17 Easy Christmas Side Hustles For You

The holiday season is around the corner and the expenses add up quickly. When you consider gifts, clothes, food, parties, and travel (for those that live far away from family), it costs a pretty penny to celebrate. According to research, about 70 million Americans have a side hustle to earn extra income so you are certainly not alone. Wondering how you can make some extra holiday cash for Christmas? Here are 17 easy Christmas side hustles to help you get through the holidays!

1. Take On A Seasonal Remote Customer Service Role

Companies want to be prepared for the holiday season. This means that they’ll be hiring for seasonal roles to meet the demands of the season. Customer services roles are some of the most common remote roles. Here are nine companies that often hire for seasonal remote roles during the holiday season

• Amazon
  • Colony Brands
    • H&R Block
    • Minted
    • Nordstrom
• Uncommon Goods
• Wine.com
• Gap, Inc.
• Williams-Sonoma

2. Sell Clothes or Electronics Online

If you’ve got things you don’t use anymore or have never used, then you’re sitting on a stack of cash without realizing it. It’s never been easier to sell items with eBay, Facebook market place and other options available.

• Clothes and shoes in great condition
• Toys
• Furniture
• Old Electronics – computers, games, kitchen equipment

Don’t have much of your own stuff to sell? No problem, consider becoming a reseller by buying underpriced goods and selling them closer to what they’re worth. Save those unused or gently used items and you’ve found an easy way to raise some Christmas cash for the holidays.

3. Retail Associate Role In Store

Working remotely is not an option for everyone. However, stores are almost always looking for seasonal retail associates during the holiday season. These seasonal jobs often include cashier roles, stocking shelves, bagging items, or being in customer service. While this may not be the highest-paying role, it is one of the easiest roles to snag during the holiday season.

4. Food or Grocery Delivery

Grocery shopping and delivery remain two of the most popular side hustles and for good reason. These side hustles have also increased in popularity during the pandemic. You can do it whenever you like, at hours that suit you, and the pay is pretty good! All you need is a vehicle to make the deliveries and a willingness to work. This is a popular side hustle for people with 9-5s.  Some do it on evenings and/or weekends. Apply, pass a background test, and start earning money as soon as this week. Shipt, Instacart, Door Dash, and Uber Eats are some of the most popular options.

5. Handyman/Woman

As a recent user of these services, they are a wonderful way to earn extra cash and at relatively higher rates too (depending on the task). Around the holidays and throughout the year, people always need others to help put things together or get things done around the house. During the holidays especially, people want to fix things around the house before guests come over, or just get the Christmas lights up. I’ve seen taskers charge up to $100 per hour, depending on the task. Handywoman/man services are often advertised on platforms like task rabbit, Thumbtack, and Angie’s List.

6. Pet Sitting/House Sitting/ Dog Walking

Home for the holidays or leading up to the holiday season? Taking care of pets or house sitting within your area is one of the easy Christmas side hustles to consider. While I have never provided these services, I know several who have done so successfully and have not only enjoyed free accommodation but they have also made extra cash around the holidays.

7. Offer Ridesharing Services

Ridesharing services are popular side hustles for students, retirees, freelancers, as well as those with traditional 9-5 jobs (aka everyone).  The most popular ride sharing services are Lyft and Uber, If you don’t want to drive but are open to renting your car out, then consider listing your car on Turo.  According to Turo, you can earn an average income of $10,516 by renting a car on their platform. However, keep in mind that drivers need to have additional car insurance in order to offer these ride sharing services.

8. Private Holiday Chef

Private Chef services are often in high demand during the holiday season and believe it or not, there are several websites to advertise private chef services. Thumbtack, Airbnb experiences, or even via your own website/social media. Private chef services are often sought after by well-to-do clientele that either want this as a treat so they can focus on entertaining their guests, or by busy professionals that can afford the service and are looking to make the most of their time. These services can definitely extend beyond the holiday season if you so desire.

9. Offer Personal Shopping Services

This side hustle is for those that love to shop for themselves and for others. Many times senior citizens, busy adults, or people that don’t enjoy shopping are willing to pay a personal shopper to take care of the holiday shopping. If you’re willing to do this for a few months a year, personal shoppers can make a few extra thousand dollars providing this service. Personal shoppers can offer their services on thumbtack, or task rabbit, or can start by working in large retail stores like Macy’s.

