How to Make Money for Christmas: A Plan to December 24

To make money for Christmas, pick two routes that pay before December 24 and work back from that date. Sell what you own before the mid-December shipping cutoffs, take holiday pet-sitting and gift-wrapping bookings now, and add a seasonal shift if you want a fixed hourly rate. Seven and a half weeks is enough to run two properly.

You know the number already. It is the list on the fridge, the kids' letters, the family dinner you said you would host, the train fare to see your parents. It arrives on the same date every year, which is the one thing working in your favour. A deadline you can see coming is a deadline you can plan for.

This page is built around the date. If your problem is a bill due this week, our guide to making $1,000 fast ranks routes by how soon the money lands. This one counts the weeks back from Christmas Eve and tells you what to do in each of them.

How much can you make before Christmas, and by when?

From 2 November to 24 December is seven and a half weeks. Divide your target by seven and you have a weekly number. A $600 gift budget is about $86 a week. That is two pet-sitting nights, or one afternoon of wrapping and a few things sold, or five hours of a seasonal shift.

The routes below are the ones that pay inside that window without buying stock. Every rate is the platform's or the publisher's own figure, checked November 2026.

The first four are yours to run. The last one is a job with a boss and a rota, and it is there for people who would rather swap hours for a known rate than chase customers.

Which route fits the time you actually have?

Match the route to what you already own and the hours you can give.

• Evenings only, no car. Sell your own things and wrap presents. Both fit around a full-time job and both can be done at a kitchen table.
• A home that can take a dog. Holiday boarding. Your Christmas week becomes the most valuable week of your year, because every other sitter is away.
• A ladder, a head for heights and free weekends. Light hanging. It pays the most per job and carries the most risk.
• You want a fixed number. A seasonal shift. You know on Monday what Friday's pay will be.

Two routes are usually enough. A third one split across seven weeks tends to leave all three half-started.

How do you sell things before Christmas without losing it to fees?

Start with what is already in your home: electronics you replaced, a console nobody plays, branded clothes, toys the kids have outgrown, tools. People are buying gifts right now, and secondhand gifts sell.

Price for the fee before you list. On eBay, the final value fee in most categories is 13.6% of the total sale, which includes the shipping you charge the buyer, plus $0.40 for orders over $10 (eBay seller fees, checked November 2026). A $40 item with $8 shipping is a $48 total sale. The fee is $6.93, so you keep $41.07 before you buy the label. Run your own items through our eBay fee calculator before you set a price.

Our thrift flipping guide explains the cheaper options for low-value items and how sold listings tell you what something is worth this week. Search sold listings, price just under them, photograph in daylight, and reply to messages fast.

Then watch the shipping dates, because a gift that arrives on the 27th gets returned. The recommended send-by dates for delivery before 25 December are:

Sources: USPS 2026 holiday shipping deadlines and Royal Mail Christmas 2026 last posting dates, checked November 2026.

After those dates, switch to local sales where the buyer collects. Selling your own belongings is the safe version of holiday reselling. Buying stock to flip in seven weeks is a bet, and Christmas is a bad time to lose one.

How much does holiday pet sitting pay, and how do you get booked?

Christmas is the peak for pet care. Owners travel, kennels fill, and the sitters who would normally take the booking are travelling too.

Rover's own figures, from its data as of September 2025, put the national average at $49.01 a night for boarding in the sitter's home, $55.45 a night for house sitting in the owner's home and $21.80 per drop-in visit (Rover). Rover keeps a 20% service fee, so you take home 80% (Rover help).

On top of that, sitters can switch on holiday rates. Rover says sitters generally set them 10% to 20% above their standard rates, and in 2026 the Christmas and New Year window runs from 24 December to 3 January, with Thanksgiving from 26 to 29 November (Rover holiday rates).

Here is the maths on one booking. A dog boards with you for four nights from Christmas Eve at $56, which is the $49 average plus 15%. That is $224 listed, and $179 after Rover's cut. Two dogs from different families over the same week and the gift list is paid for.

The catch is lead time. Profiles are reviewed and new sitters go through a background check, and Rover lists a profile review fee of $49 to $79 depending on your location (Rover help). Start this week, not in December.

The faster first booking is often someone you know. Message neighbours and friends with dogs and ask who is travelling for Christmas. Our pet sitting and boarding guide covers pricing, insurance and how to keep the families who book you once.

Can you really get paid to wrap presents?

Yes, and it needs nothing but tape, paper and a flat surface. Airtasker says gift wrapping in the US can start at $3 per gift, with the price set by size, style and extras such as ribbon and tags (Airtasker, checked November 2026). Real tasks posted on that page include $50 for "a bunch of presents" in Conroe, Texas, on 16 December 2025, and $30 for about ten small and medium gifts in December 2022.

