Christmas presents: WITHOUT spending a fortune.

[DarkTirade]

Just curious to know what kind of things people are giving for christmas/yule/solstice/whatever-the-hell-you-celebrate ect.
Me, I like to give interesting personal gifts to people. I'd rather have someone say, "Holy crap, this is cool!" then "Thanks!" :)
Last year I made over half the presents I gave, this year not as many. Although most of the presents I'm giving this year are personalized to the people in my family.
For instance: My dad just started teaching recently. He asked for interesting ties. Rather than going out and buying one, I'm making one for him. One that I KNOW will be unique and interesting. (And reversible too. :) ) My stepbrother is both a beer connoisseur and he enjoys cooking... so I found a nifty 'beer bread' mix, shaped to look like a large beer bottle.
What about you guys? You doing anything nifty, not costly and/or interesting for the people in your life?

[Dover]

1. I had a pow-wow with friends and family a few years back on this subject.

We've limited our gifts to things we make or that are experiences.

Of course if there is a 'thing' that's really needed...such as a loom for weaving...then that can be negotiated. But the rule of thumb...to eliminate 'stuff' has opened up all kinds of creativity and fun.

Made a family history book for my siblings last year which will be an heirloom for their children.

[TahitiNut]

2. We exchange lumps of coal and then behave naughty.

:party: :evilgrin:

[Dover]

3. LOL! But how can anyone tell?.........Not really a novelty at my house! n/t

[DarkTirade]

8. That's fecking brilliant.

I'll have to do that... :)

[calimary]

14. My husband actually put lumps of coal in our kids' stockings one year

after they'd been particularly nauseating one day during the Christmas break. They thought it was the funniest thing ever. They still laugh about it. Food gifts are always good. Particularly if you have a personal specialty. They don't go out of style, they're not that expensive, they fit all sizes, and it's not something that's gonna gather dust on some shelf.

OR, how 'bout a handmade ornament for their Christmas tree? It's truly a gift that keeps on giving and it doesn't have to be expensive or complicated either. And they'll think of you every year when they unpack it and hang it up again.

[Erika]

4. We made many batches of almond stuffed chocolate figs

The figs were soaked in Christian Brothers Brandy. The feedback has been wonderful.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

5. Every Christmas, I decide how much I can afford to spend w/o credit cards

and then divvy it up among the relatives. This year, everyone is getting a calendar geared toward their specific interests or personalities, a selection of candy, tea, coffee, or wine, and a gift certificate to a favorite store OR something they clearly need.

[sandnsea]

6. Vintage Seahawks memorabilia

Some stuff from the 80's that was on Ebay, for my son who is a wacko crazy Seahawks fan. Then there are the autographed books for my daughter, thanks to a terrific DUer. We did a vintage box that we picked up at a second hand shop and are filling it with fudge for another friend we know.

Best gift to us, I really have to say, was the live Maine lobster flown in by a couple of friends. I know it doesn't meet the criteria of not spending a fortune, but the dinner really was a 'holy crap this is cool!' moment. Highly recommended if you've got the bucks. (I have NO idea what we did to deserve that!)

[DarkTirade]

7. Might not meet all three criteria

but that's why I typed and/or in there. :)

[Kat45]

9. Where did you find that "beer bread" mix?

My boyfriend is a chef and a beer connoisseur--he'd probably love a gift like that! I can keep it in the back of my mind for future reference for a gift.

[DarkTirade]

11. I found it at a Wal-Mart grocery store... and it disappeared shortly

afterwards. Never did find it again, which sucks because I wanted to buy a couple of them for him. Figured he'd want to try it with different beers and see how it turned out.
I know, Iknow, Wal-Mart bad and all that, but I work the night shift. The only time I can go grocery shopping is when I get off work at 4 in the morning. :)
I'm sure a recipe could be found online though.

[bananas]

13. Beer is just liquid bread

They are both made from grains and yeast.
Merry Christmas!

