Start any holiday (Halloween through Christmas) crafting now, especially if you do craft shows or just for gifts. This way you won't be stuck at the last minute trying to finish gifts. At the very least, make a list of crafts and items needed. Some can be probably found at yard sales or clearance sections.
By Carol from Massachusetts
This page contains the following solutions.
For giving cake, cookies or candy at Christmas, to new neighbors or a sick friend, I look a garage sales, Goodwill or sales at retail stores for containers. Today at the General Dollar Store, they had their summer dinnerware on sale for half price.
I have a very elderly aunt, who is diabetic, and a very strict vegetarian. She also refuses to eat onions or garlic. Christmas was a real stumper for me until I came up with the idea to can some things for her when I did my own canning.
Running short on time and money this weekend, I came up with a craft that I can make and give to many of the women in my life. It comes out beautifully and it is easy to do.
This year my sister and I gathered old photos, family tree info and family stories and combined them into a book. That we had printed by online publisher LuLu. The book ran about $10 a book and is now an heirloom in our family.
One year I typed all the recipes I had used since my children were little, one recipe per page. I decorated each page to match the theme of the recipe with graphics and borders....
A nice Christmas gift is to make a pot of gold usually found at the end of rainbows! This is a good present for people who are difficult to buy for.
I have found that homemade gifts for Christmas or birthdays tend to not only be cheaper, but they are appreciated more because the recipient knows you took special time and effort to do something just for them. By Robin
For small gifts, hot chocolate mixes, coffee creamers, etc., take inexpensive felt sheets 8x11 and cut in half longways. You have two pieces 4x11. Sew or glue sides together (I sewed them), resulting in a bag that is 4x5 1/2.
Here are the questions asked by community members. Read on to see the answers provided by the ThriftyFun community.
I am looking for homemade either food or gift ideas for our church board, pastor, and staff. I have 13 gifts to make and wanted to make some nice things that are reasonable.
If you go to this website, you will find a HUGE choice of ideas: members.tripod.com/
Have Fun!!
I have a great idea...I sell Home Interiors & Gifts, with features from Better Homes and Gardens.
We have the BEST candles on the market and very affordable. Everybody likes candles and they are a hot item right now. If you are interested e-mail me at coolybr549@aol.com Thank you.
I fill Mason jars with all the dry ingredients to make either cookies or soup. Put the recipe on a pretty card and tied it with a ribbon to the jar.
Here's a small gift basket idea I used as teacher's gifts that were a big hit: I baked a dozen mini muffins and included 3 packages of hot cocoa (a box of 10 costs $1). The teacher's loved it because it was something they could enjoy and not another knick knack to dust. If you want a bigger gift, add a second flavor of muffins and add herbal tea, too.
What about things like homeade hot cocoa mix or bath salts, placed in decorative jars. You can find recipes almost anywhere. The ingredients are not very expensive, and easy to find.
If you're able to visit thrift shops or yard sales, this is something you can be working on all year, not just as it gets close to Christmas: Pick up beautiful old china dinner plates--you see a lot of nice single ones left over from sets that have long since bit the dust. Then when it gets closer to the Holidays, if you're a pretty good cookie maker--or if not like me, watch your local grocery store bakery for good deals on fancy cookies--fill each plate with a nice arrangement of fancy cookies, cover the whole thing with that clear wrapping paper (pull the paper up over the top of the plate and tie some pretty grosgrain ribbon around the excess wrapping paper sticking up over the plate).
You can make a candleholder with candy canes. You need a red long tapered candle and about six or seven canes. Glue canes around candle with the crook part down. Tie an ribbon around and add some small xmas flower. Very cute and cheap. This makes great teachers gifts
http://www.Budget101.com has some great and inexpensive ideas for gifts.
I don't have the money to buy Christmas presents for my sisters and their children, so I go to Walmart or any store that sells crafts, I purchase crosstitch ornaments for like .97 cents, that way everyone gets a present they will always have to remember me by. The ornaments only take one hour to do and learning how to crossstitch is very easy, which you could find a website that has the instructions on it for free! My family loves them!
Make Peanut Brittle and put it in a jar. It always looks harder to make than it is. Make sure it's a dry day. And if you are feeling like making something fancier use hazelnuts or almonds in place of peanuts.
Take a look at this site.
www.tiptopwebsite.com/
several shops to look at especially gifts under $5 and $10 if on a budget like me.