Three ways to find wrapping work:

• Busy parents you already know. Post once in your local parents' group with a per-gift price, a pick-up and drop-off time, and a photo of a gift you wrapped.
• Offices sending staff or client gifts. Airtasker notes that bulk discounts usually start around 30 gifts. A small office with 40 client hampers is a single booking worth more than a week of single presents.
• Local shops without a wrapping desk. Offer to wrap in-store on the two Saturdays before Christmas.

Quote per gift, with a higher price if you supply the paper and boxes. Wrapping is the route that keeps paying latest. People are still buying gifts on 23 December, and that is when they will pay most to have them done.

Is it too late to start hanging Christmas lights?

Not in early November. Angi puts the national average for professional Christmas light installation at $444 in 2026, based on 2,242 projects, with most homeowners paying $220 to $684 (Angi, updated 8 October 2026). Installers charge $2 to $5 per linear foot, $60 to $100 an hour, or a minimum fee of $150 to $300 a job. A one-storey house with 100 to 150 feet of lights averages $250. Our guide to starting a Christmas light installation business covers kit, insurance and the first ten customers, and you can price a roofline with our Christmas light installation price calculator.

The same customer usually wants the lights taken down in January, so price takedown in the first quote. That turns one job into two.

This is the route that can hurt you. The US Consumer Product Safety Commission says about 14,900 people were treated in emergency rooms for holiday decorating injuries between 1 November 2022 and 31 January 2023 (CPSC). Stick to single-storey rooflines, work with a second person holding the ladder, and only plug lights into existing outdoor outlets. Wiring is an electrician's job. Ask about liability insurance before your first roof.

Window cleaners, gutter cleaners and lawn-care crews run this as their winter add-on, since they already own the ladders and know the customers. Our window cleaning business guide covers ladder work, insurance and pricing for the same customers.

What about a seasonal job instead?

If chasing customers sounds worse than a rota, take a shift. Amazon said on 20 October 2026 that it is hiring more than 300,000 people for seasonal, part-time and full-time roles across its US operations this holiday season, that seasonal employees earn an average of $20 an hour, and that new roles are posted weekly from October through December (Amazon).

Fifteen hours a week at $20 is $300 a week before tax, and an employer withholds the tax for you. The trade-off is control. You work the shifts you are given, and the busiest weeks are the ones you might have wanted for your own family.

Your dated plan: 2 November to 24 December

Week of 2 November. Write your number and your date on paper. Pick two routes. Photograph and list five things you own. If you will pet sit, create your Rover profile and tell five people with dogs that you are taking Christmas bookings. If you want a shift, sign up for job alerts today.

Week of 9 November. Relist anything without a view at a lower price. Post your wrapping offer in one local group. Quote your first light jobs if you are taking that route.

Week of 16 November. Confirm Thanksgiving pet bookings (Rover's holiday rate runs 26 to 29 November). Ask one office manager you know whether they send client gifts.

Week of 23 November. Black Friday week. Buyers are out, so list the bigger items now. Install any confirmed light jobs.

Week of 30 November. Count what you have made against your weekly number. If you are behind, add hours to the route that has paid best so far rather than starting a new one.

Week of 7 December. Lock in Christmas pet bookings and collect any deposits. Book wrapping slots for the weekend of 19 and 20 December.

Week of 14 December. Ship your last online sales by 17 December (USPS Ground Advantage) or 18 December (Royal Mail 2nd Class). After that, sell locally only.

21 to 24 December. Wrapping rush. Pet sitting starts on Christmas Eve. Book January takedowns with every light customer.

Do you pay tax on Christmas side money?

United States. All income from selling goods at a profit or providing a service goes on your tax return, whether or not you receive a Form 1099-K. Payment apps and marketplaces send that form when payments top $20,000 in more than 200 transactions, though they may send one below that (IRS). Personal items sold at a gain count too. Self-employment tax of 15.3% applies once your net earnings from self-employment reach $400 for the year (IRS).

United Kingdom. HMRC's trading allowance lets you earn up to £1,000 of gross trading income a year without telling HMRC, which covers casual services like pet sitting and wrapping (HMRC). Above £1,000 you must register for Self Assessment by 5 October after the tax year ends. Selling your own unwanted belongings is unlikely to be taxed. Since January 2024, platforms such as eBay and Vinted report sellers with 30 or more sales or about £1,700 a year to HMRC, and HMRC says that report does not by itself mean you owe tax (HMRC).

Our side hustle tax guide covers deductions and deadlines for the US, UK, Canada and Australia.

Who should skip this

• Anyone thinking of borrowing to buy stock to flip. Seven weeks is too short to recover from a pile of unsold gadgets on a credit card.
• Anyone who has never worked at height. Skip the lights. Wrapping and pet sitting pay less per job and nobody falls off a roof doing them.
• Anyone who will be away over Christmas. Pet sitting and the wrapping rush both peak on the days you would be gone. Selling and a November shift are your routes.
• Anyone whose real problem is a bill due this week. Start with making $1,000 fast, which covers buying time on bills and free help, then come back for the gift money.