The holidays are, no doubt, a time for merry-making, to spend with your family and friends, and perhaps even go on a well-deserved vacation. But did you know that you can also make quite a bit of money during the festive season? There are plenty of side hustles that you can take up and make a little extra cash on the side this Thanksgiving.
Most people think that only the Fourth of July or Christmas are days when they can make some extra money. They don’t realize that Thanksgiving can be pretty rewarding as well. Check out some of these short-term side hustles you can do this Thanksgiving. It just may develop into a long-term business, who knows?
Organizing and cleaning services
The Thanksgiving weekend is usually a busy few days for almost every family in the United States. Given all the various things they have planned for the holidays, they simply may not have time to clean up and organize their homes. Here’s where you can step in.
If you’re good at organizing things and cleaning homes, you can offer to get people’s houses in order for them for the holidays. Or perhaps you can organize and clean homes while the occupants are away on a vacation.
It takes very little investment to do this gig. All you need is to get a few pieces of cloth, a good vacuum, a few sprays and you’re good to go. You can spread the word through friends and family or put up flyers on local bulletin boards.
Host dinner for those away from families
Thanksgiving is a family affair. It is all about being with your loved ones while celebrating what you’re thankful for the most. But quite often, you come across people who are not able to be with their families on this special day. For a number of reasons, they are not able to head home for the holidays.
This is a great opportunity for you to bring such people together for a meal or two and make some money for yourself as well. You can plan an event at a rented place or if you have a space of your own to host a few people, it will save you that much more money. You can hire a professional cook to whip up a delicious homely menu or do it yourself too.
Thanksgiving dinner catering service
Many families may not have the time to make a Thanksgiving meal for themselves. Or the families may be so large that they will not be able to handle making dinner for all of them. If you’re up to the task, catering a Thanksgiving dinner for multiple families can turn out to be a pretty lucrative gig.
You only have to invest in some cutlery, pots and pans, and a few people to help you out. Once you cater to a few families, if they like your food and service, your reputation will grow pretty fast through word of mouth.
If you put a little more into marketing yourself on social media and through other means, you can build quite the catering business for yourself in a few months. Who says a small gig cannot turn into a full-blown career? With this year set to feature the most expensive Thanksgiving dinner ever, why not cash in on the same.
Sell turkeys
It’s no secret that America goes all out on turkeys during the holiday season. So why not look at whether you can cash in on this? See if you have what it takes to raise turkeys and sell them during the holiday season.
If raising poultry is not your forte, you can do the next best thing. Buy wild turkeys from people hunting them at low prices and sell them at market rates to others. You’re essentially playing the role of the middleman here. There are plenty of people who wait till the last minute to buy turkeys only to find that the major stores are out of stock. This is when you can make your money.
You can even go a step further and sell cooked turkeys. If you cook well, you can make your own version of the Thanksgiving dinner turkey. These will all help you stay out of debt this Thanksgiving too.
Black Friday sales
This is pretty straightforward. Buy items at low and discounted rates on Black Friday and keep them with you for a few days. Then, sell them for a little lower than their full prices for Christmas as presents on reselling websites such as eBay. You can make quite a lot of money through this. And you have some lucrative side hustles from Thanksgiving that you can convert into a full-time business.
Make and sell gift baskets
Gift baskets sell like hotcakes (pun intended) during the holiday season. Consumers, as well as corporates, buy them in bulk to send out to their loved ones and clients. You can start by putting together gift baskets and advertising what you’re offering. A good way to attract customers is to be creative with local ideas and products. For example, look at putting together locally sourced wine, cheeses, flowers, herbs, aromatics, etc.
