Here’s the one thing you can give that no one else can: your time. Save your  money! Have an affordable holiday by giving of yourself.

Invite someone to a lunch or dinner you prepare.

Deliver a lunch or dinner to someone who is having a rough time.

Offer to baby-sit while a friend runs errands.

Sit with a shut-in for an afternoon, providing much-needed respite care for a caregiver and much-appreciated attention for someone who is house-bound.

Make holiday cookies for someone who doesn’t get out much. In fact, suggest you make them together!

Offer to come over with tea or coffee and spend a couple hours chatting, especially meaningful to someone who needs a kind ear.

Put together a little crafts day for the kids in your life. The dollar store has tons of things you can get that will occupy you and the kids for an afternoon.

Speaking of the dollar store: don’t underestimate what you can find there, especially for kids. And especially crafty stuff! Buy carefully and you can make Christmas for three kids for $10. No joke.

Do you knit? Sew? Crochet? Use those skills!

Have a “fun socks” holiday in which you buy fun socks for everyone on your list. Yes, check the dollar store but you can also find fun socks at Walmart, Target and sometimes even on sale at the drugstore.

Ok, I have to admit it. We haunt Walgreen’s on the first Tuesday of the month, when seniors get 20% off.  Enough said!

Maybe this sparked some ideas of your own and if so, would love you to share so that others can try them!