Tackling ways to shop for gifts on a college budget

Homemade gifts are one way to cut the costs of holiday shopping

By Shannon Milliken
The Collegian

As people everywhere flock to the stores to buy Christmas presents, college students might be asking themselves how they’re going to afford those presents.

If gift giving is a tradition among friends, but not financially feasible Cindy Post Senning, granddaughter of etiquette guru Emily Post, recommends telling the truth, “This is really one where the honesty comes into play. What if you decided to either cut back or change your pattern or stop giving, and you don’t talk to your friends about what is the issue? They are going to wonder what’s wrong,” she said.

Graduating senior Andrew Jensen warns students against spending money they don’t have. “Don’t use a credit card,” Jensen said. “You’ll pay for it later.” Instead, he looks at street vendors who often have cheap, funky presents that are “unique and fun without spending a whole lot,” Jensen said.

Suzanne Gomez, 33, of Burbank, participates in “Secret Santa” with her friends and family — where a person draws a name and then shops for a gift below a certain price for that person.

“With ‘Secret Santa,’ you get one person in your big family or friend group and you can focus on the gift,” she said.

Public Relations senior Jamie Gard usually makes her Christmas presents. She often gives people framed photos or homemade calendars for Christmas. “Be creative and sometimes you can come up with personal projects that aren’t expensive.”

If students do choose to shop for presents, Gard advises them to set a spending limit and stick to it.

When she shops for presents, she goes to Target, because of its good selection and low prices, Gard said.

Sophomore Sarah Welles agrees. She gets most of her holiday shopping done at Target. “It has everything for a reasonable price and I can usually get presents for everybody there,” Welles said.

Also, a great way to save money is by teaming up with friends to go in on presents together for other people, Welles said. She enjoys finding the sales when shopping on a budget, or she finds other ways to give without spending much. “You can bake for people,” Welles said.

Also, to limit gift giving, Senning recommends giving a single gift to an entire family. “What is it they enjoy to do together?” Senning said. “If a family likes waffles, buy them a waffle iron and the waffle mix. They all benefit from the gift,” she said.

If you are still looking for individual presents for multiple people, shopping at malls can limit the amount of traveling between stores. Liberal studies major Erica Arce said she usually goes to Fashion Fair for her Christmas shopping because of the big selection of stores. But, to save money, she only buys one present per person.

Graphic Design major Evan Korn said the shops everywhere for Christmas presents, but he tries to decide on everything he’s going to buy before he goes out shopping. Sometimes, Korn said, this includes shopping on the Internet. Korn sets up categories of the people he needs to buy for, into family, friends and close friends. He has a budget set for each group of people. “Whatever money I have is kind of distributed among the people I need to buy for,” Korn said. “If it comes down to me having no money, I’ve found that friends usually appreciate long, well-thought out cards.”

Chelsea Carter of the Associated Press contribued to this report.

Comment on this story in the News forum >>