What is the best gift you've received that was not expensive?
Some of my favorites are:
A book of poetry by my adult daughter.
A picture of me drawn by my younger daughter.
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I buy teacups for decorative jars {with lids} at a thrift shop and decorate them. I hot glue ribbon and bows on the jars and bows on the handle of the teacup. I then fill with tea bags, cinnamon sticks etc for the tea cup and cocoa for cafe mocha in the jars.
To give of your time to someone that needs it. Be it a job to be done or to listen to someone.
Honestly, the best thrifty gift I've ever given was this last Christmas. I bought about 20 men's tube socks and filled them with rice. After painting each recipient's name on their sock, it became the own personal "rice buddy" to be heated in the microwave and used as a heating pad. I figure each gift cost me about $1.50!
Some of my favorite gifts this past Christmas were:
-a stocking that my 11 yr old daughter sewed, so that Mom would have a stocking too.
-a bottle of shampoo from my 7 yr old son--my husband said he tried to convince him to get me something else, but Thomas insisted that Mommy likes to shower after exercising and he thought I needed shampoo.
-A ceramic angel from my 14 yr old son who said he overheard me tell a friend about how we buy an angel ornament every year to remember the baby we lost 6 years ago.
-Brenda
Go to a fabric store and ask the clerk to cut a fourth yard of the currently popular nylon fleece. It comes in many colors as well as prints, plaids and designs. It is usually at least 60 inches wide. It needs no hem or fringe and makes a super soft, comfortable neck scarf, is washable and best of all costs less than $2.00 including tax. Kids , teachers, grandparents can all use it.
I have a couple of thrifty gift ideas for next Christmas! Neither idea is mine (as, I saw them on another website), but both are EXCELLENT ideas for holiday gifts!
The first one is a gratitude album/scrapbook. I purchased 2 pkgs. (100/ea. pkg.) of plain, white index cards. Each pkg. was ONLY 50 cents! In the top, right-hand, corner of each card, I wrote dates, beginning from December 26, 2000 all the way up... to December 25, 2001! I pull them out EVERY DAY and write, on the card, what I'm grateful/thankful for (about the person I'm giving the gift to!). As I'm a rather "crafty" person, I also love to draw/or paint... so, I also design little pictures (etc.) to go with each item I'm thankful for. I draw the picture right under where I write. If you're drawing/painting-impaired, you could always use different stickers, pictures from magazines (etc.)... just as long as it's small enough to fit on the card. Then,
I will purchase a ONE-DOLLAR, 3-ring binder (from our local "Dollar Store"); a ONE-DOLLAR roll of clear, contac paper; use paper we already have and create a, ONE-OF-A-KIND, PERSONAL (THREE-DOLLAR!!!) gift... that my spouse will SURELY appreciate! I'm doing the same for my 8-yr. old son, as well! This is a gift for ANYONE... no matter age, sex, religion, etc!!!
The other idea is to create one-of-a-kind coupons, custom-made... for each person on your list! For instance..... my son LOVES Pokemon. I might make, for him, Pokemon coupons (featuring pictures, TRACINGS, etc.) of different Pokemon characters, for such things as "THIS ENTITLES THE BEARER TO ONE FREE, POKEMON DINNER... FEATURING "Pikuchu's Party Pizza," "Sandshrew's Sensational Salad," and "Jigglypuff's Jolly Jello." I KNOW, my son would LOOOOOVE that! Another one might say, "THIS COUPON ENTITLES THE BEARER TO ONE SATURDAY NIGHT OF YOUR CHOICE OF MOVIES (games, etc.)."
For my husband..... he enjoys science-fiction and action movies. An example of a coupon I may give to him may be, "THIS COUPON ENTITLES THE BEARER TO HIS CHOICE OF ONE SCI-FI BOOK." I find various things, like this, at flea markets, yard sales, consignment shops, thrift stores, dollar stores, etc. He also works with computers... so, another idea might be, "THIS COUPON........................TO HIS CHOICE OF ANY NEEDED COMPUTER GAME."
Again... these things are found, inexpensively, on the internet or any of the other places, mentioned above. Well..... those are JUST a few! Happy hunting!!!!! -HMS
This Christmas I made hot pads and mitts our of recycled blue jean material and lined with cotton mattress padding or old placemats. I then put on a nifty tag which I copied out of Amy Dacyczn's TIGHTWAD GAZETTE which is as follows: "Our products are made of naturally seasoned denim with an unpatented process."
"First sewn into pants and worn by actual human beings, the material is exposed to sweat, grime, sunlight, and hundreds of washes to achieve an authentic fade and uniquely confortable feel. Then using only select portions of unpatched, seamless, and pocket-free fabric we handcraft our original potholder design." "THE BLUE JEAN POTHOLDER, a product alrady withstanding the test of time."
My friends and I are interested in the same types of music, so a while ago I went to Costco and bought a big package of cassette tapes. Through out the year when I don't have the motivation/money to buy gifts, I've made tapes taking songs from the radio, various cd's and tapes. It's also fun to add on a little comedy from my Bill Cosby or Hank the cowdog collections. (this can be done using a cd burner also)
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