Are you looking for Frugal Things to do Over Christmas Break with your kids? I know I am! Christmas break always sneaks up on me! You get through Thanksgiving and then, bam – Christmas is here and now you have 3 weeks off of school.
I’m in the same boat! Exhausted from Christmas and still needing cheap things to do during Christmas break with the kids. Not to worry, I’ve got you covered and have compiled a list of 20 frugal things to do over Christmas break. Thankfully, there are TONS of free things to do that are super fun – I know your whole family will love them!
Christmas Gift Wish List
Before I dive into this post of frugal things to do over Christmas break, it reminded me that you need to get my free Christmas Gift Wish List!
This list is perfect hang right on your fridge for your kids to fill out as they dream up all the things they want to ask Santa for! Snag a copy now by signing up below!
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
You’ll love it, because as all the Christmas sales begin, you’ll know exactly what your kids want and you won’t miss any of the good deals!
[mailerlite_form form_id=16]Christmas Break Fun
Do you look forward to Christmas break? I do most of the time, but some years I wish the break was shorter, but don’t tell my kids that! Usually, I look forward to the break with my kids and am always happy to have frugal things to do over Christmas break with them.
Christmas is expensive. Period. Because it can be expensive, I wanted to compile a list of frugal things to do over Christmas break!
You can still create lasting memories with your kids without spending a ton of money to do it! There are all sorts of fun things you can do that don’t cost much and I plan to have a blast doing them (and hopefully my family will too)! Grab a pencil and make a list!
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20 Frugal Things To Do Over Christmas Break
1. Make a Dollar Store Ornament
Make this adorable gumball machine ornament using supplies from the Dollar Store! I absolutely LOVE this ornament idea, and I found it from Crafty Morning. If you can’t find any the supplies at your local Dollar Store, check Hobby Lobby or Walmart.
2. Gingerbread House Competition
Every year we have a Gingerbread House competition. I like to use store-bought gingerbread house kits to make my life less stressful, but if you love to bake there are all sorts of great gingerbread recipes on Pinterest.
SAVINGS TIP: Buy gingerbread house kits after Christmas when they are 75%-90% off and save them for the following year! I do this every year, and pack the kits away with our Christmas decor and then get them out the following year. Just make sure you don’t eat any of the supplies because they will be old!
3. Play a Family Board Game
One of our new family favorites is a hilarious game called Poop The Potato! It’s hilarious! We found this game on a serious discount a few months ago when Target was clearing out their summer stuff. This game is exactly like it sounds. You poop a plastic potato in a bucket! Sounds awful, but it’s hilarious!
4. After Christmas Clearance Sales
Our family loves to hunt for good deals the day after Christmas! While this may not sound like a family activity, it sure is in our house! Our family gets very into decorating our house with Christmas Lights!
We all love to help and we have a tradition of going shopping for clearance deals on lights and decor the day after Christmas! All three of our kids think it’s an adventure to find the best deals on decor for the yard and we spend a good portion of the day after Christmas out hunting for deals! Of course, we usually go out for lunch too!
5. Go to a Cheap Holiday Movie
Our local movie theater shows early movies before noon on Saturday mornings for only $5! When you are taking a family of 5 to see a movie this is a doable deal every once and while! There always seems to be a good holiday movie that comes out around Christmas time, so this ends up being a fun thing to do, especially if your kids don’t get to go to the movies very often.
6. Go Out to Eat
Find a local restaurant that offers a Kids Eat Free night and have a special meal out! One of my local favorites is Newk’s and they tend of offer a lot of Kids Eat for $1.99! Not too bad for a meal out when you have 3 kids to feed! There are a lot of restaurants that offer cheaper meals, just get online and see what you can find.
7. Play Snow Soccer
Our family LOVES soccer and what better way to play some soccer than on a field of snow?! Sounds crazy, well, it was a blast! We had a decent snowfall, and we cleared off some of the snow into a smaller field, but left enough snow to run across it and kick a soccer ball.
We set up 2 pop-up soccer goals and put on all our snow gear and played a soccer game! It was so much fun! You don’t need special soccer goals, just set up anything you can find to make a goal area. I’d highly recommend doing this, it was so fun! End your play time with hot cocoa!
8. Have a Snowball Fight
If you have snow, then have a snowball fight! you don’t need tools help you make snowballs, just go ‘old school’ and make them yourself. If you want to, you can always dig around your kitchen and try to find pots and pans or utensils that will help you form snowballs better. Plus, it would also be fun to build snow forts!
9. Go Sledding
We love to go sledding, and in our neighborhood and have recently found a great hill not far from our house that is perfect for sledding! You can find sleds everywhere in our area, including the grocery store! But, if you don’t have a sled, you can use a flattened box that you cover with packing tape. Your homemade sled will last awhile, but don’t pan for it to be used for a long time, afterall, it’s cardboard!
Throughout the year, keep your eye out for good deals on sleds. I found all our sleds at garage sales in the summer for super cheap. Call some neighbors to join you in the fun! Of course, end the sledding fun with cookies and cocoa!
10. Go Look at Christmas Lights
Looking at Christmas lights is my absolute favorite Christmas tradition! I love it so much that I make our family go look at lights numerous times during the holiday season. Thankfully, my family loves this activity about as much as I do! We might even go look at lights multiple nights in a row!
