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I know a much better way to save money at Christmas.
If you're Christian, celebrate Christmas in the traditional way - by going to church and eating a nice feast. No gifts except the one(s) you give the church.
I know the first thing out of most Christian mouths leading up to their Christmas holy day is "What do you want for Christmas?" and they look all befuddled and sometimes angry when I answer that I don't participate in Giftmas.
If I were Christian, I think my answer would be that I hoped to receive the blessings of God, Jesus, Mary, and the Holy Ghost for the coming year but the important question should be "What are you giving for Christmas?" That answer would depend upon what the church needed most - probably a donation to the church roof fund - churches always need new roofs, or something above and beyond the tithe to help with the church's programs and charities.
I don't know exactly how Giftmas came to be such an excessive orgy of guilt and gifting, but I'll bet it has a lot more to do with corporate greed than religion.
I wouldn't mind if Christians "took back" their holy day and spent it in church and donating goods and services to their churches instead of this frenzy they indulge in now.
Of course, the stores would all be frantic because they've put all their profit eggs into the Christmas Basket instead of more reasonably spreading the spending out throughout the year.
Oddly, I have very little sympathy for businesses that have such a poor plan as to rely on one shopping frenzy to save their retail butts.