10. Participate In Paid Online Surveys or Focus Groups

Online surveys and focus groups were a constant occurrence during my College and graduate studies.  Specifically, I participated in groups for companies looking to get customer opinions on current or future products. As a student, my biggest payout was about $300 and that was huge, I was making $10 per hour so this was more than a week’s pay. The best paying focus groups take place over a number of session and these days, they can be remote (but expect to turn that Camera on, and know that the sessions may be recorded).

Survey Junkie, Inbox Dollars, and Branded Surveys are some of the platforms for paid online surveys. Consider checking them out. Survey Junkie, Respondent, Ipsos i-Say, and User interviews offer paid focus groups, check them out for your holiday side hustle!

11. Offer Virtual Assistant Services

Virtual assistants are lifesavers especially for small businesses. They often start to pay around $10 an hour and can earn up to $25 per hour depending on experience and the nature of services provided. Virtual assistants can easily make an extra $500 – $700 a week by offering services ranging from administrative services support, to workflow management, to social media management. Popular platforms for virtual assistant roles are Fiverr and Upwork.

12.Host An Experience (Virtual or In Person)

I don’t know about you but I love a good experience and as a host, you get paid for your hobbies. While in-person experiences are more popular, virtual experiences can be amazing too. One of the most popular platforms to host an experience is Airbnb Experiences.There is a wide array of experiences you could offer including:

Virtual cooking classes

Virtual mixology classes

In person cooking class

In person mixology class

City tours

Photography tours

Food tours

13.  Get Paid For Your Skills Online As A Freelancer

The gig economy is here to stay and people are more willing than ever to pay freelancers for services they need.  Freelance roles can be contract based or part-time, or on an as-needed basis. Many combined 2 or more freelance roles to create full time employment. The need for freelancers today is so vast; here are some examples of freelance jobs you can start today.

• Proof reading
  • Graphic design
  • Copy editing
  • Photogrpahy
  • Tutoring
  • Book keeping
  • Career coaching
  • Transcribing

14.  Watch Videos Online During Your DownTime

You read that right. You can get paid by watching videos online. Swagbucks and InboxDollar are the OGS when it comes to paying people to watch videos. These are not the highest paying as they may pay 2 cents per minute. Fiverr offers option to watch youtube videos for $5. This isn’t the most profitable way to make extra money but for completeness sake, it is an alternative

15. Redeem Points For Giftcards

This isn’t technically working or a side gig, but the holiday season might be a good time for you to redeem some or all of the points you earned all year from various reward programs. The points can be redeemed for giftcards, cash, or experiences, it all your choice. These will reduce your out-of-pocket expenses for the holidays. This sounds like a win-win to me!

16. Giftwrapping

A Slickdeals survey of 2,000 Americans revealed that the worst part of the holiday season is wrapping gifts. As someone that isn’t particularly talented in the art of giftwrapping, I understand the struggle. If you have a way with ribbons, bows, and giftwraps then you can get paid to help out the super busy or unskilled shoppers by providing giftwrapping services. Giftwrapping services can be offered year round but are most popular between Black Friday and Christmas. This service can be advertised on sites like task rabbit or the services can be provided in stores. Based on initial research, you could be paid $20 per hour and charge for mileage/transportation.

17. Reselling

As a reseller, you’d buy items that can be resold.  Reselling can be quite profitable when you purchase those items at a bargain and are then patient to be able to sell them at market values. Electronics often offer some of the highest margins for flipping and if you’re able to fix basic malfunctions you are even better positioned to make high margins as a reseller. Reselling is one of the easiest side hustles to start with a simple goal: buy low, sell high. To get started with reselling, choose what you want to sell and how you will source your items.  Then, choose your platform for selling. The best items for you to resell are items you are knowledgeable about or an item you’re willing to do the work to learn about.

While side hustles might help you get through the holiday season, the very first important step is to set up a good budget for Christmas.

There are several easy Christmas side hustles to help you get that extra holiday cash you need this season. Whether you want to work remotely, or in person, the options are numerous and there’s something for every preference/personality.  Which of these easy Christmas side hustles seem right for you?