A letter from Santa
If your kids believe in Santa why not write a letter and make out its from Santa they really believe it, I've done it for years, and I'll always send it through the post, to make it more realistic
Jade, Essex

Tiscali says: We have a letter to Santa that you can print off and your children can colour in

A Christian Christmas
First, remember why we are celebrating Christmas. It has gone mad with materialism. Things that are nothing to do with Christmas.
Do not put decorations up till 2nd Sunday of Advent.
Advent is the time of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ at Christmas.
The first 2 weeks prepare us spiritually, then we prepare for the celebration for the 2nd 2 weeks.
When Christmas arrives the first thing is to go to Church to give glory to God for this great celebration then go home and CELEBRATE!!!!!!
My Family always have the most amazing Christmas Parties, and New Year and the Epiphany. I bet you don\'t celebrate that one.
The Christians always have more occassions to have a good do!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Enjoy yourselves.
Anne Cheetham Blackpool

Game on
Make present buying into a personal game. Scour markets and car boots for cut price versions of high street store items. Save yourself a packet, make the prezzies as personal as possible and put enjoyment back into the present quest.
Elizabeth Strafford Wakefield

What to give someone who has got everything
This Christmas give a gift that will make a life changing difference. Send a Cow provides impoverished African families with animals, equipment or training to dramatically change lives. Either make this an extra present, or you can give it to someone as their present, as information, photo and card are provided to wrap. There is something to fit all budgets, right up to giving a whole farmyard for £2000!
Lindsey Crawley, West Sussex

Start buying early
Start buying presents in the January sales things like socks and gloves and scarves it takes a great deal of strain off you and saves a great deal of time queing when the stores are very busy
Granville Linley, Yorkshire

Get creative
Keep all your previous Christmas cards and cut pictures off them to create personal gift tags.
Create personal wrapping paper by getting your children to draw pictures on large sheets of plain paper and tie with colourful ribbon.
Buy a card-making kit from a local crafts shop and get your children to make cards for family members.
Emily, Herne Bay

Alternative wrapping
Buy a load of brown paper bags and jazz them up with some simple ribbon & bows - much cheaper than £2.99 + ready made bags. They'd come in handy all year round too.
Rachel Sowerbutts, Guildford

Price tags
Use a hair dryer to get rid of those pesky price tags.
Emma, Lytham St.Annes

Set a limit
If you have a large family set a price limit of £5 for gifts for adults.You can even have a yearly competition and give out a trophy for the most imaginative or 'best value for money' present! It means that you don't overstretch your finances, you have to think more carefully about what to buy and can introduce more fun into present opening!
Paula, Letchworth

Vouchers
Instead of spending a lot of money on Christmas cards, give £1 Christmas gift vouchers. Your friends will receive not only a card, but a present as well.
Melissa, Oldbury, West Midlands

If you have a new baby buy an extra special christmas tree decoration with some meaning attached. Do this every year and you can tell your children stories about past Christmases. You could even box up all their special decorations to give them when they leave the nest!
Melissa, Oldbury, West Midlands

Remember the reason for the season
Get to know Jesus. After all, He is the Reason for the Season! Your local church will help you with this. Find one that runs the Alpha course and join in.
Lindsay Ramsbottom, Notting Hill

Just enjoy
I know so many people who get so worked up at Christmas over the cooking, presents and family. It is the Festive season and people should just keep calm and enjoy the moment. It only happens once a year so make it special.
Gordon Thompson, Inverness, Scotland

Start saving early
Every year I save £30 a month into a Christmas club account then come November I have £300 to spend on Christmas presents and a little something for myself. Beats being broke come Christmas!!!!
Leanda Reeves, Staffordshire

An idea to tag onto
Recycle your old Christmas cards by getting the chidren to cut the festive pictures from them and using them as gift tags on presents saving a fortune!!
Vikki Colman, Peterlee, Co Durham

Look out for early special offers
It's probably too late for this year, but why not buy a few pounds worth of supermarket stamps each week to minimise the dent in your wallet! And look out for all the special offers on Christmas on goodies such as biscuits, drinks and chocolates which will probably disappear as soon as we hit December.
Andrew, Tiverton

Find out what matters
Ask your children what is important to them at Christmas, you may be surprised, our 9 year old's answer was the roast dinner and the joint of ham we cook. Therefore, we are not spending as much this year as we have other years.
Julie, Lincolnshire

Plea for cuts
Shops should have the prices of products go down for Christmas instead of going up. I think the stores and shops would make a much bigger profit if the prices dropped as alot of people would buy a lot more to give their family/friends.
Nat, Kirkby-in-Ashfield

