How to do Christmas for free

Christmas has become the most expensive time of the year for most families, but you don't have to break the bank to have a great time this festive season. In fact, with a little time and effort, you really can celebrate for free. Just follow these tips on how to do it:

Food and drink

With a bit of ingenuity - and a little help from your friends - you can make the food you've got go a lot further.

First of all, get your friends and family to help. Most people are strapped for cash right now so there's no shame in asking them if you can join forces against the credit crunch!

• Swap it! If you're stuck with three jars of cranberry sauce but no mincemeat, swap ingredients with friends or have a cooking day where you can share recipes and ingredients.

• Share the load. Have a party where you ask your guests to bring contributions of food and alcohol. Tell them it's a 'credit crunch Christmas' and everyone has to pull together, but remember to coordinate contributions and ask for specific items so that you get everything you need.

• You could even ask all your guests to provide one whole dish each to save yourself a lot of effort and expense.

Find free food on your doorstep:

• Supermarkets and other retailers throw out vast quantities of perfectly edible food every day simply because it's past its sell-by date. Followers of Freeganism try to limit their impact on the environment by using free sources of food like this. Visit the Freegan website (www.freegan.org.uk) for more details.

• Try your hand at foraging for wild mushrooms, berries, nuts and herbs. These grow all over the place, even in urban areas. There are lots of foraging ideas and recipes on Selfsufficientish.com where you can also sign up for a day course on foraging in Bristol.

Make sure you research unfamiliar plants and mushrooms carefully - or consult an expert - as some can be extremely poisonous. If you are in any doubt, don't eat it!

Free cards and presents

Cards:

• Recycle old Christmas cards ¢ find ways here (http://familycrafts.about.com/cs/greetingcards/a/122600a.htm) or transform them into gift tags or bookmarks.

Alternatively, make your own cards by printing out Christmas designs from the internet, or save money and paper by sending ecards.

• You can send ecards for free from sites like 123Greetings.com and Funny-Ecards.com without signing up or paying a penny, but you might want to use a different email address to your normal one as they like to send out spam to users.

Gifts:

• Get into 're-gifting': give your unwanted presents as Christmas gifts instead of letting them clutter up your house. Just remember who gave them to you so you can avoid fobbing aunty off with the same bath products she gave you last year!

• As well as giving away stuff you already have, try swapping your stuff for presents on sites like Swapz.co.uk or SwapitShop.com.

Here you can build up Swapit points when you swap, and exchange them for other items. For swapping clothes and other items, try WhatsMineIsYours.com.

• A further option is to search for presents on freebie websites. You can find all sorts of present-worthy items, from TVs, CDs and DVDs to more unusual freebies like old stamp collections and free bingo membership.

All you have to do is arrange to pick it up. Look for freebies on classified websites like Gumtree.com and Craigslist.com, or go to dedicated freebie sites like SnaffleUp.co.uk, Freecycle.org or MySkip.com.

Make your own:

• Your friends and relatives will really appreciate the effort you went to in making them a gift, and if you can do it for free then so much the better.

• When it comes to edible presents, brainstorm what you can make with the ingredients you already have and recycle jars and bottles to serve them in. You could put a few of these goodies together in a hamper.

A gift of your time:

• Make your own gift vouchers promising to give someone your time or do something special for them. This could be anything from making them breakfast in bed to promising to volunteer for their favourite charity.

• Make the voucher personal - think about what your friend or relative really cares about and tailor your gift to that. Older relatives often much prefer the gift of your time to the usual bottle of smellies, so even if you have enough money to buy something, consider giving your time as well.

Decorations

Re-use and recycle:

• See what salvageable decorations you have left from previous years. Also look out for decorations on the swapping and freebie sites mentioned above. Or try organising a decoration swap with friends - that way everybody gets something new without having to pay for it.

Make your own:

• Use garden leaves as stencils. Spray pinecones and ivy gold or silver and fix to the walls. Pick sprigs of holly to put behind picture frames. Or combine all these ideas and make your own wreath for the front door.

• Stick Christmas themed pictures from magazines onto card and cut out for Christmas tree decorations.

• Make paper chains. Use coloured paper or print out Christmas designs from the internet.

Entertainment

A free letter to Santa:

• Send your kids' letters to Santa to: Santa/Father Christmas, Santa's Grotto, Reindeerland, SAN TA1 and Royal mail will organisee a free reply (http://www.royalmail.com/portal/rm/jump1?catId=1000002&mediaId=80800761&campaignid=santa).

Get out of the house:

• Sing along and get into the Christmas mood by going to free carol services at a nearby church or watching the Christmas lights being turned on in your local town centre.

• Find out whether local museums and markets have any free events, carol concerts and festivals. Just make sure you book tickets beforehand so you don't miss out.

Jasmine Birtles is from Moneymagpie.com - the website that gives you a richer life.