Ngahuia Toma thinks Christmas "is all about the kids".
The Tauranga woman was making a Christmas card to give to her family at a Christmas budgeting workshop earlier in December.
Toma said making gifts was a good way to still give to her family this year despite not having a lot of money.
"I can't afford to buy flash presents but it's something for my mokos," she said.
Two Christmas budgeting workshops were held by the Tauranga Budget Advisory Service in the lead-up to Christmas.
The workshops provided ideas on how to make affordable gifts and decorations to ensure families do not spend unnecessarily during the festive season.
Hand-made Christmas cards, personalised name tags and recycled Christmas trees were some of the things being crafted.
Toma said hand-made gifts were a good way of reducing childrens' technology dependency.
"Making things is important because there is too much technology around for kids these days."
She said she remembers her grandson's third birthday this year when he wanted an iPad but got a jigsaw puzzle instead.
"He wasn't impressed when he first saw the jigsaw puzzle but, in the end, he played with it for hours and hours."
Tauranga Budget Advisory Service manager Diane Bruin said the trick to saving money this Christmas was to reuse items people already had.
"Keep it simple and recycle what you can and use crafts to dress things up as something new.
"As an example making magazines into Christmas trees or using old decorations, adding sparkles and writing on with pens to personalise them."
She said it was important for families to not overstretch their budgets by buying expensive gifts.
"Don't spend too much money that will mean you go without food for the family ... do secret Santa and limit costs to what the family can afford."
Bruin said shopping at second-hand stores was a good way to "turn something into a prized gift" while reducing landfill at the same time.
Cody Westworth had worked at the Budget Advisory for the past two years and said December was the busiest month for the service.
She said some clients had been budgeting for Christmas since the beginning of the year but those who had not should try to not overspend.
"Don't get yourself into debt," she said.
Westworth said if people had not managed to budget for Christmas this year, they should make sure they started planning early for next year.
"It's not about what you get, it's about being grateful."
Hand-made Christmas ideas
-Fold the corners of an old magazine to make a mini Christmas tree
-Home-made wardrobe freshener: Take an orange and place cloves all over it, decorate and personalise it
-Make your own Christmas cards with old colourful pieces of cards
-Take old tree decorations and freshen them up with glitter and personalise them with names
-Instead of buying expensive wrapping paper take plain white paper and decorate with stickers and glitter
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