Read all about it
Take the anxiety out of preparations for the season by reading Bad Christmas by Mike Jackson. [An anthology of funny stories about people's disastrous Christmases.]
Robert Arley, Worcester

Lots of ideas
Get xmas shopping, Start in September so you can spread the cost over a few months.
On xmas foods: do it aweek before xmas. Look out for dates of meat, fresh foods make sure its four days before run out of date.
Never use Xmas candle lit without parent around. Keep it special and leave them until kids go to bed for their own saftey. Then light the candle and have some nice romance for the parents. Do not leave candle lit all night as pets about and you need to avoid any danger of fire. Put all candles out before going to bed.
Wrap your present once you have all your Christmas shopping done but not before, so you can look through all the gifts you have bought again before you wrap them. This will help to remind you in case you have forgotten anything Make sure you hide things where kids can't see them best place is in the loft if you have one. Do not put presents under bed, or in cupboards you children can open and find and then not belive in Father Christmas. If you don't have a loft then why not yor mum and dad's house
Clean your house about two weeks before xmas.

Thats all folks. Merry Christmas, good luck!
Sharon Greene, Harrogate

Get away from it all
Best idea is to book a cruise and go away from all the hype
Peter Ryder

Tell people what you want
I was fed up with getting given slippers by my mum every year so I looked online and found a site where I could list stuff I wanted. Not just from one shop (like Amazon) but anything.
There\'s a couple of sites that I found. This was my favourtie
http://www.whattogive.com
but I also quite liked
http://www.thethingsiwant.com
Elizabeth Sandstead, London

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Family fun
Play family games at Christmas. It always unites people and dilutes any tension straight away. Doesn't have to be board games - things like Charades can have you in stiches and you don't need any equipment or to buy games.
Kate, London

Mull it over
Try not to burn or overheat mulled wine otherwise it looses most of the spicy flavours.
Elizabeth Grand, Blackpool

Go natural
Instead of spending a fortune on table arrangements from Liberty or Habitat, find some berried holly from the forest to make decorations with.
Melinda, Waltham Cross

Don't get caught out
What do you do when visitors appear on your doorstep unexpectedly laden with pressies? Best way to avoid a very embarrassing situation is to pick up a few extra presents when you're out shopping, wrap them up and leave them under the tree. Then, you're ready to whip them when you're faced with such a social emergency! Photoframes, posh choccies, bottles of bubbly all make ideal 'adaptable pressies'. (Make sure you get a couple of kids pressies too.) Doesn't have to be expensive - and if you don't use them this year you can always use them for birthdays and stuff next year.
Alex, Cornwall

Creative table dressing
If you have to eat at the kitchen table but don't think it feels festive enough don't bother splashing out on an expensive table cloth and decorations that you will only use once a year - use some of the gorgeous xmas wrapping paper that is around, and cover your table in that. if you can find a sparkly one then the lights and candles will reflect off it and it'll look even better.
Evelyn, Milton Keynes

Christmas all wrapped up
Get gifts gift wrapped if this is offered in store to save on expensive wrapping paper and time in wrapping gifts.
Angela Burton, Birmingham

Don't leave the house
The shops are hideously crowded and it can be a nightmare so buy online and miss the christmas shopping frenzy and as you can do it at any time you don't miss any time in the pub. Plus it can save you money too.
Sam Silver, Ely

Smells wonderful
Stick broken up cinnamon twigs into an orange for a Christmas aroma.
Susan Jones, Letchworth

Get everyone involved
Get your kids to make tree decorations and Christmas cards - it saves on money and also a nice keep-sake to look back on and keeps them occupied for a while.
Esther Johns, Glasgow

Secret Santa
If you have a big family and buying for everyone is far too expensive then why not do a Secret Santa. You set a price limit and everyone only buys one present for someone else - names drawn at random out of a hat.
Sharon Timms, Worcester

Don't waste your money
Don't buy all the overpackaged, overpriced tat that the shops buy in specially to peddle to punters at Christmas. 90% of it will probably be on a landfill site within 5 years.
Ben, London

Make friends with a gardener
Don't spend a fortune on buying decorations. Instead use holly and ivy. If you don't have any growing in your garden, you've probably got a friend who is more than willing to give you some. It's cheap, cheerful and smells fantastic. Twist it round banisters, create fabulous table decorations, wreaths for your front door, window displays. Pick up a few white pillar candles, wire, oasis and other bits and bobs from your local florist.
Jane Spencer, Cumbria