Ideas For Totally Free Gifts For Christmas

Christmas is almost here, which means it’s time to think about gifts. If you are like us, then gifts can be difficult to afford. I’ve read a lot of articles about free gifts for Christmas, but I often find the ideas aren’t really doable for everyone. 

Everything I have put together in this post is things I’ve done over the years for the kids, Austin, friends, family, and for office gifts. Here are some of the ideas that I suggest you try this year if you need free Christmas gift ideas.

Free Gift Ideas

1. Free Kindle Books

Authors put their ebooks on sale to gain more exposure. In fact, I put my ebooks on sale about every 3 months for free. But, if you are looking for books that are always free, you can get many classics from Amazon for free.

You don’t have to have a Kindle in order to read these books. I have the Kindle app on my Android phone, and they have it for iPhone as well. You can even read it on your computer.

If you give these books, then you can print off the cover of the book and put it in their stocking or a box. Don’t have a printer? Then just write down the list of books you downloaded.

2. Free Printables

There are any number of free printables you can download from bloggers around the web. Depending on what you are looking for, you should be able to find it.

For kids, you can get:

• Color sheets or online coloring if you don’t have a printer
• Crafts and instructionals
• Paper dolls or characters

For adults, try:

• Planner pages
• Journal prompts
• Recipes
• Morning Routine Printable
• Romantic games
• Conversation starters

It’s amazing what you can find with a simple Google search. Just put the words free printable in front of whatever you are looking for. You might need to sign up for someone’s list, but a lot of bloggers have something free to hand out, and it’s worth it. If you sign up for my newsletter, I will send you a free copy of my sexy bedroom game.

3. Make a Special Space

I’ve been known to create special spaces in our houses for the kids. One year, I turned a closet into a reading nook (it was a big closet). Set aside space in your house for something special. You might set up an art station, craft area, gaming place, or anything they are interested in. Just use items in your house that you already own.

Right now, we have turned our garage into a living room area for the kids. It has been a work in progress, but everything in there came off the side of the road during bulk pick-up weekends.

If it is for your spouse, maybe you can re-organize an area to fit something they need. Maybe they want a place to work out, sew, do woodwork, or do other projects. Simply cleaning up the space and making it available is gift enough.

3. Give Things That Belong To You

You don’t have to wait until you pass away to gift things to your children. Maybe you have something of value that you will want them to have one day, like a coin collection, gun, or piece of jewelry. And if you’re like us and have teens, then you know 90’s fashion is coming back in. They can get a real kick out of wearing things from the 90’s.

If you have small kids, you can put together a box of dress-up clothes from things you no longer wear. Look through your closet and find old scarves, hats, ties, wallets, purses, shoes, and anything else they may be able to use.

4. Create an Experience

We try to do clutter-free gifts as much as possible. Experience-based gifts are a lot of fun and don’t require you to spend money. You would need to make up coupons of some kind to share what the experience will be. If you have items that you will use for that night, you can go ahead and gather them together.

Here are a few ideas:

Free Movie Night

Round-up blankets, snacks, and anything else you have that would be great for a movie night. You can use a movie you already have or check out one from the library. Just write down the title if you will have to check it out or wait for a free Redbox code. Check out the free car movie date night Austin, and I did.

Free Museums

Plan a day to visit some of the free museums in your area. If you are in a small town, then plan a trip to the closest city to you. On that day, be ready to pack food for your family so you don’t have to spend money. Make sure to use some long lasting ice packs so your food does not spoil.

Cooking Lessons

You can let your children pick a recipe and then help you cook it. Give them a coupon for the number of lessons you are going to do with them. You can do this with any skill you have that you want to teach your kids in greater detail.

Library Events

Check out the free events that are going on at your local library. This past summer, we took our kids to a Harry Potter day at the library. They made all kinds of crafts and played games. It didn’t cost us at all. Most libraries are given a budget to do free things.

5. Find YouTube Tutorials

My kids have been really into origami in the past. I’ve found YouTube tutorials that my kids could watch and learn how to fold their papers. You can do this same concept with anything you think they would be interested in.

If your child likes magic, then find magic trick videos. Maybe they want to learn to play an instrument you already own. Or you can create a playlist of kid-friendly dance moves.

I have let my youngest son watch these tutorials by the Scott the Piano Guy.

For your spouse, you might consider finding tutorials to help them with a hobby they love. If they really enjoy sewing or crafts, look for tutorials of things they might want to try. If they are into photography, you can search out tips for that. Put it all in a playlist and share it with them on Christmas day.

6. Check Facebook Marketplace and Nextdoor

People are always selling things on Facebook Marketplace and Nextdoor. However, you can find free things on these platforms as well. We’ve picked up a coach off of Nextdoor before. I regularly see things posts on Facebook Marketplace that are free as well.

