I've been doing ultra cheap Christmas gifts for years. Here are some suggestions

[cali]

Food items: Homemade hot choc mix, made from dried milk, cocoa, sugar and spices. Add a funky mug picked up in a second hand shop or at the dollar store.

homemade anything- preserves, a selection of dried beans and seasonings for soup tied up in cloth with ribbon or twine.

homemade pancake mix and syrup in a basket. I live in Vermont so I can get a gallon of syrup cheap and divide it up. Much cheaper is to buy frozen blueberries and make your own blueberry syrup with sugar, water and lemon zest.

Flavored vodkas. lots of cool recipes out there.

Go to thrift shops and second hand stores. Also used bookstores.

Make soap. couldn't be easier.
make massage oil from almond oil and essential oils.

give your time. make a card promising to give a gift of your time and effort.

delve into your own creativity. Last year I made my son a gorgeous terrarium out of a piece of slate and glass I had cut.

I gave 20 gifts last year and spent under 150 bucks. Now maybe your family and friends aren't as funky as mine, but there are lots of ways to save money and still give really neat gifts.

[npincus]

1. Framed photos are nice, too...

[xultar]

7. I'm doing framed photos and calendars. The Cute Overload Calendar.

[npincus]

12. also... you can upload a photo on Zazzle.com for a custom t-shirt

For free shipping coupon code and more: http://www.momsview.com/zazzles.shtml

[xultar]

20. Thanks for the tip. I forgot about Zazzle!

[we can do it]

37. Or Print Your Own Iron On From Your Computer

Even cheaper

[MattSh]

2. Flavored vodkas.

Yep, my wife knows those. This year we did cherry, raspberry, and mulberry. Maybe something else too.

[yardwork]

5. Flavored vinegars can be made much the same way.

Buy some nice vinegar and warm it on the stove. Gently simmer some rosemary branches, or thyme sprigs, or lemon peel, or nasturtium blossoms (turns white vinegar a gorgeous orange shade and adds a little peppery spice), or pepper corns, or whatever you would like to flavor your vinegar until it's given the vinegar a nice flavor.

Decant the vinegar into a clean container and add some clean fresh sprigs as garnish if desired. Keep in refrigerator.

[onetiredmom]

21. Can you use this vinegar

for cleaning? I read so often about how great vinegar is as a cleaner, but I can't stand the smell. Wondering if this would help?

[yardwork]

23. I don't see why not. The only issue might be stains from oils in the herbs.

However, all the flavored vinegars I've made still smell a lot like vinegar, so if you don't like the smell, this might not help much.

[Bonhomme Richard]

10. My wife also and people can't wait to get them.

It laugh at how popular the gift is.
Maybe more so these days.

[livetohike]

3. Thanks for the great ideas!

:hi:

[SoCalDem]

29. Coupons for TIME..

Moms especially love these...

My favorite alltime Mother's day gift, was the day we all went out for breakfast, and Dad took all three boys to Magic Mountain for the whole day..and I didn't have to go :evilgrin:

[yardwork]

4. Homemade bath salts are much better than store-bought

Buy a bucket of dead sea salts or Celtic sea salt or Epsom salts. Put the salts in pretty containers. I use plastic to avoid the possibility of broken glass in the bathroom, but any nice container will do. Add a few drops of essential oil for every cup of salts. Shake well. Drop in a seashell or inexpensive scoop or just leave as is. Tie a pretty ribbon around the neck of the container. Add a label or tag.

To use: Put as much or as little of the salts in your bathtub. They'll dissolve and the essential oils will spread through the water and into your skin but NOT form a gloopy oil slick on top of the bath water like the icky commercial oils do.

Favorite essential oils for baths: rose geranium (inexpensive and smells like spicy roses), bergamot (wonderful citrus scent, good for women's health), rosemary (a little goes a long way), lavender (classic), or splurge and use a little bit of real rose or jasmine.

[TlalocW]

6. Dirt

A web-cartoonist did a strip where his writer gave him a bag of dirt, supposedly from the grave site of his favorite dead superhero artist. He re-gifted it to his wife, telling her it was from Ireland, which she's always wanted to visit, etc. They were all super-thrilled about the gift when they first got it until they each independently had the idea of lying about where it was from.

TlalocW

[MarianJack]

8. One of my favorite Christmas Card Poems.

"Money's tight,
Times're hard,
Here's your F**kin'
Christmas Card!"

