“White Christmas” is playing on the loudspeakers at the mall, and the grocery stores are all stocked with red and green M&M’s. The holidays are officially here! Black Friday and Cyber Monday are two of our favorite holiday traditions – you can get a deal on pretty much anything you need for your home – but the savings don’t have to stop there!

Save money all season long with these savvy holiday tips:

Serve Appetizers Instead of Full Meals

If you're planning on hosting a get-together or party, serve bite-size finger foods instead of springing for a multi-course meal. Guests mostly just want to show off their holiday sweaters anyway, so whip up some homemade appetizers and let the people mingle! For some great recipes, read: From Bacon to Brie.

Make Your Own Decorations

Getting festive is always fun, but you don’t want to break the bank on decorations. Instead, go in the backyard (or craft store), scoop up a few pinecones and then go to work making these easy, seasonal pinecone decorations. People love them, and they cost you almost nothing!

Turn Old, Full-Size Cards into New Postcards

Do you have a stack of old Christmas cards from seasons past? Excellent. Cut them in half and use the cover as a repurposed post card. Nobody will know the difference, we promise.

Stay at Home

The holidays are jam-packed with new movies, expensive dinners and other out-of-the-house activities, but you don’t have to do them all! Save some cash by staying home with your family and playing some old board games (charades works, too). Who knows, it might turn into a longstanding, cost-effective tradition!

If after all of this you still hate the word cheap, just say frugal, instead. Frugal isn’t so bad.

Information provided by BrightNest.com.

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