If you’re wondering how to afford Christmas expenses this year, here are some ideas for earning extra holiday cash!
When I was in college, money was tight. Even though my parents paid for my tuition, I was responsible for my rent, monthly bills, food, car insurance, and textbooks. While waiting tables covered these expenses, I was strapped for cash when the holidays rolled around.
To earn extra holiday cash, I’d take on catering and babysitting gigs, sell used stuff to consignment shops and used bookstores, and participate in pharmaceutical research studies.
I tell you this because everyone has some talent, ability, or skill that they can use to earn extra money for holiday gifts.
If you’re worried about upcoming Christmas expenses, there are many ways to earn extra holiday cash. Whether you’re looking for a side gig, part-time job, or quick cash, this list has you covered!
1. Childcare Services
One of the easiest ways to make extra holiday cash is to provide childcare services. With kids on vacation, parents attending holiday parties, and secret shopping trips being executed, there are more than enough opportunities for you to cash in on this in-demand service this holiday season.
For sites that connect you with parents in need of childcare, check out:
2. Cookie Baking
Do you love to bake? Do you have a particular recipe for fruitcake that everyone raves about? Sell homemade cookies, candies, or cakes to fill a need this holiday season.
Everyone loves to have homemade goodies for holiday celebrations, but many people lack time to bake all the various sweets they would like to serve. This is where you can be a valuable holiday asset. Tell family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers that you’re selling sweets for the holiday season and ask them to place their orders. You can also post your holiday services on Facebook and Instagram sites, giving your holiday business even greater reach.
3. Create a Holiday Gift Guide
Create a holiday gift guide with ideas, recipes, tips for surviving the holidays, holiday decor, and gift-wrapping ideas. You can upload your text, images, and links into a Word Document and then convert your document into a PDF. To monetize the guide, sell advertising space or add your affiliate links. Lastly, promote your guide on your social media channels via free online publishing websites, your website, and your email list. Check out this blog post for more tips on creating a holiday gift guide.
4. Join a Direct Sales Company
We’ve all heard of Avon and Tupperware, but did you know that there are thousands of direct sales companies selling millions of products?!
With direct selling, you purchase a starter kit that gives you everything you need to start. Then, for each sale made through your website or pop-up party, you’ll earn a commission.
Some companies have a multi-level marketing component, where you can build a team and earn commissions on team sales.
Your first prospects will generally be friends, family, and neighbors; then, you will build your customer base by getting referrals and branching out. The direct sales model tends to be best for extroverts.
Here are some direct sales companies with fun products:
5. Gift Wrapping
My mom always disliked wrapping Christmas gifts. On the other hand, I loved it and would do most of the gift wrapping for her. Here is another simple service that you can provide this holiday season, especially useful for personal concierges and virtual assistants to add to their services list.
If you’re looking for more tips on getting started, Gemma has a great article covering everything you need to know.
6. Hang Holiday Lights
This has become a popular home-based business in the past few years. Installing outdoor holiday lights takes time and physical strength. You’ll need some essential tools, like a truck and a ladder, but if you’re not afraid of heights, this can be a lucrative and fun way to make some extra holiday cash. Check with your insurance agent to ensure you’re covered in case of an accident.
Here are some on-demand sites you can use to connect with customers:
7. Earn Extra Cash as a Holiday Helper
People’s schedules are packed with activities from holiday parties to Christmas shopping and travel! With people being so busy, it’s easy to establish yourself as a holiday helper. Offer services like house cleaning, laundry, meal prep, dog walking, pet sitting, house sitting, plant watering, grocery shopping, or running errands.
These smartphone apps can connect you with clients who need your services:
8. Make and Sell Handmade Crafts
Making and selling crafts for extra holiday cash may be your calling if you’re artsy and crafty. You’ll need to plan ahead with this idea unless you already have a surplus of crafts created. If you’re going to use a site like Etsy to sell your handmade goods, you’ll want to get that set up and ready to go as well. You can also use platforms like Facebook and Instagram to connect directly with consumers, or you can consider purchasing a booth at a craft fair or farmer’s market.