[CoffeeCat]

9. FREE girls hair bows/combs/ribbons etc

If you have girls to buy for, here is a link to a $2 printable coupon. The coupon is good
on any ONE Goody Ouchless product.

They make combs, brushes cute pony-tail holders and other hair accessories for under $2.

I've been using this coupon at Walmart and getting FREE stuff.

I haven't checked at Target, Walgreens or other stores, but I'm sure you could get FREE or
nearly free stuff.

Great stocking stuffers!

http://www.goodycomfort.com/main.taf?p=1,9

[MadinMo]

19. Wow thanks for this! I will stock up using several of these!

[sandnsea]

11. Vintage cookbook

and make one of the recipes in the cookbook to go with it. I just happen to have one for sale...

hehe..



http://www.goodthingsandmore.com/holidays.htm

[Beacool]

17. Great idea!!!!!!!!

I wish someone would give me that gift, I love cookbooks and I'm always looking for vintage ones at yard sales and flea markets.

:D

[stubtoe]

13. Gifts like these are perfect in any financial environment.

They mean so much more than some widget from the store, and it de-escalates the reciprocation pressure on everyone.

[MasonJar]

14. Congrats! I am impossible. Every year I overspend on Christmas.

Ditto this year. I just cannot help myself. I love giving at Christmas. I have basically given up on myself!

[CrispyQ]

15. Several years ago I made pies instead of cookies.

My friends loved it! I made 15 pies in two days - apple, cherry, pecan, chocolate mousse & pumpkin. The following year at least half the people I gave pies to told me they hoped I was going to make pies again, as it was so much better than cookies. Making 15 pies wasn't any more work or any more expensive than making 7-8 different types of cookies.

[yardwork]

24. That's a great idea. Cookies intimidate me but I can make pies.

AND pie is very seasonal this year especially since Obama loves pie!

[CrispyQ]

28. I like this one!

I like cookies, but I love pie! I was surprised how many comments I got from people who loved getting an entire pie! I hope you try it.

[Beacool]

16. I'm giving out gift certificates.

These are hard times and I would rather that people buy something they really need than giving them more junk that will be relegated to some corner to gather dust. The children are the only ones getting gifts from me such as clothing, toys and video games.

I like your gift ideas and may choose some to give to coworkers and neighbors.

;-)

[Are_grits_groceries]

38. Be careful about giving certificates or gift cards to certain stores.

If the stores go out of business, they become useless. AmEx or something is better.

[Bigmack]

39. I'm giving Costco "Cash Card"...

to my grown son and daughter. I've been telling them - repeatedly - "Tough times coming. Don't buy anything you can't eat."

No "fun" gifts this year... or the next few years, probably.

[The empressof all]

18. I cancelled Christmas this year

We are rabid Frequent Flyer Miles collectors and charge everything to get those miles. Yes you gotta pay the bill every month. So we're taking our Free Flights and going somewhere warm for the holiday. No tree, no gifts, no grief..... I think this may be our new family tradition if we can still afford to buy the basic necessities for miles.

[yardwork]

26. The best Christmas I ever had was in Mexico when I was a kid.

Very few gifts, went swimming in the Gulf on Christmas Day, our landlord invited us to his whole family's party. It was wonderful.

[Native]

40. We started that a couple of years ago...

the kids were the ones who wanted to do it. This is year two with no gifts for the kids, but in return they're going to Europe in April. We've also done the short, cheap cruise thing with extended family on Thanksgiving or Christmas - lots of relatives - it's great - no one gets stuck with the cleaning or the cooking & we're all together. In our family, we like to do things rather than have things.

[leftofthedial]

22. we don't agree on much, cali,

but these are great ideas!

:thumbsup:

[cali]

25. and it's so much more fun than regular consumerism

I love putting together basket gifts with inexpensive yardsale baskets, used linens and whatever- I've done gardener basket kits, cooking basket kits, tea basket kit, etc.

[leftofthedial]

27. I'll be cooking and trolling thrift stores...

no consumerism here, even if it were possible this year, which it is not.

[Gormy Cuss]

30. Floral and herbal sachets

I collected, cleaned, and dried rose petals and lavender blossoms, lemon balm leaves and rosemary. The fabric for the bags and the ribbon ties are all thrift store finds.

In past years I've made tree ornaments, soup mixes, mulling spices, and greeting cards. I do it because I like to do it and my family members appreciate it. Some of them give 'crafty' gifts too; others buy locally made items instead.

