No Spend Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids

No one needs more plastic toys!

Here are some gift ideas for kids that require no money and no crafting skills. Kids love getting any kind of gift and will sometimes love a rock more than an expensive toy.

Wrap these things up nice and put them under the tree.

No-Spend Christmas Presents

Make A Custom Cookie or Name Cookie

Sure, you are making Christmas or holiday cookies for everyone and your child will surely get some but don’t underestimate the excitement of custom cookie wrapped up special. It has to be a different shape (favorite animal?) and or have their name on it. You can even make letter cookies to spell their name. Wrap it up in a zip lock bag or wax paper the night before as they don’t keep long.

Make a Craft Kit

I know you have a lot of treasures (crap) plus tons of broken and piecemeal arts supplies right? I have a box full of things we might use for crafts someday including old pieces of string, cut up cloth, toilet paper rolls, paper plates, wooden sticks, sequins, card stock, old magazines, glue sticks, random pens and markers, googly eyes… and more. There are two ways to make this great. First, you could look up an applicable craft on Pinterest, or on a site like ours, and then print out or draw and picture and instructions. You can pre-cut pieces of construction paper and measure the right amounts of what you need. If you have especially fun little pieces of stuff, you can also make a design your own collage kit and just let your kid figure it out–they will!

Restore Old Toys

Everyone has some toy that broke or ran out of batteries but you saved it because you thought you could fix it—someday. Here is your chance. Replace the batteries, fix the broken zipper, glue that arm back on…you can do this. Then wrap it up and put it under the tree. If you kids are especially young, they may not even remember the toy.

Make a Pet Rock, Seriously

A rock is just an example, but it works. You could also do a special walking stick or a pet pine cone. Whatever it is, paint it, wrap it in colored string, hang beads, or glue on eyes. Make it look special and put it in nice wrapping paper. They’ll love it.

Movie Party Tickets

Create fancy movie tickets and popcorn coupons for a special home movie showing. If possible, make the room extra special and play usher.

Trade Old Books At A Free Mini Library or Friends

Find your local free mini library or friend’s house and swap some nice, but read books for some new ones that your kid might like. Talk to friends and family about this idea… most people will jump on board.

Get New Fun Clothes with the Swoondle Society

Ok, this one requires a tiny spend, but it is still environmentally sound. You can swap outgrown (but still very nice) clothes for new clothes using a nice shopping style website. It requires a small membership fee, but it is really worth it if you have more than one kid. I’ve found so many great things there. Do me a favor and use my member referral code (QQCCT5) when you sign up. (it isn’t an affiliate program, just an old-fashioned friend referral incentive). I actually love it even if sometimes I don’t understand their clothing rating system… Tip: they will give you better credit for a popular brand item that is not in the best shape than a perfect item from a less popular brand.

Related:

25 Acts of Kindness Advent Calendar