Wanted: inexpensive gift ideas for the holidays.
 

I'd like to make some ornaments like these {Jessica Stout Design} and considering photo calendars, but I don't have a computer right now and not sure if I can get these things done this week. And then again, making gifts a priority this week could be a very good thing!

Anyone have great gift ideas for very small budgets?

Happy holidays to all! :)

I love homemade gifts! Bake a cookie tray, or, even better, fill a mason jar with the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies, tie a bow and a tag with instructions around it. Find similar ideas here's: 25 Mason Jar Recipes: Perfect Holiday Gifts in a Jar

Happy holidays!

I'm getting some frames from Goodwill or Dollar Tree and framing the boys' school pix as a gift to all the grandparents and great grandparents. CVS also has inexpensive photo products- collages, canvas prints, small photo albums that you can use your own pix to create. There is usually a coupon code available online for certain products at any given time.
That's what I usually give to everyone except the kids.

The crew on DISboards has a decent budget board. Here's a stocking stuffer discussion, so smaller gifts and ideas. If you look around there, they likely discussed all sorts of Xmas ideas.

Stocking stuffers - The DIS Discussion Forums - DISboards.com

A couple of years ago a friend gave me a package of soup mix from the Women's Bean Project. I don't believe I am allowed to post a link because of the commercial nature (although it is a non-profit charitable organization), but if you Google it you will find it. The Women's Bean Project provides job-readiness training to women in transition. They assemble these wonderful packages of soup ingredients (beans and herbs/spices) in several varieties, and also dip mixes and amazing cornbread and cookie mixes. They are quite inexpensive and support a good cause.

I made a bunch of them last winter and it's getting to be that time of year again. :)

Your presence :=]

Around here?

Liquor Bottle Candle Holders . . . . :)

https://encrypted-tbn3.gstatic.com/i...ExVMQC0lXnXCXr

Framed *actual* photos (as opposed to digital) are a FANTASTIC idea! Speaking as a grandma I would absolutely love this and told my son.

Hi KTF,

Will you be doing these alone, or will you be having help from kids?

Two that I made with my daughter that I liked were jelly jar votives and tube sock snowmen filled with rice. There not ornaments, but they're Christmasy. We sent the tube sock snowmen as gifts. We gathered together everything needed (except the rice) and sent it to people with instructions so they could do the craft themselves. It was pretty cheap, but relied on creative presentation.

Looking for ideas to do with my husband, by myself and/or our youngest son. Great ideas and they're sparking more ideas for me! I have honey and vanilla beans on hand, so I might buy a few bottles with stoppers and make some vanilla infused honey.

Keep them coming. :)

Hammer, your unique idea and pun was priceless! I could honestly type "LOL" and have it be true. Not sure my AH's beer cans would make such a visibly appealing outcome however. :lmao

Ooooh! This is right up my alley. Let me get to a computer, and I'll link you to a bunch of great stuff!

One year I gave homemade body scrubs and bath soaks as gifts. Pretty cheap but thanks to affordable packaging from the dollar store and craft store people ooh'd and aah'd over them. Plus, I was giving people "self care" in a jar :o) There were a few different kinds, but various ingredients were sugar, brown sugar, salt, used coffee grinds (sounds weird but the oils in it feel good!), honey, olive oil, lavender essential oil (which I already owned so no need to buy in my case) dried lavender, lemon juice. Basically I used stuff from my kitchen that went together scrub-wise. Mason jars also work great for packaging, especially the small ones.

Have you tried pinterest? they seem to have everything

KTF, I remember making ornaments out of old-fashioned wooden clothespins (not the clip kind but the other type) years ago. I recall making an angel, a woman caroler, a woman w/her hands in a muff, and a farm boy carrying a pail. If you google "clothespin ornaments", you'll see lots of ideas that cover a wide range of skills and "craftiness." Maybe that would be a way to go.

Also, depending on where you live, if you have access to areas where evergreens, weeds such as teasel, bittersweet vine, wild grapevine, etc., grow (and where you could cut some of these things w/o breaking any laws), you could make some simple decorations. Over the years, some of the things I have made include a bittersweet wreath, a grapevine wreath, a teasel bouquet, and a small evergreen door swag that I decorated w/a red bow and a couple of cheap bamboo flutes from a dollar store.

Local thrift stores (Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent's) can be a great source of really pretty glassware to fill w/dried weed bouquets or with the soup/baking mixes others have mentioned. There could be lovely mugs to go along w/a box of a favorite tea, which is usually fairly inexpensive. A fun cookie jar could be filled w/baked goods. I heard someone on a public radio show the other day tell how her friend had taken a pretty container and filled it w/slips of paper, each of which had an inspirational thought written on it, then given it to her as a gift to help her thru a tough time.

I have not bought any Christmas gifts in YEARS, as the family had all agreed that we'd rather make donations to NPR, local shelters, etc., than exchange gifts among ourselves. This thread has gotten me all fired up and feeling creative--maybe this year I'll go ahead and do some gifts for the first time in a long time! Thanks for posting, KTF, and I hope you find some good ideas here. Would you be so kind as to post and let us know what you decided to do and how it went? I'd love to hear!

So I haven't made it to a computer yet, but if you have printed photos and a Home Depot nearby, you can put together photograph ceramic tile coasters quickly on the cheap. All grandparents are getting a set of the kids' photos this year on coasters. I'll include that link from Pinterest tomorrow when I'm not transcribing.

I sell essential oils and also run a business selling products made from my oils. This year I've done bath salts in clear plastic ornaments from Walmart (98¢ each), body scrubs, bath bombs, mani & pedi bombs with nail tools and a small lacquer, deep conditioning treatments, lip balm, and an all-purpose salve. I've also made room sprays and laundry detergent. Homemade extracts are easy (but I don't recommend giving those to recovering A's. I think Hammer's wife was the one who relapsed on vanilla extract. Mine are vanilla beans and vodka.). Infused oils are great, too. I love the infused honey idea!

Microwave lemon butter is easy, luxurious and can be eaten over the season. I used dollar store jars. Google it.

Mmmmm... lemon butter... A friend of mine has been simmering homemade orange marmalade since yesterday. I'm sending her some rollerballs of pain relief oils and some mani bombs in exchange for some marmalade.

I also have a skin care and soap company :)

I love homemade extracts but I don't think enough time. Are you a cook? Homemade jelly is always a winner. I pick up mason jars at goodwill and the like for a dime. Its pretty inexpensive to make.

Socks!!!!!

Sorry....I just like socks :)