Here's my idea for inexpensive holiday gifts. It saves me some money to make many of my holiday gifts this way, and people seem to like them. I make lots of homemade cookies and give them for Christmas gifts, but I want them to look special. So I save empty, appropriate containers (that otherwise would have gone into the trash), and then decorate those with Christmas tissue paper, bows, etc. The cookies go into those. It looks fancy, but it's inexpensive.
For example: old Pringles cans are great for putting homemade cookies in (stack the cookies). Glue some Christmas or colorful paper completely over the Pringles cylinder. Then hot glue a ribbon or bow or even a small ornament to the container. Instant gift container!
I also redecorated an oatmeal cylinder, a beef jerky cylinder, a cocoa cylinder, and a paper bag with handles from a chain bath and body store, all with Christmas tissue paper/wrapping paper that I had saved from last year, and hotglued on ribbons and bows, and little beads or ornaments. The packages look so pretty, and will make the cookies gifts so much nicer to give.
How about survival kits? http://familycrafts.about.com/od/survivalkits/ You can adjust the packaging to whatever fits in an envelope (a smaller, decorated envelope, perhaps. One has to ask why on earth you and sending cards, let alone presents to 300 people. Can an e-card or phone call not suffice? You will be bankrupting yourself, and I am sure not all of these people need, let alone expect a gift - it only means they have to find one to give to you, adding to their stress - I can tell how stressed you are about having to do this!
A friend of mine puts together a letter that she sends to all her relatives, friends, penpals (like me) etc. It is an update of what she has been doing during the year, including scanned photos and drawings her children have done. It is a 'mass mail' type of thing, and she writes a little bit of something for each individual on the bottom. I love receiving them, and really, it is all I need to feel loved. Please rethink your huge list - it is a huge cost - not to mention all the postage.
forgot to tell you that i would suggest the crown lapel pin. it has been one of our best sellers. if you place your order over the internet and if it is $99.00 or more there is no charge for shipping. if you don't think you will spend that much, share the site with some friends and pool your orders together. our turn around is 48 hours and you will have your order in a week to 10 days. thanks
Please go to http://www.ctainc.com I work there and on their website you can go to the sale section at the top of the page and that will take you to our sales items. We have bookmarks for as little as 39 cents and other items for 49 cents. It doesn't cost anything to check it out!! Hope this will help
Hi... Not sure how this works... but... I am desperate for some ideas! ...
For several years now, when I do an internet search for "Homemade Gift Ideas". I come to your site, and see all the great ideas, like Jar, or basket gifts etc... But even those seem to be too expensive, and not really workable for my needs.
Here"s my problem.
Christmas is just around the corner, AGAIN! And I have almost no money, I have almost 300 people to send Christmas cards (and a little "something" to go with it) to (So it has to be flat (easily mailable, and that won't make the envelope too big or heavy), not fragile, and useful, something that anyone (man, or woman, and if it can even be for any age, that'd be even better) will find useful. It can't be food or teas or whatever, because so many people on my list have allergies, or illnesses or are on a diet, or are picky, or etc. And, it also has to be quick and easy to make, because I'm almost out of time. And I've already made bookmarks, several years in a row. I need something new.
I hand make each of the greeting cards we need, each year. But I haven't started yet, for this Christmas and next year. So, ideas on card designs would be appreciated too.
Also, on my list are a few people that I can spend a tiny bit more on, and That I can hand deliver the gifts to. These people have everything, or go into phases where they get rid of everything they own (almost). And stuff. I need "useful gifts" that aren't food. And I need good gift ideas for a 4 or 5 year old boy (I know very little about age appropriate gifts). I don't see him often, so I don't know what he loves most and what he already has, and etc. (something other than food, or a "toy", would be good).
Also.... For a Christmas Party I'm going to, I need a "healthy" cookie recipe! (and it needs to be fancy!).
So, you can see, I have a lot of trouble each year, because this is what I'm faced with each year. My annual "Christmas Anxiety" has begun.
Please, please, please, help!!!!!!!!
-- In Peace, Phoebe. =) "Treat people as if they were what they ought to be, and you help them to become what they are capable of being." - Johann Wolfgang Von Goathe
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