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My friends and I have a Secret Santa party every year and the limit is $25. Am always so impressed with the thoughtful gifts that people think up. One year a friend gave me a subscription to In Style magazine, one of my favorites-- she wrapped up a current issue and stuck the subscription inside. Another favorite are combination gift sets from Sephora--small in size and price, but big on luxury. |
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| Posted by
leigh67 on December 04, 2008 6:33 PM |
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One of the best gifts I've given cost less than $20. I bought a really cool print from Etsy.com (if you haven't been to this site, it is amazing, basically an online marketplace for hand crafted items of all sorts from prints to jewelry to clothing--you can find wonderful and unique items) that I knew my niece would love. Then I went to a goodwill store and found a brand new pottery barn frame with one little nic on it for $1.50. So I took it home and distressed it with a little sanding and it looked perfect with the print--a gorgeous framed piece of real art for less than $20!!! |
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| Posted by
evelyncobb on December 04, 2008 8:39 PM |
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One year a dear friend of mine put together a lovely gift. She measured all the ingredients for for cranberry nut muffins and poured them in layers into a mason jar. Then she printed up the recipe and attached it to the gingham covered jar top with string. She gave me this along with a muffin tin. A wonderful and personal gift and was a real treat to easily whip up some muffins for Christmas day. |
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| Posted by
ConnieS on December 05, 2008 2:19 PM |
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We took a precovered bulletin board that we got at Big Lots for $4 and sewed on mini clothespins around the edge facing out, to clip pictures on, we got a great tin of fancy paperclips and pushpins for $3 at Hobby Lobby, we added firemans 3D stickers from the scrapbook section, along with pieces of wood we painted like footballs and basketballs. We also put my nephews initials on each board along with some photos they could keep and a few of their teams clippings that we laminated out of the Sports Illustrated Magazine. They turned out adoreable and we might have had $15 in to each one, but we had a darn good time picking out the personal items, and putting it together. |
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| Posted by
Momtomany on December 05, 2008 3:41 PM |
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What I love to do the most is buying old jewelery or new cheap jewelery and take them apart making a new creation altogether. One of my friends says her friends want to know where I bought them.
I also love to take tea cups or coffee cups, from the dollar tree, and fill them with goodies that are all under $20. I love to look in antique stores too. I just bought some small pearl studded pears with a small gold leaf for $.50! I have an elderly neighbor that would love it. I just joined this site and I am overjoyed, I love to shop and make things for less! Your comments are great!! |
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| Posted by
Wanda on December 05, 2008 8:26 PM |
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I make homemade fudge, microwave peanut brittle and homemade cookies which is not very expensive compared to buying them...All my friends love homemade snacks and every year remind me that is what they really enjoyed. Not many people have time to make themselves homemade goodies! |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on December 05, 2008 9:15 PM |
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Cheap and Easy Fleece Blanket
Supplies:
40 inch or wider fleece fabric (according to size you want your blanket to be). You will need two pieces of equal size. Choose all one pattern or different patterns for each side of your fleece blanket
Sewing Scissors
Tape Measure
4" x 4" sheet of paper
Make a small baby blanket or a blanket large enough for an adult---just choose your fabric size accordingly.
Put one piece of fleece fabric on top of the other lining up the edges so they are even. Trim any selvage to even both pieces. Don’t worry too much about getting it exact as the fringes/ties will cover the edges.
Lay the 4"x4" piece of paper on a corner of your blanket; cut an even corner through both layers. Do this on all four corners to keep you blanket square once you start to tie your fringes.
Cut your fringes by cutting 4 inches into both pieces of fleece. Make your fringes about 1" wide or whatever size looks good to you.
Starting on one side, tie double knots (use one fringe from each fleece.) Tie knots on every other fringe around the entire blanket.
Turn the blanket over and tie the remaining knots until your blanket is complete. |
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| Posted by
on December 06, 2008 12:41 AM |
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I give teens itunes gift cards..
for couples- two oversized bathtowels and a scented candle or bath salts...
Movie tickets..........
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| Posted by
izie on December 06, 2008 1:07 AM |
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For tea or coffee lovers, make up gift baskets of assorted flavors. you can chock the basket full of packets of teas/coffees. baskets can be purchased cheap at dollar stores or big lots. you can add pizzaz to the basket by layering it with foil tinsel, wrap in red saran wrap, then add metallic ribbon/bow, also available at dollars stores. |
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| Posted by
frantz49 on December 06, 2008 9:38 AM |
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My sons in law love receiving car wash books which can be purchased for $25 or less. |
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| Posted by
frantz49 on December 06, 2008 9:45 AM |
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I just submitted A $50.00 FAMILY CHRISTMAS GIFT BOX, which hopefully will be posted shortly. Similar to a Santa grab bag (in terms of giving to ONE "family", it cuts costs significantly and is creative and fun to do. And it allows families to enjoy and share a gift TOGETHER.
