Inexpensive Gift Ideas

Have you ever thought of shopping at the $1 stores? Some of them have some nice things. If you wanted to stay at a budget of $5 you could pick up 5 nice things to put in a gift basket. It will look like you spent $20 bucks and you still stayed on or under budget.
Hope this helps.
G.

last year for christmas money was really tight so we took pictures of my son in christmas outfits. we then got a bunch of copies made at wal-mart for like 15 cents each and bought picture frames from the dollar store. you had to weed through, but they had several that looked pretty nice and you would never tell they came from the dollar store! the whole thing, including wrapping paper was like $30. you could maybe take a family photo and give people that.

A.,

We have done the picture thing as well. I bought some of the clear x-mas decoration balls and took a picture of the kids, printed it off and rolled it up carefully to fit inside the the ball with some fake snow. Then of course, we had to put the date on it as well. Also, something fun is to get a pot paint it and and have your kids put their hand prints on it.
Then you could include some seeds, or buy a small plant to put inside of it or have it be used for other things like pencils, or kitchen things depending on the size of hands your children have. You could even do like a Christmas wreath with your kids' hands as the leaves of the evergreen by cutting out the center portion of a paper plate and glueing on the hands. You may want to check out familyfun.com for more craft ideas.

Going to consignment shops is always a good idea.

I have even thought about getting some tub toys and craft things for my kids this year instead of a lot of toys.

Best of luck with everything. We are in a similar boat ourselves this year. Happy Holidays.

I do PartyLite candles which much like the discovery toys you can host a show and earn things for next to nothing. It is another option if you would like more information just let me know.

Most of all don't stress over things and enjoy the time with family. A simple poem written by the kids or one for the kids expressing your love to them or to others is always one of a kind.

Happy Holidays!!

Cute, easy, and inexpensive gifts I've made are scarves or small fleece blankets. You can purchase remnants of polar fleece at any store that sells fabric. There are a lot of patterns for kids and adults alike.

If you're making a scarf, just cut the fabric to the width and length you want, then "fringe" the ends. If you cut the fringes close togtether and a little longer, you can pull on each piece and make it "curl" like curling ribbon does on a present. When the curl loosens, just pull it again.

For a blanket, I've had two pieces of fleece cut to the same size, then fringed all of the edges, tying them into square knots to keep the pieces together. You'll need to cut a small square out of each corner to be able to make all of the ties. I've used pinking shears to give the fringes a little more character, but regular scissors would do the trick, too.

I've also purchased a cute "Thank You" rubber stamp, ink, and some sheets of fun paper to make stationery. There are all kinds of sayings for stamps, so you wouldn't have to use that particular sentiment.

I have the same issue this year.

Pictures! It is the best economical gift. We are getting portraits taken and framing them for family. We are mailing these to family in NY and GA and visiting local family.

I recommend this, there are coupons on Sears, JcPenney, Picture People, etc. Also if you want to go even cheaper, take your own pics, crop and print at say Walmart. This is way cheap!!

Good luck and Happy Holidays!

I have made calendars with pictures from yesteryears and also recent ones. This makes a wonderful gift for Grandparents. Also you can have the kids draw on paper (11X17) take it to the local office supply store and have them made into placemats or you can also do that with pictures. It usually cost about $3.00 a placemat. The calendars are more expensive unless you do them yourself. You can also make quilts with pictures on them and with the children decorating one square.
These are very meaningful gifts. I do this for my parents as they travel south for the winter and can then enjoy pictures of the family throughout the year, even when traveling in their camper..

Hi A.,

I usually do alot of x-mas shopping online ate LTD Commodities. It is a great place to get cheap unique gifts. Everything is very reasonable, unlike some of these other internet sites. I hope it helps.

M.

I don't know if you crafty, but I did one year a picture ribbon that whomever could hang on the wall somewhere. I picked a strip of lace out at the fabric store, one you could weave a colored ribbon through. Then I got from Michael's or somewhere the mini picture frames and stitched them down the lace/ribbon. then I put a pic of each of the grandkids in each frame. Or for my niece I put each cousin or some memorable pics. the top i attached the lace/ribbon to a ring or something that you could hang. It only end up being about 2 1/2" wide so those skinny wall places that aren't big enough for a picture (like next to the door) are great. You can also do the same thing but stitch on clips to hold greeting cards or pictures that you get during the holidays.

I have 2 ADORABLE kids and thought the perfect idea for my family would be an opportunity for them all to look at them every day for a year! We decided to make calenders with their pictures in them for each month. I thought it would be expensive, but if you do it through Wal-Mart each calender is only $16. That is going to be a lot cheaper for us because instead of buying all my aunts and uncles and cousins a present, we will give one per family. Also depending upon the age of your children, legos's is a pretty good investment. My son got his first set of HUGE legos on his first birthday and still plays with them almost a year later, plus if you get the lego brand all the sizes are compatible so you don't have to keep giving away toys.
One more thing....If you have consignment shops near you, toys are never used that much so that's a good place to shop!

Gift baskets are always a hit with our family. Even if you can only go to Aldi's the Dollar Store or Walmart. Fill it with things that you know each person likes. We've filled them with soup mixes, jelly's, chocolates, granola bars. Anything that you know the person would enjoy and would use.

I have also been thinking about creating Grandparent survival kits this year for all of the grandparents. Going to the Dollar store or Walmart and getting Go Fish, Old Maid, jump ropes, videos etc. That way when the grandchildren come to visit the grandparents have plenty of "together" activities to do.

I sale Discovery Toys. One idea is that you could host a party. If you host a party and sale at least $200 at that party, and someone books a party from you, you get $30 in free toys and a toy at 1/2 price! If you get $500 or more in sales you get a free toy (usually valued from $29-$49), $90 in free toys and 2 1/2price toys. If you think you would be interested let me know and I can mail you a catalog. If your not in my area, I can tell you how to contact someone in your area. It is also a great business to work for.

Well I can sympathize! I was a single mom with 4 kids for several Christmas'. I baked and baked and baked. My kids got to help and the family and friends really enjoyed their yummy goodies. They could snack of fudge, cookies, bars, etc... And they thought of me and the kids when they did. It was different. It was better than bought fudge and cookies!! Also, you could do Cookies in a Jar, Cakes in Jar, Homemade Hot Cocoa in a jar, etc... The jars can be foudn fairly inexpensive! Or go get the wooden trays in your craft section, Modge Podge and take a picture of you and kids. Paint or stain your tray, decorate, etc... Then get some fabric (Very cheap!!) Modge Podge the fabric in the bottom of the tray, then add picture wherever you want and Modge Podge it in! Something everyone can use, or hang on a wall, or nightstand! Here are some thoughts, I hope it helps. God Bless and Merry Christmas!!