Not sure what to sell? Here are 16 profitable craft ideas to make and sell from home.
9. Create and Send Holiday Cards
Fulfill a need for this holiday by creating one-of-a-kind holiday cards. You can even offer to address them and send them out for an additional fee. This service is great for virtual assistants and personal concierge providers to add to their current services list. Be sure to read Melanie’s success story about how she’s selling one-of-a-kind cards on Etsy using her Cricut machine.
10. Personal Holiday Shopper
Do you love to shop? Then, offer your shopping expertise to others by searching for the best deals or unique gift ideas and then purchasing the gifts online or in-store. This will save your clients a ton of time; you can even offer to gift wrap the presents for an additional charge.
Related Content: How to Get Paid to Shop For Others
11. Holiday Party Planner
Do you love planning parties? Then, offer your services as a holiday event planner! Party planners handle details like location, budget, decorations, entertainment, food, beverages, activities, invitations, and more. If your expertise is in just one of the following areas, say decorating, see if you can partner with another event planner, caterer, or establishment. Show them photos of a personal event that you’ve done in the past to give them an idea of what you can do. Once you have a solid referral under your belt, you’ll be able to pitch yourself to others who may need your help this holiday season.
12. Sell Used Items
Years ago, I cleaned out my daughter’s closet right before Christmas, and I came up with a couple of bags of clothes, some shoes, a baby monitor, a highchair, and a pack-and-play. I took the clothes, shoes, and baby monitor to a local resale shop and made $44.00. I then listed the highchair and the pack-and-play on Craigslist and sold those for another $160.00 for a total of $204.00, not shabby for a couple of hours of work.
If you want to sell items around your house for cash, start now! According to Statista, most people (56%) start their holiday shopping before the end of October. The sooner you post your items online using Poshmark, Facebook Marketplace, or eBay or take them to a consignment store, the better your chance of selling them and earning holiday cash! Things I’ve found that sell particularly well around this time are toys, formal wear, electronics, and new items that still have their tags.
13. Travel Planner
Offer travel planning services this holiday season and take the stress out of someone’s day. Search for the cheapest holiday flights, car rentals, and hotel accommodations; you can even add in extras, like activities to do and see while they’re visiting.
To get started, check companies like:
14. Tutoring
Holiday vacation is the perfect time for students to get caught up in their studies, and this is where you come in! Tutoring can be an incredible at-home job opportunity, especially for those with extensive knowledge of a subject, such as a college student majoring in English, a school teacher, or an individual fluent in a foreign language. Besides the regular subjects like math, science, and English, there are also at-home positions for ESL teachers and test scorers!
Check out platforms like:
15. Seasonal Work From Home Jobs 2024
With all the extra orders coming in for the holidays, retail companies are looking for additional home-based customer service representatives to handle the increased call volume. Cash in on this home-based opportunity – who knows, it could lead to a long-term position.
Here are some companies that tend to hire remote seasonal workers and contractors in the fall for increased seasonal demands:
16. Freelance Writing
Large brands, small business owners, and even bloggers like to take time off for the holidays, so why not offer to remove some of their workloads by offering your writing services? From blog posts and newsletters to articles and advertising copy, people are always looking for talented writers.
Here are some good places to search for paid writing gigs:
17. Do Some Short Task Jobs
Short tasks, also known as micro jobs, are assignments that can be completed in a short amount of time. Tasks may include taking surveys, doing internet research, writing, graphic design, proofreading, data entry, training AI tools, and lots more. The wonderful thing about short tasks is you don’t need long periods to get the work done since it’s project-based and not a set amount of hours.
Here are a few places to check out:
18. Snow Removal
If you love being outdoors and don’t mind manual labor, shoveling snow or removing snow with a snowblower can be a great way to earn extra holiday cash.
Create flyers and pass them around your neighborhood or post them on nearby bulletin boards. If you have a neighborhood Facebook Group, you can also tout your services there (be sure you abide by the group’s posting rules). According to this article, you can earn approximately $20 per driveway.