I just found this site today and I'm hoping someone can help me. We are having really bad money problems this year and I don't know what to do for Christmas gifts for my children. I don't want them to wake up to nothing Christmas morning. I have a 9 year old boy, a 13 year old girl, a 18 year old boy, and a 19 year old boy. I want to make them something that they will enjoy and appreciate and something that will make them forget that we are having a hard time. Please help. Any ideas will be much appreciated. Thank you.
I want to make some homemade Christmas gifts. I don't know what to do and I don't want to spend money. I do not know how to knit or sew. What can I make? Thank you.
By Lindsay
No matter what you make, if you want it to look like anything, you will have to spend some money. What are your abilities and what crafts do you like to do?
You could use the ingredients you have in your kitchen to make gifts. For example, put the dry ingredients in a zip-lock bag for making a batch of cookies or a cake or bread, etc. Then write on a small card the wet ingredients that need to be added, and the instructions for mixing and baking it. Place the card in the bag.
Or you could bake cookies, place in zip-lock baggies and freeze until Christmas.
Another idea is to write down or type 5 to 10 of your very best recipes on a piece of paper or index cards, and give those as gifts.
These days most people understand that times are tough financially for some of us, I'm sure anything you give will be appreciated.
My sister has a large family encluding grandchildren and great grandchildren. She makes all the Christmas gifts and birthday gifts. She has a very small income. She quilts and knits. Every one in her family has lovely quilted place mats, lap quilts, pot holders, toaster covers, doll quilts, table toppers and door hanger decorations. She even makes tree ornaments from small quilt blocks. She knits the most wonderful dish cloths from cotton yarn. The little kids all have novelty pillowcases from kids story book prints. Her investment is the cloth, yarn and thread which is not a lot because she buys her supplies on sale and in bulk. She begins making her gifts in January and gets the birthdays out of the way first then starts on Christmas. She enjoys it and her family, me encluded, love the gifts.
If you know how to crochet, you can make rag rugs from old t-shirts. I made one for each of my sons teachers and they loved them! They also cost me nothing except my time. go to myrecycledbags.com for easy instructions.
Some ideas that I have used are candles and cards. You can make really attractive cards from card stock, photographs and creative use of colored paper. Choosing photos of family or places you have traveled makes the gift even more special. You can purchase inexpensive candles and decorate them with photos or poems and use decoupage glue to attach them to the candle.
If you make jams, jellies or relishes, a small jar with a ribbon attached is a very personal gift. You can also make cookies, always a hit! If you don't bake, get a package of cookie mix.
I've just moved to my first home and money is a little tight. Could anyone give me tips how to make my Christmas gifts this year. I don't have a lot of money to spend, but I would like my presents to look nice.
DIY gifts are the best gifts when you are trying to be frugal. Check out these great frugal homemade gift ideas.
These sweet gifts are made by placing a cake or cookie mix package into a linen towel bag. You can add tools and decorations, such as sprinkles, to round out the gift. This is a page about making pocket pack baking kits.
This gift idea consists of a blank book covered in seasonal paper. It is perfect for using as a journal to record holiday memories, recipes, and more. This is a page about making a Christmas book.
Dress up a bottle of bubble bath or spray bath foam like Santa. This makes a cute gift for the kids on your list. This is a page about making a Santa soap.
A wonderful way to keep in touch at the holidays is by sending personal audio greetings to family and friends. This is a page about sending audio Christmas greetings.
One inexpensive way to create special gifts for friends, family, and co-workers for Christmas is to utilize your computer. There are lots of ideas to pursue, such as bookmarks, stationary, coloring books, and more. This is a page about making Christmas gifts with your computer.
This is a page about giving a meal as a Christmas gift. A homemade meal made with love can be a meaningful holiday gift to many different people.
Baked goods make great gifts for Christmas, birthdays and other special events. Edible gifts are not only delicious and come from the heart but can also be inexpensive.
Some of the best Christmas gifts come from the kitchen. Baked goods, canned foods and snacks all make great homemade gifts. Find ideas for Christmas Gifts from Your Kitchen in this page.
This is a page about making a thread spool Christmas tree. Give the sewing crafter in your life a cute spool Christmas tree gift, to hang in their craft area.
Anyone receiving this gift of cookie cutters and cute poem is going to love it. This is a page about making a cookie cutter poem and gift.