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
Our family has been doing this for so many years now that we have some favorites that we go see every year! We don’t just jump in the car and start driving around, we ALWAYS splurge by stopping at McDonald’s and get $1 drinks to sip along the way! I think this is my favorite part – sipping peppermint mochas and looking at Christmas lights – perfect combination!
You can always make your own hot cocoa and take it along with you. My kids love to put their PJs on as well! I’ve also learned that if I want this activity to last awhile, I need to bring snacks too! I usually bring along a big bag of popcorn and that seems to keep everyone happy for quite some time!
11. Christmas Color-By-Number
Even though my kids are getting a bit older, they still love a good Christmas craft and I stumbled upon some Color-By-Number sheets that I could just print off from Pinterest. I’ve been surprised how long they sat there together and colored the sheets. There are lots of them online and this makes for a frugal activity you can do with your whole family!
12. Bake Cookies
Get the whole family together and spend some time baking! I realize this may not be fun for some people, but goodness, in our family we all love to bake!
My 5 favorite and easy Christmas cookie recipes can be found here – 5 Quick & Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes. I make these every year and all 5 recipes are easy to double or triple, so you can maximize your time and have plenty to hand out to neighbors!
13. Watch The Grinch Movie
Watch the Grinch Movie and eat Grinch Cookies and Grinch Punch! This is another one of our family traditions that we do every year and don’t miss! You can rent How The Grinch Stole Christmas from your local library or borrow it from a friend. Then you must bake these Grinch cookies from inKatrinasKitchen.com!
Then, you must also make Grinch Punch from Raining Hot Coupons while you watch the movie and eat your yummy treats! It’s a silly tradition, but one that our family does every year and we just love it! It’s a great night-time activity to do and is so much fun!
14. Home Alone Breakfast
Watch the original Home Alone movie and have a big breakfast! Ideally, you should invite another family over to do this with you – it’s so fun! This activity may sound silly, but somehow it’s grown to be one of our family favorites.
You can also watch the movie at night and have breakfast for dinner! In fact, this is one tradition that we do with some dear family friends and we like to save it for after Christmas, closer to the new year!
Don’t Forget Your Christmas Gift Wish List
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15. Read the Christmas Story
On Christmas Eve, act out the Christmas Story directly from the Bible – you can find it in Luke 2:1-20. If you have young kids, have them dress up and act out the parts as you read. We have done this since I was a little girl and I even have a rocking horse that is perfect for the donkey that Mary rides on!
If you have an audience, consider practicing with your kids ahead of time and turn this into a simple performance for your family and friends!
16. Birthday Party for Jesus
Every Christmas Eve we throw a birthday party for Jesus! After we read and act out the Christmas story from the Bible (again, this can be found in Luke 2:1-20), we have birthday cake and celebrate Jesus’ birth! Get creative with your kids and have them help you make the birthday cake earlier in the day – it can look like whatever you want! We even put candles on our cake and sing Jesus “Happy Birthday!”
17. Friends + Chili + Board Games
Invite a family over to share chili and cornbread and then play board games. We have a couple favorite family board games right now, Qwirkle and Wits and Wagers! Both are great family-friendly games! Wits and Wagers is so much fun for a larger group and even younger kids can play along!
18. Volunteer Your Time
Volunteer your time as a family helping someone else! There are lot of ways to help out at Christmas time. Our family likes to help at our church in the Children’s department, watching the kids so the adults can attend the Christmas Eve Candlelight service. If watching kids is not your thing, I’m sure there are lots of other things your family can help out with, like: serving coffee and cookies, greeting at the door, handing out bulletins, cleaning, helping set up extra chairs, etc.
Church is not the only place to volunteer. Work at soup kitchen, or visit elderly people in a nursing home. Offer to babysit a friend’s children so she can get Christmas shopping done. Get creative and I’m sure you will come up some way to volunteer your time.
19. Go Look at Lights Again
In my area our local newspaper puts out a list of addresses of the best Christmas lights to see all over our city – look up the addresses and go see some more lights! We also have a lot of local Facebook groups in my area that keep a running list of great places to see lights. Jump online and see if you can find a listing of lights and then go see them! Don’t forget to stop and get drinks along the way!
WISH PLANNING A PARTY WAS A PIECE OF CAKE?
20. Go Caroling
This is completely FREE! Gather some friends together and go sing Christmas carols to your neighbors! I’m horrible at singing, but goodness, how fun is this to do?! I know in my neighborhood, it would shock my neighbors to have me ring the doorbell and then start singing! We’ve never done this before as a family, but we just might give it a try this year!
I hope you enjoyed my list of frugal things to do over Christmas break! Please give a few of them a try and then come back and tell me all about it! Comment below with your favorite frugal things to do over Christmas break – I’d love to have a few more to do as well!
Other Frugal Free Fun Ideas For Kids
Check out these other posts for frugal free fun ideas for kids all year long:
- 25 Free Things To Do Over Thanksgiving Break
- 50 Ideas of Frugal Free Fun For Kids
- No Spend Weekend of Family Fun
If you haven’t signed up for your free printable Christmas Gift Wish List – hurry and do it now!
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