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| Posted by
Jamie on December 06, 2008 2:24 PM |
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I give my children a $5 a person limit when I take them out shopping. There are 5 kids so they get money to buy for siblings and for my husband and me. Walmart has movies for $5 as well as great gift sets such as manicure sets, food items, lip balms, etc. For a little more there are even better gift sets. Last year I bought my flower loving neighbor a beautiful bulb flower. She made me an Easter card showing what it looked like in bloom. It was only $10 and in a pretty gift box. For my co-workers, I made homemade hot chocolate mix and put them in jars. |
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| Posted by
on December 07, 2008 8:40 AM |
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I love to make stationary gift baskets from http://www.Vistaprint.com when you sign in your email address you will, very quickly, get coupons for all sorts of free items. The site is easy to navigate and very easy to design with, all of their products have 100s of predesigned patters so you just pick the pattern that best suites the person you are shopping for and fill in their information, or quotes you like. If you stick closely with the sale items you can get a large box full of things and only pay shipping.
This year I got a friend of mine personalized note cards with matching envelopes, letterhead with envelopes, a personlized pen with a friendship quote and 150 address lables (free) Shipping should be under or around $10.
(I always stock up for my small business during these sales, I get one order of everything they offer and my shipping comes to only around $20 for a large box) Have Fun! |
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| Posted by
Thatgirl on December 07, 2008 8:42 AM |
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I have bought and traded for some wonderful handmade gifts for under $25 at etsy.com. Still lots of time to buy before Christmas, too! |
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| Posted by
Barb Davis on December 07, 2008 8:23 PM |
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The best one we ever gave is still remembered by all family members. We draw names for my husband's family, but the problem is, we are a one income family, while they are all career families, with money to blow. We drew the name for one of the teenage boys, who wanted money to go skiing. We HATE giving just money-we've spent too many Christmases there watching every one around the room open gift cards or cash-what's the point?
So, I got creative-he has everything he wants all year long, so I jokingly told my husband we should give him the $25 in pennies-that would teach him to ask for money! But then....I went to Family Dollar where I had seen some cool wooden trunks (about 8"X12"), so I got one of those, then went to the bank and got the pennies, and dumped them all in, and on top of the pennies, put the book "The Treasure Principle" by Randy Alcorn(Multnomah books), and from the local Health Food Store, a bar of hand made soap in the fragrance of Frankencense and Myhrr.
Then came the day for gift exchange-no one could even begin to guess what we got him that weighed so much. When he opened it, there was surprise and laughter throughout the room! EVERYONE loved it! All afternoon, he kept running his hands through the pennies. His dad told me later, "He will always remember this gift, I doubt if he will ever cash those pennies in!" |
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| Posted by
Kathy Yutzy on December 08, 2008 12:08 AM |
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I like to give the gift of life at Christmas...small herb plants gaily wrapped in vintage thrift-store napkins for the cook or a small everygreen wrapped in vintage Christmas fabric thrifted throughout the year decorated with shells found on the beach with natural holes, for example, if the giftee is summer/beach lover. This year I am taking cuttings of my scented geraniums and placing them in thrifted baskets tied with recycled materials and ribbons that I have found/saved throughout the year. I will recyle old Christmas cards by cutting off the backs where the writing is, using a paper-punch to add a hole to the pretty front and tying them to the plants with the saved ribbon, making a pretty "Christmas postcard"/gift tag, thereby saving and recycling paper. I can use the backs to shred and add to gifts as packing to things I must ship, or fragile gifts. |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on December 09, 2008 9:12 AM |
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Love the "gift of life" comment--thanks!! I do the same thing with gift tags, instead of buying tags, I take Christmas Cards from years past and cut tags in the shape of trees or stars or use an image from the card. Recycling and saving money. And always looks nicer than the store bought tags. |
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| Posted by
cynthia on December 09, 2008 10:36 AM |
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Great gift for under $25.00. You can purchase a $25 restaurant coupon for $10. Many good restaurants are listed on Restaurant.com website. |
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| Posted by
Fauxglo on December 10, 2008 6:30 PM |
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A fun and tasty gift I give is a home made frozen pot pie. This one is my Favorite:
http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Turkey-Potpies
I get a decorative pie pan from Michaels or a craft store and put them together...I haven't had a complaint yet! |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on December 12, 2008 1:58 PM |
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Yard sales in the summer as well as community tag sales are great places to buy pretty coffee mugs or cups as well as baskets. I work on our church tag sales and we always have an abundance of coffee mugs that have never been used and pretty baskets for 50 cents for mugs and probably a dollar or less for baskets. I have found new items with tags still on or items that you know were gifts that were never used sometime with a bit of wrapping paper still attached to the gift. |
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| Posted by
Arline on December 12, 2008 8:03 PM |
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We do theme Gift baskets, tins, or buckets! For less than 25 we put in a mixed cd of latin music we found at the about a buck store, flavored tortilla chips, salsa, a bottle of margarita mix, margarita salt, and two margarita glasses. You can also do an italian theme with a box of pasta, sauce, a bottle of wine, wine glasses, and a mixed cd of italian music. We also do mugs, cocoa, home baked cookies, and christmas cd's. The possibilities are endless! |
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| Posted by
sweetnothing on December 13, 2008 4:55 PM |
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We hold our extended family get-together the weekend closest to New Years. This way we can get great gifts at the after Christmas sales!! Even some of the pre-christmas sales are pretty good. We have a $15-20 limit on our name exchange. I found a $20 Team T-shirt at half price and then a $5 gift card to a fast food restaurant that my person loves!! I tied on a key ring I found on clearance for $.33 in a theme of another hobby my person enjoys.
