You can earn extra cash doing one of the many Christmas jobs still available this year.
You may associate Christmas jobs with the Post Office and high street stores bringing in extra workers during the holiday season, but online retailers need more staff too.
You can also work as a delivery driver, a bar worker or how about making money selling your stuff online?
Check out our guide below, it’s not too late to boost your income before the big day:
Be a postie or sorter with Royal Mail
Unsurprisingly, Christmas is the busiest time for the Royal Mail. The flurry of cards and gifts has to be delivered – and on time. This means long queues in the post office at times but it’s also a sure sign they’ll need extra help in the run-up to the holidays. Perhaps that’s your Christmas job sorted!
If you look at the Royal Mail website here, you will find out exactly where they need the extra help. Do check before applying as you don’t want to be commuting to the other side of the country!
work in retail: get paid and get discounts
Christmas in retail often means killing two birds with one stone. That’s because working in shops over the festive period, you’ll not only get paid your hourly rate, but there’s a big chance for pretty good staff discount. Not a bad perspective, right? To help you narrow down your search in the retail world, here’re some of the big brands actively looking for seasonal help in store…
SUPERMARKETS
Lots of supermarkets need what they call Festive Colleagues. These jobs can be really fun as you get to work in a team with people in a similar situation to yourself. There’s also all that Christmas spirit to soak up and as long as you can cope with Christmas tunes on repeat, you’re onto a winner!
Here are all the seasonal roles still available (at the time of writing):
Morrisons (The website says they still have lots of vacancies)
John Lewis
John Lewis is recruiting for what they call ‘seasonal temporary Partners’ to work in their stores across the country in the run-up to Christmas.
Depending on what you’d like to do for you Christmas gig, you could apply for one of the two main roles:
- Retail Selling Assistant
- Retail Stock Assistant
If you’re successful, you’ll be offered a contract which may include weekend, morning or night work.
Around the busy Christmas time, you may be able to ramp up your hours – and earn even more money – particularly in the lead up to the holidays.
If that sounds like your cup of tea, you can get seasonal work at your local John Lewis store by signing up here.
Marks and Spencer
M&S offers seasonal jobs every year and you can find out here what’s on offer and how to apply. You’ll find that the choice of work is huge and ranges from sales floor customer assistants to chefs, visual stylists and beauty customer assistants, or even warehouse operatives.
And you never know – your seasonal gig could even turn into a permanent career as it has done for some of the M&S employees. Oh, and did we mention there’s a 20% staff discount?
Boots
Yet another big company on the lookout for seasonal staff is Boots. As a Christmas Customer Advisor you’ll be expected to work the tills, help customers find the perfect present and ensure the shelves are well-stocked. Take a look at the variety of Christmas jobs available on their website.
There’re various shifts to choose from and you’ll be provided with training too. Whether you are looking for full-time or part-time work, there is plenty to be done at Boots this Christmas!
Amazon
Amazon is extremely busy in the run-up to Christmas and it needs a lot of extra people for distribution centres. Most of the roles available will be in the company’s warehouses and customer service centres across the country.
Grab a Christmas job at Amazon and earn from £10.50 per hour. You can choose from twenty one locations, you’ll receive training and if you do well, you might even be considered for a permanent job.
Click here to find out what Amazon jobs are available, select the vacancy you’re interested in and apply.
Deliver catalogues and brochures
Yet another potential Christmas gig. If you don’t mind getting out and about, there’s definitely money to be made delivering catalogues and brochures over the festive season.
The great thing about this sort of work is that you can do it in your own time. Perhaps run some deliveries before going into your other job or when you have a spare moment from preparing for Christmas.
If that’s something you’d like to pursue, check out websites such as:
And take a look at your local papers and newsagents for work opportunities.
One thing to note is that you should watch out for companies asking for cash deposits for the items you’re delivering. Avoid those because they’re likely to be scams.
christmas Bar Work
Christmas isn’t only a busy time for the high street shops. Pubs and bars, for instance, often hire extra staff over holiday periods too. Why not checking for Christmas job opportunities at your local?
It can be a sociable job and if you’re willing to work on Christmas Eve, Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, you can expect double the usual hourly rate. Apply now as these jobs tend to go pretty quickly, though.
Find out how to get bar work and restaurant work in our article here.
Promote clubs at christmas
Although it may sound too good to be true, you really can get paid to party. And Christmas is a busy party season.
Clubs in cities all over the country need more punters to come through their doors and spend money. Do you love clubbing, have lots of friends and boast good organisational skills? Then it may just be a Christmas job for you. The way it works is that you can make cash by bringing extra people through the doors and spending money at the bar. This is where being sociable and having a large network of people, both on social media and offline, will truly come in handy.
Admittedly, during the Christmas and New Year period, most clubs won’t need much help attracting customers. Still, they might need club promoters on quieter nights like Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
As the venues get busier, they’ll also need more doormen, bar staff and hosts and hostesses. Perhaps check with your local clubs now and find out what thy may be needing over the festive season so that you can be the first one they speak to.
For more tips, read our article here with info on how to make money by partying!
sell your stuff online
Now for some more home-based activities to help you make extra cash ahead of Christmas.
Start with selling. If you have a spare moment, why not upload all the things you don’t want to various online selling sites and use that money to buy presents. While it isn’t strictly a Christmas job, it’s a great way to make some money. You could even buy gifts on the same sites you’re selling your stuff. Very convenient!
Here on MoneyMagpie we have a whole section of our website dedicated to selling your stuff online. Just go to make money and then click on ‘sell your stuff’, you’ll be amazed at what you make money from!
ebay
For more ways to earn from home, try eBay. As you know, you can sell pretty much anything there. In fact, even if your items are broken or damaged, they might sell too. It’s very straightforward: simply prepare your things, upload photos, describe them well and let people bid.
Another great thing about eBay is that once you have made money selling your junk, you can then buy Christmas presents for less on the site.
More ways to make money at Christmas
make christmas hampers to sell
Hampers make for a thoughtful gift everyone loves but they can be pretty expensive.
That’s actually good news for you. If you’re creative, you could make hampers and sell them at car boot sales, markets and even through local independent shops. It’s something you can easily do in your spare time at home. Perhaps you could even get your kids involved in getting the hampers ready?
To help you out, we’ve put together a detailed guide including information and links to products in our article on how to make hampers to sell.
So, let your imagination run wild and make hampers using boxes, pots and even watering cans. Perhaps have a look around your house and you might find other creative containers.
So long as you know how to make things look pretty, you can use things such as:
- cosmetics and foods from pound shops
- home-made cakes and sweets
- artisan oils, spices and vinegars
- home-made cosmetics and toiletries (learn how to make them here)
- anything else that looks cool!
Get creative and whatever doesn’t sell, you can recycle as presents for your friends and family.
find a job near you now
Need more options? Use the MoneyMagpie job tool, powered by ZipRecruiter, to find seasonal work near you now.
To find work near you, simply put your area into the box and see what jobs it comes up with.
what are you doing to make money for christmas?
Christmas is known as a time you tend to spend more cash than usual but with a Christmas job sorted, you might just balance things out. So, make the most out of the festive season. Perhaps think of it as a great opportunity to bag yourself a great job so you really can have a merry Christmas and a happy new year.
Let us know in the comments below if you have come up with your own ideas for this season!
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