How to prepare for the New Year and not go broke

Presents

Create a shopping list and budget

It is sad a few days before the New Year to discover that you forgot to buy a gift for someone close to you. But looking for it on December 30 or 31 is not a good idea: you may encounter huge queues and half-empty shelves in stores.

To avoid this, make a list of everyone you want to please in advance. Divide it into blocks: family, friends, colleagues. Next to each name, write the gift you want to buy and its approximate cost. Add up all the prices and make sure the amount is within your budget. If this is not the case, you will have to revise the list.

Offer to play Secret Santa or White Elephant

A great way not to go broke if you have a lot of friends and a large family. Everyone in a large company should buy a gift for only one person.

• V "Secret Santa»Each participant receives a card with two numbers: the first is his serial number in the game, the second is the serial number of the person to whom he must give the present. Before the holiday, you do not know for whom you are buying a gift and who is gifting you. If you don't like such complete anonymity, you can make a list with the sequential numbers of the participants, so it will be easier to choose presentations. The main thing is not to declassify the names of "Sant" and not go beyond the previously agreed budget.
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• V "White elephant»Each participant buys one gift for a set amount, for example, no more than 1,000 rubles. In the classic version of the game, an exchange of trinkets is provided, which you do not mind throwing away. You can also negotiate the purchase of really useful gifts. During the holiday, all the presents are put in a common bag or simply made up in a slide in some place, for example, under a Christmas tree. Each participant receives a number. Then the game begins. Guests select gifts in order and unpack them. The next player can either take a new present from the general heap, or take it (it's a game!) From one of the previous participants. The one who was left with empty hands, during his next turn, can choose either an unopened gift, or what other players already have.

Don't give gifts to adults

Another solution for a large company. Discuss this option with family and friends. Perhaps they will only be glad that in the pre-New Year's bustle they will not have to frantically search for gift ideas for everyone.

DIY a gift

Such a present will be cheaper, and it is especially pleasant to receive it: after all, it will be seen that you really tried, trying to please a loved one. There are two options for a do-it-yourself gift:

• Homemade set. For example, for cocoa (a beautiful mug, cocoa, marshmallows) or for a movie evening (blanket, popcorn, monthly subscription to an online cinema). Pack it in a nice box or bag.
• Real handmade. You can make a Christmas tree from sweets or tea bags, make a candle with the scent of pine needles, or knit a scarf - whatever you have enough imagination and skill for. For more homemade gift ideas, check out material Life hacker.

Give an experience

Perhaps your loved ones are dreaming of a gift that you cannot afford yet. Or you don't know at all what they want to get. In any of these cases, you do not need to buy shampoo kits, socks or any other standard gifts. Better to present an experience: go to the cinema with your mother, go to the skating rink with a friend, and go to the theater with your grandmother. Tickets are inexpensive, and the experienced emotions will remain in the memory of your loved ones for a long time.

If you have a large company of friends, you can buy a ticket for some kind of collective entertainment, for example, a quest or laser tag.

Festive table

Make a menu

Don't just speak, but write it down somewhere: in a notebook or in notes on your smartphone. This will help to adequately assess the amount of food and stop you from preparing 5 main courses, 15 appetizers and 10 salads, which will then take up space in the refrigerator for a week.

When you decide on the menu, list the ingredients you need and the approximate cost of each dish. So you will definitely not forget to buy a jar of peas for Olivier salad and you won't set the table for 50,000 rubles.

Distribute meals among guests

If you are celebrating with a large group of people, have each one prepare something from the list. So no one gets tired and all guests share the cost of food.

Try to distribute the menu so that it does not turn out that someone has one cheap and simple dish, for example, a vegetable salad, and someone has a few complex and expensive ones, for example, a baked goose and cake Napoleon.

Buy groceries in advance

Get started now, before the frenzy begins in supermarkets. Explore the specials magazines in all stores and save money on what you get.

Don't buy vegetables in advance: they can go bad before the holiday. But even on December 31, you don't need to go after them, because there is a great chance to see empty shelves and kilometer-long queues. But the 28th or 29th are ideal days.

Outfit

Look in the closet

Surely there are some cool things there that are perfect for New Year's Eve. For example, a party dress, a suit you wore a few years ago, or a pretty shirt.

If you don't find anything in your closet, you can ask your friends or close relatives for something to wear. They might not mind lending you last year's holiday outfit for one night.

Buy accessories

Even a simple white T-shirt can be a good New Year's Eve outfit if mixed with cool embellishments. Earrings, chains, necklaces, rings, headbands or hairpins will cost much less than a new holiday outfit.

Go to a sale, swap party or second-hand

Drop by a thrift store or swap party: chances are good you'll find something cool and fun vintage. By the way, in this case, you can be sure that you will be the only person in such an outfit.

If you're not ready to buy someone else's old stuff, go for the sale: some brands have already launched winter discounts, while others just have special prices.

New Year's decor for home

Do it yourself

Most of the materials for Christmas decorations can be found in the forest or in the park: cones, branches, dried flowers. And you will only need to spend money on additional parts and stationery: scissors, glue, buttons, ribbons.

You can make a wreath for the door from a hoop and ribbons, balls of thread, or even candy canes; make a garland of cones and orange peels; cut unusual snowflakes out of paper, for example, in the form of heroes "Star Wars». Get creative and search the internet for inspiration. Many ideas for New Year's decor with step-by-step instructions can be found in the section “Do it yourself"On Lifehacker.

Borrow decor from your relatives or friends

You probably have last year's Christmas tree decorations in good condition, which you are simply tired of. Your friends or family may be in the same situation. Invite them to change décor for a year.

Or ask your parents or grandparents if they have any extra decorations for the house and the tree. Surely they will find several sets of New Year's toys of varying degrees of vintage, which they can share.

Save on the Christmas tree

A good and lush live spruce will cost an impressive amount. But buying a cheap one is also not worth it: most likely, it will be a drooping, scanty tree, which will definitely not bring a festive mood to the house.

There are two ways to save money on the tree:

• Buy artificial. It can be used for several years, and it always looks great. And you don't have to vacuum every day collecting needles. To add pine scent, light seasonal candles, spray with an air freshener, or buy an aroma diffuser and add spruce, cedar, or fir essential oils to it.
• Get creative. Can make a "tree" independently from branches, a stack of books or other scrap materials. So that the tree does not take up much space, you can make it from a garland and place it on the wall or from Christmas balls, fixing them with rain on the ceiling.

Buy toys after the New Year

Life hack that will help you save money on home decoration in 2020. After the holidays are over, supermarkets are selling New Year's decor with big discounts. At the end of January, cute Christmas tree decorations can be found even for 10 rubles.