When doing a gift basket, you don't have to have a theme, other than the person you are buying for. Last year, I got my sister some kitchen gadgets and body washes. She enjoyed them. She loves different body washes and she wanted kitchen gadgets in a certain color!! |
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| Posted by
A busy mom on December 16, 2008 12:18 PM |
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I just found this great gift guide for gifts under $25--definitely helpful in finding unique gifts for some hard to buy for people on my list.
http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/12/2008-gift-guide-25-and-under.html |
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| Posted by
anonymous
on December 16, 2008 9:16 PM |
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Go the bargain table at any bookstore - there are great buys there, especially if you know the receipient's preferred genre. |
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| Posted by
ladylaughs on December 18, 2008 12:31 PM |
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Get a nice basket and fill it with things you know the person will like. I got a nice basket, bottle of wine and two nice wine glasses and wrapped it as a xmas gift for my girlfriend (definately under $25) and she loved it. also, a basket with body creams, bath soaps, body oils and sponges, all purchased at the dollar store. You'd be amazed how many items you can put in the basket that add up to $10! even put some chocolates, nail polish, and a good book. It is inexpensive and a gift personalized just for that person! |
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| Posted by
Rana on January 24, 2009 9:37 PM |
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I gave rum balls to family, and gave my niece a kit to make a craft with me (a blue jean tote with embellishments). Look in the craft section at Walmart or elsewhere for ideas of things to do together later, and add a note to the gift explaining that you'll help them make it. You'll save pre-Christmas time crafting the things yourself, and get a chance to spend time with a family member. |
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| Posted by
Liz on January 26, 2009 7:24 AM |
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I give to charity in their honor. |
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| Posted by
Jennie on January 28, 2009 6:00 PM |
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My family and I do "theme" Christmases in regards to gifts. We choose a store/place that everyone MUST shop in, all of which are budget-friendly! In the past we've used Dollar Tree (everything's 1.00$, if not less!), Dollar General, Big Lots, a local salvage store (carrying everything from makeup to hardware), and, OF COURSE, thrift stores! We also set a limit--usually 10.00, and absolutely no more per person! This has been wildly successful; some of the gifts I've received include a photo album from the 1940s of a family's beloved Siamese cats (cost for my brother: 3.50$ at a garage sale--I'm a huge cat lover and have a Siamese!), a glass powder box from the 1930's (cost my dad 7.00 at a thrift store), a Dooney Bourke purse (cost my mom 10.00 at a thrift store), a year's supply of Dove soap (cost my grandmother 10.00 at Sam's),etc, etc. Everyone has lots of fun opening their gifts on Christmas morning, which are much more special and personal than anything that could be hastily scooped up at the mall.
This has helped to really put the focus back on the true meaning and spirit of the season as well. We usually choose our "theme" several months in advance so that there's plenty of time to scout out presents. My mom loves her huge supply of fancy jarred artichoke hearts I got her last Christmas! |
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| Posted by
SiameseBelle on February 21, 2009 4:32 AM |
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Last year:
For college students: grocery gift cards.
For tweens/teens: video games, and once an ipod bought under $25 on ebay.
For babies/toddlers: stuffed animals.
For women: clothes.
For men: car/sports magazine subscription.
For couples: movie tickets, restaurant gift card, DVD. |
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| Posted by
Aida on March 17, 2009 11:28 PM |
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