You might be able to find something that you can gift to someone in your family. Just be ready to clean it up or re-purpose it. And if you find something for free that you don’t think you can regift, then consider picking it up and selling it on the marketplace. This is a good way to pick up a few extra dollars for gifts.

7. Put Together a Picture Slideshow

Sometimes you can get photo books for free. But, if there aren’t current deals, you can always put together a slideshow and show it to your family. You can even put it in a folder to share with them. I realized the other day that we take tons of pictures of our kids but rarely show them to them. 

During this time of year, you may also find Walgreens, Shutterfly, or CVS giving away free prints. You can print off those images and create collages or put them in a scrapbook. We created memory scrapbooks from the summer for our kids and their friends one year.

8. Utilize the Library

The library is a great resource for your family. Sometimes, they give away free things you can take advantage of. It could be classes, storytimes, events, or free lunch programs. The library can be a good resource if you are building an experience-based gift.

You can get books like these to help you put together those experiences:

• Movies
• Crafting book
• Cookbook
• Science experiment book

9. Homemade Toys

There was a time when my kids thought I could make anything. In fact, they were super confused when I told them I could not, in fact, make a motorized toy. However, there are tons of easy toys you can make like:

• Puppets– I’ve made the kid’s puppets before and made them a puppet theater out of a box. Also, I made them hobby horses one year by attaching a stuffed sock to the end of a PVC pipe we happened to have.
• Washcloth animals
• Store- instead of trashing your cereal boxes, pasta mix boxes, or anything cardboard, save it. You can take the food out of the boxes and tape up the ends. These types of items make for great grocery store toys.
• Dress-up bin – pull items out of your closet that you don’t use anymore and put them in a dress-up box. You can add ties, jewelry, shoes, purses, etc.
• Treasure box – fill a box with spare change, jewelry, craft beads, crinkly gold paper, and anything that would be flashy.
• DIY Art kit – round up discarded art supplies and give them new life. Put together an art kit with old paint, crayons, markers, paper, etc.
• Craft kit – look for things you own that you can create a craft bag for your kids.

10. Night of Romance

Austin and I are advocates of planning a night of romance on a regular basis. To help us remember to do that during Christmas, we hang a sexy stocking in our room. You can fill your stocking, or put together a box of things you already own to create your romantic night.

Here are a few free sexy things you can add to the mix:

• Intimately Us app– there’s a free part to this app that will definitely get you excited.
• Conversation Starters and Truth or Dare- sign up for my newsletters and I’ll send you a copy of my conversation starters for couples and truth or dare bedroom game.
• Sex Adventure Generator– go over to Married Christian Sex and you can refresh the page to get new prompts every time.
• Sexy Night Games – head over to Married and Naked and check out her ideas for sexy games.
• Free Printables – The Dating Divas do a lot more than just sexy printables. But their sexy printables are really fun! So browse through their free printables and find something you like.

11. Give Candy From Halloween

I think I speak for most parents when I say that Halloween brings too much candy. I’ve been known to raid my kids bags and reduce the amount of candy they have to feast on to use for gingerbread houses and gifts. Some people may not agree with me on taking candy from a baby…but there’s usually way more then they need to last a year.

Consider creating a candy bouquet or a candygram for someone that you need a small gift for. Or you can just put a few of the pieces in your child’s stocking. No reason to buy more candy for the holiday.

12. I’m Thankful For You or I’m Proud Of You Notebook

My kids have talked about years the time we wrote them thank-you notes. We took small notebooks and on every page, we wrote something we felt thankful for when they did it. The year we did this project, our youngest couldn’t read. So instead of writing words for him, we drew pictures. Use whatever paper you have available to create a book of thanks or things you are proud of them for.

13. Family Date Night Baskets

Gather up things from around your house and put them in a bag or basket to create family date night ideas. This is a great way to create an experience that you can do at your house. Consider doing one on Christmas night. These family date night baskets can include:

• Paint night – get paper, paint, and paintbrushes, and put them in a bag. You can search for a video tutorial on how to paint something easy and create your own paint-and-sip party.
• Movie night – choose a movie from a streaming service you already pay for or grab a disc that you own, put in a few unopened boxes of snacks from your pantry, and a blanket.
• Christmas lights date – put a few packets of hot chocolate, spill-proof coffee cups, and blankets or scarves in a bag. Find a Christmas playlist that you can play in the car while you go look at lights. Plan to drive around and look at lights or find a display to walk around.
• Smores date – The Dating Divas put together a smores bar date night idea. Grab some of these items and stick them in a basket so you can do a smores night together. Be sure to think of some fun stories to share.
• Game Night- grab one or two of your family’s favorite games (video or board), unopened snacks, and drinks for this date night.

