Navigating Holiday Shopping on a Budget
By Aubrey Wurst
December 6, 2025
(Dolgikh, n.d.)
The Holiday Season is a time for enjoying family and friends. This time of year can be especially relaxing and a needed reset for many, but the stress of holiday shopping tends to interfere with these plans.
Shopping for the right holiday presents for friends, family, and coworkers can be especially stressful when on a budget. Buying presents for all your loved ones gets expensive very quickly, and can create more stress than good.
Isabella Kaksey, a sophomore biology major, said she stresses out every year when it comes to the price of holiday shopping.
Riley Marie, a senior mechanical engineering major, said she also stresses during the holiday season because she does not make a lot of money and she has many friends to buy gifts for.
When shopping, people tend to skip out on some of their closest friends, or get lesser quality gifts and feel guilty due to a concern for money.
The stress of holiday shopping can be easily avoided by talking about gifts with family and friends.
Instead of buying a gift for every person in your friend group, organizing a secret santa is a great way to spend less money.
Secret Santa is when the name of each friend is put into a hat and pulled out by other members of the group. When someone pulls a name they then have to buy a gift they think would fit that person.
Marie said secret santa is a great way to get the whole group involved while not feeling like you need to get a gift for every person.
“It's a fun group activity and you are only buying one gift. You can set a budget that works for your group.” Marie said
Setting a group budget makes it easier to manage the amount of money you are spending on gifts for the holidays.
Another way to spend less money when holiday shopping is deciding to go to dinner with friends or family instead of getting one another gifts.
Kaskey said she plans to go to dinner with her friends instead of giving gifts, and she is very excited.
“Me and my two best friends are probably going to go to dinner during winter break when they come home, and we are going to go to our favorite restaurant we always go to, and I am really excited.” said Kaskey.
When going to a dinner you experience quality time with your loved ones. This quality time is equally as special as a gift, if not more meaningful.
According to the National Library of Medicine, quality time with loved ones lowers stress significantly and can increase happiness especially during the holidays.
Lowering stress levels this holiday season is so important for the health and happiness of not only your friends and family but also yourself, and implementing dinners or games such as secret santa is a great way to manage stress.
Isabella Kaksey:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nawo-YAccIS3-qk0t5g9K5Gs_BLTJcVS/view?usp=sharing
Riley Marie :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ae4pJ8IVZQui4VvjWOuGMKaJ4fnPJBOZ/view?usp=sharing
Shopping for the right holiday presents for friends, family, and coworkers can be especially stressful when on a budget. Buying presents for all your loved ones gets expensive very quickly, and can create more stress than good.
Isabella Kaksey, a sophomore biology major, said she stresses out every year when it comes to the price of holiday shopping.
Riley Marie, a senior mechanical engineering major, said she also stresses during the holiday season because she does not make a lot of money and she has many friends to buy gifts for.
When shopping, people tend to skip out on some of their closest friends, or get lesser quality gifts and feel guilty due to a concern for money.
The stress of holiday shopping can be easily avoided by talking about gifts with family and friends.
Instead of buying a gift for every person in your friend group, organizing a secret santa is a great way to spend less money.
Secret Santa is when the name of each friend is put into a hat and pulled out by other members of the group. When someone pulls a name they then have to buy a gift they think would fit that person.
Marie said secret santa is a great way to get the whole group involved while not feeling like you need to get a gift for every person.
“It's a fun group activity and you are only buying one gift. You can set a budget that works for your group.” Marie said
Setting a group budget makes it easier to manage the amount of money you are spending on gifts for the holidays.
Another way to spend less money when holiday shopping is deciding to go to dinner with friends or family instead of getting one another gifts.
Kaskey said she plans to go to dinner with her friends instead of giving gifts, and she is very excited.
“Me and my two best friends are probably going to go to dinner during winter break when they come home, and we are going to go to our favorite restaurant we always go to, and I am really excited.” said Kaskey.
When going to a dinner you experience quality time with your loved ones. This quality time is equally as special as a gift, if not more meaningful.
According to the National Library of Medicine, quality time with loved ones lowers stress significantly and can increase happiness especially during the holidays.
Lowering stress levels this holiday season is so important for the health and happiness of not only your friends and family but also yourself, and implementing dinners or games such as secret santa is a great way to manage stress.
Isabella Kaksey:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nawo-YAccIS3-qk0t5g9K5Gs_BLTJcVS/view?usp=sharing
Riley Marie :
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Ae4pJ8IVZQui4VvjWOuGMKaJ4fnPJBOZ/view?usp=sharing