A Totally FREE Christmas 2025

Dizzycap

A list of credit cards which collect points,rewards & cashback when used. t's not comprehensive, but it's a start:

Best credit cards for earning points rewards and cashback in 2025

*I'm not advocating using a credit card. It's a personal decision based upon your own knowledge and needs of your financial situation

Yoshimi2025

I had a Happy Meal today, always keep the toy as they are handy when the grandkids come over but today I took the book token off the pack, this will get me a free book I think to go in Christmas stockings, I’ll report back. My weekly treat is going to the cinema and having a Happy meal, I have a Cineworld card and a CEAccard so it costs me £16 a month for 2 of us to watch about 6 new movies, sometimes more and I get out of the house. 

Dizzycap

Yoshimi2025 said:

Recycled 5 toothpicks at boots and got £5 worth of points on my card, my son wanted some toiletries so I didn’t spend anything. Now have £30.25 on my boots card to spend at Christmas.

Great going with the book token / stocking fillers & Boots points. It all adds up to a NO spend Christmas, which I love

Soontobeoap

@Dizzycap Not sure I will get a totally free Christmas but I am going to try a lot harder. I do look out for the supermarket offers at Christmas but as I don't host Christmas anymore I find I use my points in Jan /Feb which helps me recover from Christmas gift spending. As our children are becoming better off than us I am looking for more sentimental gifts for them. Things that they could not just go out and buy. It is going to take some time but this year I plan to create 2 family recipe books. I will include my Mums coconut pyramids that she always made for family party's, my lemon cake and lemon meringue.( Family favourites) The Danish fish that they used to love as kids. Their Dad's new favourite Lancashire hot pot etc.i will also leave spaces for their partners family recipes so that they are not lost as time goes on. This will be a lovely project for me and hopefully they will appreciate it may even add photos of the contribiters.

I also make my own Christmas cards from old.still have them to make for neighbour too 

I also regift some items but as you say, you do have to be very careful that you don't give back to the same person.

I have often gifted a special photo in a frame.although not free you can pick lovely frames up very cheaply in charity shops.this makes a lovely gift as does a photo album of special pics. These are such thoughtful gifts and the basics can often be picked up from charity shops very cheaply.

My Christmas won't be totally free but you have definitely set me thinking.

Thank you @Dizzycap I have book marked this thread.

Dizzycap

@ Soontobeoap - You're very welcome & I hope it will inspire others to have a rethink:-)

I too, no longer host Christmas for the family, except sharing it with my mother , but I will use methods to achieve a FREE Christmas and my mother also contibutes with Christmas sale items she purchases in early January. M&S had a fantastic sale on a Deluxe Christmas Pudding in a basket which last for years. They were reduced to £1.25 each, so she purchased 4, gave me 2 and then gave the other 2 to a couple of her neighbours, who were delighted  

Like you, I find I also have numerous SM points left over after Christmas that I can use to reduce food & house hold bulk buying in January & February

I love the idea of sentimental gifts, which I have made in the past from supplies I already had, but your receipe book is a fantastic idea. That's something I'd never even thought about and it's certainly something I will be putting into action, so thank you for sharing

I too have purchsed 2nd hand photo frames from CS in the past, for photos as gifts. Again, a lovely simplistic sentimental idea that can really touch the hearts of others. I do like to create memories for Christmas & birthdays and not just a mind numbing commercial going along with it attitude, throw away landfill, me,me,me cultural ideal

Can you believe that my local Budgens had Easter Eggs on shelves on Boxing Day last year?

Soontobeoap

Oh just remembered something else I did a few years ago when I worked in a reception class
 It would also work for anyone with young children or nephews and nieces or Grandchildren. I bought some Christmas note paper but you could find something on the computer and write a letter from the Christmas elves for each day in December until the end of term. Sometimes they asked the children to do things for them " can you make a Christmas card for someone you love" other times they had a task " we have hidden pebbles with our pictures on hidden on the playground. See if you can find us all and make sure you only keep one so that your friends can have one to" ( they particularly liked that one and I had fun naming and drawing all of the portraits) I had such fun doing it and the children really looked forward to it. Also before we had children of our own we sent our nephews and nieces a Christmas message from Father Christmas
 Whenever we knew someone was going to a foreign country just before Christmas we would get them to post them for us
 The letters always came from somewhere different
 The conversations we had with family members trying to fathom out where they were coming from were hilarious. No one ever found out it was us
 We had such a lot of fun and it didn't cost much at all. Sometimes the things that you do for people without them knowing where they have come from are the most enjoyable. Not free I know but almost!

weenancyinAmerica

I haunt our library book sales. Look for books that would be interesting to each person depending on their hobbies. The sales also had jewelry this year and puzzles, games, toys. Only charges about 25 cents each. So it did cost me about $10 for presents for everyone last year. I use the reusable bags for packing the presents and recycled the ones from last year. I also got some free items for taking part in the summer reading program that were from the niece and nephews favorite hockey team to add to the presents. Everyone seemed really happy with their presents last year. This total included birthday presents.

Dizzycap

Today, I've sorted through, mended etc all the Chrissy decks and repacked away ready for Decemeber - Job Done!

@ Soontobeoap - You've just remineded me about FREE printable Letters to Santa which are available online with printed replies from Santa. Royal Mail also or used to run a FREE letter to Santa service but it's either stopped or it's not being advertised. I will have to ask the postmaster at my local RM delivery office next time I'm in

@ weenancyinAmerica - Loving the Library books idea, although it would be a spending cost However, you've reminded me of some SM's have a FREE book swap / help yourself shelf / area. I know my main Tesco's does, so there's a possibility for free stocking fillers / gifts

Yoshimi2025

Morning all, I did my usual Boots recycle on Friday, scoured the store for the white printed tags on the shelves which don’t have the blue boots written on them, snagged a few hai ties and scrunchies to go into homemade crackers for 68p each a pack of four used some of the £1.50 in points I got for recycling blister packs so still had change to go into my points. I’m doing the same in Sains where if the reduce things I’ll use my points on them, in Jan I got all my kids children and DILs candle making kits that were £12 for £2.22 and popped them in the cupboard xx

Dizzycap

Christmas Spring Pots:

Something else that I suddenly remembered after going into the garden shed today was planting up Christmas pots from any spare garden pots / baskets etc you already have with Spring bulbs - Another free Christmas gift idea There are still some Sprint bulbs available now or they also arrive from October onwards in some SM's, so use any SM collected points if you decided to buy making them free.

If you've got any Sprint bulbs left over from this year, they will last until the end of the year if you store them in a well ventilated basket / old pot