A mum has shared the clever way she spreads out the cost of Christmas - and it's genius.
Taking to a family life Facebook group, the mum explained how she spreads the cost of Christmas throughout the whole year, while ensuring her daughter has a range of different gifts to enjoy.
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With the cost of living crisis looming over families this winter, many parents are sharing their best budget-friendly tips with others, to help save money and reduce a little of the pressure that the festive period can bring.
It is is estimated that 3.6 million children in the UK are living in poverty, and with rising fuel and food costs, many families will struggle this Christmas.
One mum has explained how she manages to balance her budget, sharing her concept with other parents who may be struggling with the costs of Christmas.
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"With Christmas around the corner and money being tight for most, I would just like to share an idea of what I done last Christmas for my daughter & hopefully it can help someone," she began.
"My daughter's at that funny age where she’s outgrew toys and already has a lot of ‘stuff’ this is due to being the only child in the whole family for a while so she was the only child for the family to buy for. So I’m sure you can understand how much ‘stuff’ she got.
"Well last year I didn’t want to add to her pile of ‘stuff’ so instead I decided to gift experiences/days out instead.
"I put coupons in little gift bags and wrote things on that I knew she would enjoy (these can be as cheap or as expensive as you like) for example, takeaway of choice, weekend camping in the summer, day out at the safari park, meal out at her favourite Chinese buffet, hotel stay etc… then once a month (payday) I let her choose a [gift] bag."
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The mum explained that not only did it spread the cost, but her daughter loved it and said it was one of the 'best presents ever'.
"Obviously this won’t suit everyone but it might help someone," the mum added.
And other parents were loving the idea, with many hoping to try it themselves this year, meanwhile others explained they also used 'coupons'.
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One mum added: "I did similar for my two daughters last year. Pony trekking voucher, pottery painting voucher, goat walking voucher etc it was brilliant as they’ve loved doing the activities and it’s helped me financially as I bought them in December with my Christmas budget but it’s meant we’ve had things to do all year ‘for free’.
"It also helps support local businesses which I love."
Another wrote: "We did this for our children a few years back. They loved it. They were always excited to open the envelopes on the 1st of the month to see where we would be going or what we would be doing."
It sounds like a great idea to us!
Lucy Devine