It works for us, but a lot of families would find this approach too cheap or too stressful compared to writing a check and slapping it in a card or buying sweaters at the mall.

[RayOfHope]

31. Saw this at a local candy store yesterday: colorful candies in a mason jar

like m&ms, skittles, starburst, runts, reeses pieces, Hershey's kisses, etc. They cut out a circle of pretty paper (scrapbook paper, I'm sure) to cover the cap of the jar, and then tied a cute ribbon that coordinated with the candy. The ribbon had been trimmed with pinking shears. I bought a big jar, but this would be easy to do with the smaller size jars also.

The jar of skittles was too cute to resist, so it came home with me :9

[DeepModem Mom]

32. K&R!

[JuniperLea]

33. Great suggestions, cali

I'll be using some of these, no question. I'm also crocheting some cold weather neck scarves using skein remnants from the afghans I've made recently.

I like handmade gifts. I always have. Handmade ornaments are pretty cool too. I remember my mother making origami fish and angels from ribbon... those ornaments are over 20 years old... I still use them.

[Truth Teller]

34. Thanks cali!

This will be helpful to a lot of us.

Off to the Greatest!

[Jade Fox]

35. Homemade Kahlua.....

It's easy to make, and tastes as good as the real thing.

Recipes are on the internet.

[Lochloosa]

36. Homemade Limoncello... Yummy Recipe below

Recipe for homemade limoncello, a popular after-dinner drink from Southern Italy:

1 liter of 100 proof vodka (Absolut is the most popular 100 proof brand)
1 1/2 cups water
5 large lemons - NOT lemon juice
2 cups sugar
Wash the lemons, quarter them, and squeeze out as much of the juice as you can. Discard the juice.

Pour the vodka into a large mason jar, or other airtight glass jar.

Add the lemons, seal the jar, and put it in a dark cool place for 5 days.

After 5 days, put the water in a pot, add the sugar and bring to a boil.

Keep at low boil for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Cool to room temperature.

Stir in the vodka and lemons, wait an hour.

Remove the lemon pieces (best to strain them out).

Stir.

Pour the mixture into glass bottles and make airtight.

Put the bottles in your freezer overnight.

Store in freezer until your next dinner event or cocktail party. In Italy, limoncello is traditionally served in small ceramic cups. It can be mixed with tonic, if preferred. Your guests may not look like George Clooney, but a good time will be had regardless.

[Retrograde]

42. one minor correction

"Wash the lemons, quarter them, and squeeze out as much of the juice as you can. Discard the juice."

Use the juice for lemonade, or freeze in an ice-cube tray to use whenever you need a tablespoon or so of lemon.


This is easier than my limoncello recipe, which uses just the lemon zests and needs about 3 months to mellow.

[Native]

41. Anyone have a recipe for apricot brandy?

Used to get that years ago from a relative. She always put it in an interesting bottle (Pier 1 bottle, I think). Great stuff.

[cali]

43. here are a couple:

http://www.recipezaar.com/Apricot-Brandy-30787/
tsfromyourkitchen.com/bev/apricot-brandy.html

[KillCapitalism]

44. We are giving everyone the same thing this X-mas.

Cookies.

That way we don't have to hear "So and so got something better than I did."

[trof]

45. I'm giving ketchup packets this year.

Everybody likes ketchup.

Ketchup contains natural mellowing agents that help you get over the post-holiday blues. And its festive red color really brightens up almost any dish. - The Ketchup Advisory Board
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/programs/20031227/scripts/ketchup.shtml

Every time I go to a fast food restaurant I just ask for "Extra ketchup, please."
The employees are surprisingly generous. They'll throw dozens of extras in with your order.
They make great stocking stuffers, too.
;-)

[MadinMo]

47. And in case it leaks into any of those overstuffed stockings,

its bright seasonal color blends right in.

Seriously (or is that seriesly?), some of the homemade gifts we have given in the past are:

homemade liquors (in a year with LOTS and LOTS of fruit)
barnwood picture frames with photos
candy/cookies
jams/jellies
homegrown honey
beeswax ornaments (from homegrown beeswax)
casserole cozies (quilted holders from pre-quilted fabric)
spiced nuts
homemade mustard and a loaf of bread to go with the recipient's holiday roast beast
Flavored coffee and hot cocoa mixes with a couple of dollar store mugs

My favorite gifts are homemade.

[JVS]

46. GM stock!