[DarkTirade]

16. Yes, but the alcohol doesn't get cooked out of the beer. :)

And I just happened to have to run to Wal-Mart again (needed glue to finish the aforementioned tie... long story) and lo and behold, there were two more bottles of the beer bread mix on the shelf. So I snagged 'em. :) I figure I'll probably give two to my brother and keep one for myself.

[bananas]

21. Walmart has been open 24/7 until 6pm Sunday

If I sober up, I will drive down and get some!
Thank you! Merry Christmas, DarkTirade!

[buzzard]

12. Here is my baby

>

[Kat45]

24. Aw, what an adorable bird!

Is that an Amazon? Double yellow-headed? My little Grace is a parrotlet.

[Frustratedlady]

10. Best gift I ever gave...

was a packet of coupons. I made them up to fit the recipient. For instance, for my mother-in-law, I made up 10 coupons good for certain chores...had to have 48 hours notice.

1 casserole dinner delivered to your house,
1 baked bread or cake
1 free window washing (she loved this one the most)
1 free car wash and vac
1 housecleaning

etc., etc.

She was hard to please, but that one really impressed her.

You can do the same with a young couple...

1 free evening of babysitting
1 free housecleaning day
1 complete meal delivered and ready to eat

[FormerOstrich]

15. I almost hate to tell my secret but I will...

I usually hit the after Christmas sales and pick up a collection of miniature ornaments so I always have a stock for the next year. They have all kinds of really cool ones...santa clauses, candy canes, bells, traditional glass ornaments, etc.

Then I have a huge sack of earring wires I picked up at the hobby store. All it takes is a pair of needle nose pliers (on some you don't even need that) and about 5 minutes.

I started giving them out as gifts because I always received so many comments/compliments on the earrings I was wearing. Everyone always seems thrilled with them it's almost embarrassing how inexpensive and easy they are.

Merry Merry

[DarkTirade]

17. A little bit of creativity, and the willingness to try something

can go a long way.

[calimary]

20. That's a good one!

It really doesn't take much, and the impact can be huge. ESPECIALLY in a case like this, where it's something unique that YOU made.

[pointblank]

dupe

sorry

[pointblank]

18. I witnessed the ultimate inexpensive, yet priceless gift given tonight...

IMHO My wife is the most creative gift giver I've ever come across, and I say that not because I am biased...


A few months ago she took some photos of her recently deceased grandmother's house where her mother and aunts/uncles grew up, and had a good friend of ours who is a great artist make terrific chalk drawings of the house. My wife took nice quality photo copies of the drawings, since our friend likes to keep her original drawings for her portfolio, and bought some nice, yet sale priced frames for 4 of them and tonight she gave her mother and her 3 aunts/uncles a framed copy of each.

Im tellin ya, I have never seen anyone so blown away and touched by a gift as I saw tonight. If thats not creative, I dont know what is.

Happy Holidays

[DarkTirade]

23. That is downright beautiful.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

19. for me

Best commercial answer:

The BEST fruitcake out there is from Eilenberger's Bakery in Palestine, Texas.
www.eilenbergerbakery.com

It is far better than Deluxe Fruitcake from Corsicana, Texas.

Also, Eilenberger's makes a Pecan Cake and Chocolate Pecan Cake that are basically fruitcake with very little fruit and mostly nuts with a bit of batter for the binder. I am not nuts about fruitcake but I can actually tolerate Eilenberger's.

As far as homemade stuff, i make my own fudge with walnuts in it from a slightly modified recipe I found on a jar. It's expensive to buy the tins and mail it, but people love it.

All afternoon we cooked and fixed Xmas dinner for some artist/musician types that we know probably don't have family nearby, and we took it over there and they all loved it. When your family is mostly gone or far away, you have to make a new family of your friends. It was great. I think we had 12 people from 3 different warehouse/studios in the same building.

[Qanisqineq]

22. I made my parents a home movie

I live overseas and so they can see me, my husband, and where we live and everything. And it is an even bigger present considering I never allow people to take pictures of me or film me. I am the ultimate in camera shy.

However, I did spend a lot on my husband but I haven't bought him a gift in a couple years so I am making up for it. Plus, I think it'll save money in the long run. (An MP3 player and now he won't buy so many CD's and he can sell some of his old ones)

[NMMNG]

25. I gave books

And fortunately I got them all for $10 each through my book clubs so I didn't break my budget.

