After getting my GREAT paycheck (not...I am SO sick of taxes), I'm needing help on ideas for gift-giving. Is it too cheap to "make" blankets as gifts? It's not a GOOD blanket, but is soft and will keep them warm. What about making Christmas cookies for family members? What about a cake for an entire family? What are YOUR ideas for Christmas presents that don't cost more than $5?? (I have a BIG family.)
I am crocheting a table runner for one daughter, cookies and holiday breads for the neighbors and the grandkids. Dh has been out of work for seven months and just got a job. Our priorities are bills now. The whole family appreciates our position and love getting homemade things. I am also including candies and canned goods. Last year I crocheted afghans for each grandkid the year before it was scarves. Let me tell you ....you can't have enough pairs of gloves!! Kids always lose them. Go for it!! Oh, here is something I have made for everyone. VERY CHEAP. Cut a log and drill three holes in it. Decorate and glue some candles in the holes.
Every year my BIL made popcorn balls for us for xmas. He couldn't afford much but we always looked forward to receiving that gift from him! Do you have a Dollar tree? If you do then I'd try there for $1 gifts for the kids. Or get coffee mugs for each adult and buy a box of hot chocolate and put one packet in each mug. You could even write their names on the mugs if they don't have any nice decorated ones. There are lots of things to do if you get creative!!
Things will be tight this year here too. We do have a great thrift shop that I got most of the girls (13 + 15) clothes from. Most of them are in "new" condition. EVERYONE else will get homemade items, cookies, jams, crocheted items and so on. I personally think it means more if you put work into something. Anyone can go out and throw down cash or plastic.............. Make "what ever" with love in your heart and I swear people notice, unless they are selfish jerks than that is another story.
This year I bought a 25LB bag of flour at walmart ($7) and a 10Lb bag of sugar ($3), and am baking bread, cookies and making toffee. Everyone is getting a basket of home baking for the holidays. I may buy one of those 12 coffees of christmas and tuck a coffee or cocoa into each basket. Chances are the people who really care about you know it's been rought $ wise. If you need recipies, let me know and I'll put them in the recipie section.
In the past I have made jewelry, knitted scarves, done needlework wall hangings, made dry soup mixes, made homemade pasta, baked care packages with breads, cookies, candies and nuts, taken great photos and had them framed, made soaps and candles, brewed wine and beer, canned jellies, jams, and pickles, AND got an entire 40 person family together to carol on Christmas eve at a sick family member's house as a surprise. I don't spend a lot of money at Christmas, but I spend a lot of time getting ready for it. Christmas is about giving of yourself. Put some effort into making those blankets and no one can fault you. If a gift comes from the heart then it is never too cheap.
This year I am giving family members bottles of homemade vanilla extract and jars of vanilla sugar. It's too late for you to make the extract, but you could do the vanilla sugar. Use cheap plastic decorated Christmas jars from the Dollar store or use canning jars. Fill them with sugar and one or two vanilla beans. Within a few days the sugar will smell like vanilla and is great for baking.
Baking, baking, baking! I stocked up on flour before DH got canned so I have a good supply! I make a wicked cherry date bread that people love so that is what they're getting! Most people understand.
Homemade fudge (that needs work ) and home made apple pies are going to have to do it for my 5 grandparents and SOs granny
blankies are always a good thing. One year I made everyone a pillow using polar fleece as the outter material. They got great reviews! Nothing like an instantly warm pillow!