The date night ideas are unlimited. Just think of the things your family enjoys doing together and gather the items to do them. Make sure you include a calendar and circle the dates for each experience you want to have with your family. It needs to get on the calendar if it is going to happen.

14. Write Out Your Family Recipes on Cards

When I was a teenager, my mom would jot down recipes on random scraps of paper or cards to give me instructions on how to cook our family favorites. To this day, I still have those pieces of paper and cards in my recipe folder…as worn out as they are. But I cherish them because they are parts of my history that I carry around with me and remind me of my mom every time I pull one out to cook.

This Christmas, write down the recipes of your family favorites and hand them out to your friends, kids, or family. Doing this is particularly important if you tend to cook by taste and your kids want to be able to cook those same foods when they are older.

15. Hand Down Items You No Longer Use

Did you use to sew, scrapbook, play an instrument, etc. but no longer spend time on those hobbies? Why not gift one of those items to someone you love that you know would enjoy it? There is something sentimental about being given a tool, instrument, or whatever that belonged to another person you care about. We’ve given our kids things we’ve kept from our childhood or dating years, and it’s always special.

You can also encourage siblings to do this for their brothers or sisters. Did they outgrow a hoodie, toy, shoes, or something else that’s in good shape and can be passed down? Why not let them give their sibling some of those items for Christmas? It makes it much more special than seeing those items as hand-me-downs. Also, it makes it a lot easier for the giver to part with something they love but have outgrown.

You can also do this with books you have read and think another person will love. My mom often gives away books she’s been reading to someone she thinks will enjoy it.

16. Kohl’s Cash

If you ever buy things from Amazon that you have to return, choose Kohl’s as your drop-off location. Every time you do your Amazon returns to Kohl’s, they’ll give you a $5 store credit in the form of Kohl’s Cash. You can use that coupon on anything in the store. Just look for things that are less than $5 in the clearance section. Use those purchases as stocking stuffers or gifts, depending on what you find. You can easily get jewelry, candy, tart warmers, and even clothes for that price. At least where I live, I don’t pay taxes and am not required to have something over $5 to use the coupon.

17. Give Your Skill

What skills do you have that you can gift to someone else? I’m self-taught with cutting hair, and I’ve been known to gift that skill to friends in need of a haircut. I’ve been cutting my hair, the kid’s hair, and Austin’s for over a decade so I’m confident enough to do this for some people. But, there are many other skills I have that I’ve gifted over the years, like hemming clothes, baking, and cooking, potty training (yes, I’ve potty trained friends’ kids before), and crafting.

18. Upcycle and Repurpose Items You Own

One year, we couldn’t afford to buy pajamas for the kids for Christmas. I used old baby towels and baby blankets to make shirts and pants for them. I’ve used scraps of material for quilting bags, pillows, and blankets in the past. While sewing is my skill, there are a lot of no-sew/no-craft things you can do to upcycle or repurpose items you own.

19. Save Out Snacks From Weekly Grocery Purchases

For weeks leading up to Christmas, I would buy a few extra things that I could put in a snack basket for the kids to open on Christmas morning. I’d group the things that were one child’s favorites into a bag of their own. It was always exciting for them to have their own personal snacks.

You could do this same principle with any other shopping you have to do. If you need shampoo, buy one that looks special or out of the ordinary and give it as part of a gift. If your kids need socks or other clothes close to Christmas, look for sales that give you a buy one, get one, and save one back to open on holiday.

Buy a gift card to a restaurant from your eat out a budget and give it a gift. If you have money to eat out occasionally, then this is a great idea for you. I’ve been known to buy $5 gift cards to the same restaurant so each kid could go to the register and order and pay with their card. (I realize $5 isn’t enough to buy a meal anymore, so you’ll have to work it out the way that ticks with your budget).

20. Sign Up For Free Trials

Look for free trial classes or services that might interest your kids or spouse. Maybe you can sign your kids up for a free martial arts class or dance class. Maybe you can sign up for a free streaming service for your spouse and pick a show they love to binge during the period.

Other Free Gift Ideas

Here are a few more free gift ideas you might consider for your family or people that you know:

• Chore coupons- make coupons to do the chores your family member hates
• T-shirt scarf– just use an old t-shirt to make this. It needs to be seamless.
• Sugar scrub- a basic sugar scrub is made with either white or raw sugar and oil. You can get fancy and add essential oils if you have them. Just add enough oil to wet down the sugar and put it in a container.
• Bath bombs– these bath bombs are made from things you might already have in your pantry.
• Make snacks and treats from what you have.

These are some of my totally free Christmas gift ideas. What are ideas that you have? Leave me a comment below.