[DarkTirade]

26. That, or you could always find a good used book store. :)

Most of my family are voracious readers as well, so books are always a good present for my family... the only dilemma is finding one we want to read that we don't already own. :)

[Lisa]

27. luckily I had enough time this year to do some scrounging ...

I'm with you, DarkTirade ... it's more fun to get something that someone really has been looking for, or which really matches them well, than something that just happens to be expensive. (Sometimes these are all the same thing, in which case I have to bite the financial bullet, but often the "best" gift is surprisingly inexpensive!)

I went down to Chinatown and got some of those little plastic clamps you can attach to chopsticks (making them into "tweezers" so young children can operate them). I also shortened some regular-sized chopsticks, and put everything in a recycled zip-up case that can fit into a purse or pocket ... this was for a friend who has toddlers, and had expressed guilt about going to Asian restaurants and using disposable chopsticks. Now she can just bring her own.

And I got a bunch of exotic silk fabric remnants for another friend, who likes doing embroidery -- I thought she could make some scarves or kerchiefs out of them.

I picked up some duck/goose pellets at the feed store and put them in a cloth sack I'd sewn -- this was for someone who likes feeding the birds at the local wildlife park.

And I looked around on abebooks.com and found an out-of-print book for someone who'd been scouring the local stores for that title. Fortunately it came just a couple of days ago, so I could wrap it up!

I estimate that I didn't spend more than $15 on each of these items (though I did buy a load of DVDs as donations for the local public library, and a bunch of supplies for the homeless shelter, so I didn't cheap out altogether on presents ... overall my give/receive ratio is still higher than 1.

For next year I might try gift certificates from www.heifer.org or this new microcredit site, www.kiva.org. A lot of people I know have worked with the Peace Corps or other overseas charities or agencies, so they'd probably like that better than store-bought stuff.

[SheWhoMustBeObeyed]

28. I make custom calendars

I create the calendar grids in Word and personalize them with birthdays and other dates that are meaningful to the recipients, as well as federal and religious holidays (Christian/Jewish/Islamic), daylight savings time reminders and all that stuff. I sneak in some silly holidays too - Talk Like a Pirate Day (Sept 19), Cheese Weasel Day (Apr 3). Then I screencap the grids to use as jpgs in Photoshop layouts.

This year's theme is Good Luck, with lucky symbols, charms and talismans: cranes, pigs (Chinese Year of the Pig), four-leaf clovers and so on. Fortunately almost everything is considered lucky in one culture or another so there's a lot to work with. :D

July is lucky sevens and all the related gambling symbols. August is Make A Wish, with a birthday cake, shooting stars, wishbones and blowing on dandelions.



I swipe images off the web but I print out only a few copies and of course none are sold. I put the printouts in 3-ring binder sleeves hooked together with little keyrings from the hardware store.

This year I also made a very fun calendar for some little boys with display pics of all the big trucks and construction equipment they love, plus cartoony calendar grids with pictures for all the special days - including their birthdays, which I expect will delight them.

[diamidue]

29. Those are really cool!

great idea & very well done.

[liberaldemocrat7]

30. I designed 2 calendars I sell at zazzle.com

A politics calendar and a bikini girl calendar. I link to the shop in my signature. Then click on calendars.

[Hippo_Tron]

31. Gag and inside joke gifts

My theory about gifts is that the good ones are just as much fun to give as they are to receive. Two years ago I had a t-shirt printed for about $12-$15 with an inside joke on it. It's certainly a memorable gift.

[DarkTirade]

32. My roommate's family does a lot of things like that.

Mostly of the t-shirt variety as well. :)

[cali]

33. I bought only one new present this year.

I went to various little antiquey type shops and a fantastic used bookstore. I made several gourmet breakfast baskets with homemade pancake mix in cool containers and maple syrup. I bought some old and inexpensive prints and cheap frames. In all, I spent under 150 bucks for the 12 people I buy gifts for.