Holiday at-home business ideas

Are you looking for a fun way to earn a little extra cash this holiday season? Despite what many people may think about “everything shuts down for the holidays,” this is the perfect time of year to start a home business.

Here are 14 holiday home business ideas that allow you to leverage your skills to meet the unique needs of the holidays and then — if you love it — continue into the new year.

Making and selling gift baskets

With a little craft and creativity, you can create unique gift baskets for people to give as gifts. Here are some ideas to help your business succeed:

• Brainstorm themes for your gift basket, such as college survivor, pet lover, and gardening guru. If you want it to be a year-round thing, you can do some really fun things.
• Buy in bulk to keep your costs down, but make sure none of the items you include have a “not to be sold privately” label.
• When determining the price, add the cost of all the products inside, plus your basket and wrapping supplies. Make sure you are making a profit. Don’t forget to factor in your time! If it takes you two hours to make a basket and you earn $10 from it, it may not be a worthwhile venture.
• Many are buying with their eyes. Make sure your baskets are visually appealing. What can you do to set yours apart?
• Market your basket locally. Try Facebook Marketplace, advertise on grocery store bulletin boards, and set up a display at local craft shows and vendor fairs.

house is clean

Everyone wants to clean their house before family and friends get together, but not everyone has time to make it happen. You can offer a vacation house is clean Special as a way to launch your new business.

In addition to searching for residential clients, you can consider approaching businesses. They may need help cleaning up after the office party.

Event planning

Do you have an eye for detail and enjoy planning parties? Go into business as an event planner and help everyone make their dream parties come to life. You can plan events, send invitations, decorate, bring food, organize games and take care of all the cleaning.

As you create invitations and games, you can add another revenue stream to your business by selling your printables online. This way people who want a DIY party or who live outside of your area can buy your materials to use.

Selling homemade food items

From airy divinity to cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning, ’tis the season for cookies, candies and other homemade goodies. If you are a professional in the kitchen, you can take orders for your treats and sell them to individuals or businesses. For maximum success:

• Check your local laws to see if you are required to use a commercial kitchen or if you can use your own kitchen.
• Pick a few items to specialize in in your first year so you can really perfect your offerings.
• If going to a craft fair, offer free samples so people can taste how good they are.
• Offer different sizes for people to purchase – individuals, families, large groups, etc.
• Package your products nicely, while protecting them from breakage You can use tins, boxes or seasonal paper plates with colorful wrapping.
• Include ingredients on your label so people with allergies know what’s inside.

Making holiday cards

Combine your design skills with some attention to detail, and create holiday cards for clients. They can send you a picture, a list of words they want and who to send it to. You create the card, have it proofread by your client, and take care of the printing and mailing.

If you enjoy writing, you can add a customized family letter to your offerings. It is perfect for people who want to write a letter but have no idea how to go about it. This will require an interview from the family, and you can take their answers and weave them into the perfect letter.

Personal shopper or work service

Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, everyone’s to-do list is a mile long. Help them with their plate chores. People can hire you to help them have a less stressful holiday season. You can offer:

• Purchase and Delivery
• gift wrapping
• Deal-finding (look for coupon codes for free shipping or the lowest price on a must-buy item)
• Address envelopes for holiday cards

Think about the needs of the people around you and market your offering accordingly. You can either charge by the hour or by the project. Be sure to include gas if you need to drive anywhere, and any supplies you need to purchase when setting your rate.

Holiday decorations

If you love decorating for the holidays, you can make money helping other people decorate. You can provide indoor and outdoor services. Here are some options your grooming packages may include:

• Hanging lights around the house (just make sure you have a good ladder and aren’t afraid of heights!).
• Christmas tree setup
• A mantle and hanging stockings adorn
• yard decoration

You can also hire a secondary service to come to “undo” the decorations after the holidays. Then you can help your clients pack their ornaments and things so they can store them until next year.

Write a thank you note

By collecting gifts from clients and a list of donors, you can create beautiful, personalized thank you notes. Those who are time-sensitive, but really want to send a thank you note will love this service. You can take care of everything from card making to mailing and let people get a time-consuming task off their list.

Child care

Who will watch the kids while the adults shop or attend holiday parties? You, those who, are the reason babysitting Not just for teenagers! In fact, many parents prefer to leave their children with adults, only in case of an emergency. If you can provide references and a clear background check, you’ll likely get more opportunities than you can handle.

To help keep the kids engaged while you’re in charge, consider bringing along some fun holiday-themed crafts or coloring pages. With their parents’ permission, you can even work with the kids to decorate cookies, make shaped rice krispie treats, or make other kid-friendly treats. That way they won’t feel left out for missing out on their parents’ fun.

Pet care

Travel increases during the holiday season, so many people are leaving their pets behind. This means they need someone to provide them Pet care. If you enjoy pets, you can earn good money this season by walking dogs, cleaning litter boxes and petting animals.

Live in a rural area? Think of the farmers who might enjoy going out of town. If you know how to milk a cow or fatten a pig, your chances of taking care of animals are greatly increased. Especially once you have a reputation as an honest, reliable alternative farmer.

The downside? Pets and livestock also need to be taken care of during the holidays, so you won’t have those special days to celebrate. Although many pet care professionals enjoy spending time with their furry friends.

Gift wrapping and distribution

Do you enjoy tying up paper packages with string? There are many people who don’t want to wrap presents and will happily pay someone to do it for them. In addition to wrapping services, you can offer delivery. It can either personally deliver a package or arrange for non-local item shipping for your clients.

Direct sales representative

From children’s books to special makeup, Direct selling company Offer lots of potential gifts. You can book gift-focused parties to make it easier for people to shop. Parties can be held online or in person, depending on the host.

Get ready for the party by having ways to show off the uniqueness of your product. You can have physical samples for people to see or take the time to create videos so potential buyers can actually test the products Before the event, make a list of recommendations for different age groups. You want to make it as easy as possible so people know what they want to buy and see why it’s such a great gift

Snow Shoveling

Travelers should clear their sidewalks and driveways during the holidays. If you’re looking for a side business that can last throughout the winter, snow shoveling is a good one. By finding multiple clients in the same neighborhood, you can significantly reduce your travel time.

Make sure you check out the job site before providing a quote. You want to check for any obstacles that might make your job more difficult. It is also important to see for yourself how large an area you will be responsible for.

Drive people around

Need a safe, reliable car and some extra time this holiday season? As an Uber or Lyft driver, you can shuttle people around to and from special events and get paid for it. With so many parties and gatherings this time of year, many people will need a ride. If you find that you enjoy this type of work, you can specialize in a specific driving service, such as taking people to and from appointments or the airport.

Driving people isn’t the only way to make money with your car. You can deliver food or goods. In fact, there are many great ways Put your car to work for you.

Do you want to start a business this holiday season? Hopefully, this post has inspired you to take the plunge.