Christmas is one of the most anticipated holidays of the year and a financially trying time for families due to its many demands. Even if you use credit cards or deferred fees, Holiday costs can leave you in a bind once the season is over, with bills coming due in January.

The average American will spend about $832 on gifts, food, and decorations in 2022, according to the National Retail Foundation (NRF). But you can be proactive and identify ways to earn extra money with the following suggestions.

Holiday-Themed Print-on-Demand Products

Mellina Joseph, the owner of CoffeeCracked, suggests selling print-on-demand products. Due to its low risk and low initial investment, Joseph recommends this business model as an excellent one for beginners. Instead of printing and holding enormous amounts of inventory, products are only printed and dispatched to clients when an order is placed. Print-on-demand (POD) involves creating cool holiday-themed art and printing it on various products.

Here are some products you can put your art on T-shirts, phone cases, mugs, tote bags, hoodies, pillows, beach towels, and yoga mats. 

Platforms like RedBubble allow you easily create custom art and place it on various products. You don't have to take care of fulfillment – these platforms do everything for you! RedBubble even allows you to sell on their platform – you don't need a website! If you want to boost your income, you can create a simple TikTok with samples of your product and make significant cash.

Selling holiday-themed clothing is much easier because people are looking to buy it. Some potential ideas for the type of art you can put on products include:

• Christmas colors combined with icons such as Christmas trees, holly, mistletoe, and snowflakes.
• Pictures of popular Christmas characters, such as Santa Claus, reindeer, elves, and snowmen. Festive phrases and quotes, such as Merry Christmas, Ho Ho Ho, Joy to the World, or Let It Snow. 

“Simple designs work best. There are countless possibilities for creating unique and eye-catching holiday-themed designs for POD – be creative!” Joseph says, “Depending on your design; you can make anywhere between a few $100 to a few $1000 in the coming weeks. The trick is to keep churning out many designs until one finally goes viral!”

Christmas Saying Doormats and Other Holiday Crafts

According to Chad Montgomery, owner of Parentintel, using a Cricut, you can design a spray paint template with a holiday-themed saying on doormats and a basic graphic like a Santa hat. Pick up bulk fabric mats from Home Depot, spray on paint made for fabric, and sell them via Facebook. Each doormat can make you $30 in profit, and once you're set up with materials, it takes about 10 minutes to complete. If you're good at whipping up creative art projects or can create heartwarming graphics, this is the side hustle for you this season. Dazzling holiday decorations can also be a fun opportunity to make some money on the side. On Etsy, you can sell homemade snowflake decorations for around $14 per piece. 

Deliver Groceries

Since the pandemic, more and more people are looking for grocery delivery services. More and more people are opting to spend their time at home and are accustomed to cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry without leaving the house. The holiday season is no exception to the general public's reliance on these services. 

DoorDash, Uber Eats, Shipt, and InstaCart are delivery platforms you can use. Once you get approval to shop, you can earn cash by delivering groceries, electronics, household items, and more. You can set your hours and take the jobs that work for your schedule. If you sign up for Instacart, you can earn $13 per hour. Choose to make extra cash at night, on the weekends, or even during your work breaks. It's a flexible and convenient side hustle to consider. 

Additionally, both Shipt and Instacart encourage their members to tip. You can make up to $25/hour while keeping 100% of your tips, which is very fruitful during the season of giving and holiday spirit. 

Trade Gift Cards

The holiday season is the right time to sell Gift Cards because people are looking to buy them. Gift cards are super easy go-to gifts that are perfect for last-minute shopping. You can sell several gift cards on eBay with little work and generate a decent passive income. Your gift cards must be in good condition. 

Give Plasma

Kathy Kristof, an editor and financial journalist, suggests giving plasma if you are healthy and up to 18 years old. Typically, you'll need to undergo a medical screening. It pays an astounding $100 per hour for the first several visits when you sign up with the right sites like Biomat and Octapharma Plasma. You can only give it twice a week or 24 times a year.

Pet Sitting

Only pet lovers would appreciate this. If you are one, you can watch people's animals while they are gone on vacation. Signing up with a service like Fetch or Pet Sitter means you don't need to worry about finding clients. You only need to sign up, establish your rates, and specify which pets you wish to mind. You can make roughly $300-$500 monthly, depending on how many hours you put in.

Help People With Holiday Tasks

People's schedules fill up quickly over the holiday season. Leading up to Christmas, there is always so much to do, including decorating, shopping, light-hanging, and gift wrapping. According to Kristof, sites like TaskRabbit, Nextdoor, and local Facebook groups can help you find people looking for help during this time of great need. With Taskers on TaskRabbit, you can charge between $45 and $152 for decorating projects and $22 and $63 for shopping projects. Branding your offerings and charging whatever you choose on these sites is possible. Earning potential is service-specific, from a minimum hourly rate to several hundred for lighting installation.

From Side-Hustle to Success

In addition to providing supplemental income, a side gig fosters professional and entrepreneurial development. For some, it is a way to turn hobbies into lucrative careers. Who knows, your holiday foray into a side gig could be the beginning of a long-term entrepreneurial success story.

This article is published and syndicated by Wealth of Geeks.