Here are some ways to get connected with those in need of snow plowing services:
You’ll likely be doing a fair amount of holiday shopping for your loved ones this holiday season, so why not get paid for it?! Sites like Rakuten (formerly Ebates) allow you to earn cashback from online purchases, and they are entirely free to use. I suggested it to my newsletter subscribers, and here’s what one of them had to say:
“I wanted to thank you and your partners for the information you gave me to earn extra income. I’ve never made money online before, I’ve tried, but failed many times. This week I tried out Ebates and made $102.06, and my wife made $22.13 just today. I am so overwhelmed and beyond excited. I have tears of joy. My passion is to help the inner-city youth, especially in the Chicago area, the elderly, and our vets. Thank you, and God bless you.” – Paulus, from Mount Prospect, Illinois.
I’ve been using Rakuten since 2013, and during that time, I’ve earned over $3,200 in cashback. That’s not bad!
20. Scan Your Receipts for Extra Cash
With all the holiday shopping you’ll be doing, why not make some extra cash by scanning your receipts? With smartphone apps like Receipt Hog, Ibotta, Swagbucks, and FetchRewards, you can earn points and cashback simply by scanning your receipts.
The information from your receipts is used for market research, which is why these companies are willing to reward you with cash and gift cards for doing this task. While scanning your receipts isn’t going to make you rich, it will add a little extra spending money to your wallet. I currently use all four of these apps and can vouch for their legitimacy. For more apps that will pay you to scan receipts, check out this post.
21. Make Money with Your Car
If you don’t mind driving around town, you can make good money by being a rideshare or delivery driver. With apps like Uber, Lyft, HopSkipDrive, DoorDash, and Instacart, you can quickly sign up to make money delivering people, groceries, and takeout food. With these apps, you’ll need to be able to pass a criminal background check, have a clean driving record, and have a newer, reliable car. However, if you meet all the criteria, you can be up and running in 1-2 weeks. Explore this list of ideas for making money with your car.
22. Be a Mystery Shopper
Many establishments use mystery shoppers to ensure that employees give patrons top-notch customer service. If you’d like to go undercover as a mystery shopper, it can be a fun way to earn products and a little extra cash. Some mystery shopping gigs don’t even require you to leave home, as the mystery shops are done over the phone. For these roles, you’ll need to have good memory recall and excellent written communication skills.
To sign up as a mystery shopper, check out:
23. Rent Your Stuff for Extra Cash
You’re likely familiar with Airbnb and Vrbo, but did you know there are other less invasive ways to earn holiday cash by renting your stuff? Items like cars, cameras, sporting equipment, clothing, RVs, boats, and more can be rented for money. Take an inventory of all your household items, and determine which ones you can rent for quick cash. Then, take some photos and upload them to a rental marketplace, set your own rates, and earn passive income!
This side hustle can be carried over into the new year, too! Check out this post for more ways to make money renting stuff.
24. Christmas Tree Removal
Going to the Christmas tree farm is a fun family tradition, but removing the ornaments and removing the tree is another story. After the holidays, offer tree removal services by picking up used trees and disposing of them at your local recycling center. You can even offer to remove the decorations and put them away for an additional fee. The cash that you earn can be used to pay off your holiday bills.
Related Content: Ways to Turn Your Trash into Cash
Final Words About Making Extra Holiday Cash
There are lots of ways to earn extra cash for the holidays without going into debt and charging up your credit card.
The best way to make enough money for your holiday shopping and extras is to start earlier than later. Most retail companies start hiring in September and October for seasonal positions. If you’re considering using an on-demand site or app, start the application process now so you’ll be ready to go when the seasonal demands hit. And if you’re considering making holiday crafts, by all means, start making them now! As they say, the early bird gets the worm.
How are you earning extra pocket cash this holiday season? Drop us a note; we’d love to hear from you!
Originally published December 11, 2009. Content updated September 2024.
