Buying gift bags can really add to your holiday budget. And when you wait until closer to Christmas, it will be harder to find those inexpensive gift bags and you will be stuck paying more for them. And as a bonus, nearly all store-bought gift bags come with a tag attached to the handle, so you don;t have to spend extra money on gift tags or cards.
Take a tally of the gifts you have already purchased and see what you need to either gift wrap or gift bag them. Then hit your local dollar store or other place that is known for cheap gift bags, and buy what you need now…. you can even get ahead of the game and wrap them after you buy the bags too, saving you time when Christmas gets closer and there never seems to be enough time.
Still have some gifts you need to buy? You can also stock up on a few extra seasonal bags – or you can get some generic solid colored bags that would also work for birthdays, anniversaries and any other gift-giving occasions you may have coming up. Silver is always a safe bet as is most shades of green and red.
Don’t forget the tissue paper if you top the gift bags with colored tissue paper. The seasonal colors always seem to be sold out at the dollar store by the time December rolls around, and it can be very hard to make a Christmas gift look festive when hot pink tissue is peeking out of the gift bag!
Don’t forget white tissue paper works just as well. So when you purchase any clothing items, even if they aren’t for a gift, ask for a bit of tissue paper. Then you can save it for topping on Christmas gift bags too… or use two of your freebie white tissue papers and one colored one in the middle, so you can save a lot of money this way too.
When should you start? Now! Black Friday is when you will start to see the least expensively priced gift bags start to sell out. And let’s face it, it is far better to pay $1 a bag this week than $5 a bag a week before Christmas when the stock of bags has been picked over just about everywhere.
[…] you have (hopefully!) gone the frugal way of buying inexpensive gift bags and dressing them up, or have plans to make your own gift bags, you will probably find yourself […]