Looking for Christmas Gifts

Last year I made homemade photo coasters. Go to any home improvement store and you can buy tiles for like 25 cents a piece. I loved the black ones. Then you print out photos on regular printer paper not photo paper a little smaller than the size of the tiles. This took a little practice to get the size right. Then you just Mod Podge it on the tiles. Give it several coats of Mod Podge (the one for outdoor use is best because it is supposedly water resistant since you will be sitting your drinks on these). Then spray it with a clear coat of acryllic. The acryllic spray is a couple of dollars and the Mod Podge is a couple of dollars (especially if you use one of those coupons the craft stores always have). I did some on white tiles and color photos and some on black tiles with black and white photos. Everyone loved them.

My 7 year old grandson loves to garden, and has a nice patch of lavender. I told him this year we would harvest and dry the lavender and make sachets for everyone for Christmas. While I will enjoy doing the sachets, he will have fun growing and harvesting his lavender and drying it. He is doing a herbal garden this year also, so are thinking ahead about growing and drying herbs for Christmas gifts.

Take a look at this site.

http://www.tiptopwebsite.com/violaleeroy

several shops to look at especially gifts under $5 and $10 if on a budget like me.

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.

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!
kay neugebauer

http://www.Budget101.com has some great and inexpensive ideas for gifts.

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

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). A friend of mine has given me a couple of these and I just loved it! Not only did I enjoy the yummy cookies, but now I have some really pretty plates that are fun to use for snack trays for fancy parties or even just to look at in my china hutch. (People are always asking me where I got such pretty plates!)

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.

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.

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. it's cheap and people love it-they either have dinner or dessert at hand. Hope this helps.

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.

If you go to this website, you will find a HUGE choice of ideas: http://members.tripod.com/~MaryMae/jarlinks.htm

Have Fun!!