable, and can be used in stores as well.

2. Save money by buying used. It is possible to get almost anything used, second hand, almost new. Try sites like Craigslist, Ebay, etc. to get almost new items at a deeply discounted price.

3. Find ways to save on shipping. Often when you purchase online you save money, but then you counteract those savings through your shipping cost. So, order more so the shipping seems reasonable, or so that you get a better discount on shipping. Consider doing your shopping with someone else so that you only have to pay shipping once, and can split the cost.

4. Take advantage of club memberships, discounts, and advantages you get for memberships you have, age groups you fit in, etc. For example, some department stores give seniors discounts on a weekday, or offer a percentage off if you are a member of AAA, Costco, etc.

5. Shop online. You save money on gas and similar expenses, but additionally, using the Internet allows you to have access to several merchants, and they to you, which means higher amounts of competition for your business. This means better prices.