The holidays are so very stressful for so very many of us.  I get it. If you find yourself already stressed about the holidays, I totally understand and I can help!  There are things that you can do during the holidays to help you save money. You can make some decisions now that will help you to not only preserve your savings but also will help you preserve your sanity.  

• Have a no-gift holiday.  Okay, not everyone is on board with this, but it is entirely possible to do Christmas without the gifts.  You can choose to do no gifts for everyone, or no gifts for just the adults. If you have a discussion within your family beforehand, this goes over a lot easier.
• Draw names.  If you have a big, extended family, you might consider drawing names in an effort to save money on the gifts you buy. I celebrate Christmas with my husband’s family. In our family, we have 7 adults (my husband and I, my sister-in-law and her husband and my brother in law and his wife, and my father in law) as well as 7 children.  This year we are considering having the adults (excluding my father in law) draw names and then we will all buy for all of the children. We came to the realization that we had been spending $40-$50 on each person and that easily equaled another $200-$300 spent each Christmas.
• Give food gifts.  Give food gifts instead of store-bought gifts this year.  I like this because not only is it cheaper, but homemade gifts are from the heart and, for me at least, always appreciated.
• Give experience gifts.  Instead of buying all of your kids gifts, why not give an experience gift for all of them?  My husband and I have 3 children, and often spend hundreds of dollars on them during the holidays.  This money is mostly spent on toys that are played with for a couple of weeks and then forgotten about.  This year, we are buying our entire family a long weekend trip to Arizona, which for us was just over $500 for ALL of us.  This should be a lifetime of memories for the same price as a couple of weeks of toys. Well worth it in my opinion. If your budget is on the lower side, check out Groupon and Living Social for deals on experiences!  (These sites often have deals on Great Wolf Lodge in case that is on your must-visit list)