You can buy great gifts without spending lots of money.
If you're watching your wallet this Christmas season, you may be thinking that all you can buy is a card or two to mail. However, there are plenty of great low-priced gifts out there. Even on a tight budget, you can spread some holiday cheer this season. Does this Spark an idea?
Basket of Edibles
Gift baskets make for a pretty presentation, they work well for those hard-to-shop-for folks, and, best of all, they can be filled with low-priced items. Such as food, for example. For a friend who loves the cuisine of Mexico, visit your grocery store for quesos and Mexican spices. For a friend who loves Italian food, buy a bag of pasta and a small block of Parmesan or a round of mozzarella cheese. Add a few recipes you neatly printed onto 3-by-5 cards. At a craft store or large retail chain store, purchase cellophane, ribbon, basket filler and small baskets, all of which are very inexpensive. Fill the baskets, wrap them in cellophane, tie the cellophane closed with ribbon, and you have very nice gifts that you spent less than $20 each on. Try putting together a fruit basket, coffee basket, breakfast basket or whatever your friends like.
From You By You
Try making your Christmas gift by hand. Doing so not only gives the items sentimental value, it also lets you customize them for each recipient. And you can keep prices low buy using items you already have around the house. If you're skilled at carpentry, turn unused bits and sheets and pieces of wood into wall sconces, decorative folding screens, jewelry boxes or furniture such as a step stool or footrest. If you can sew, make a decorative pillow, or a quilt or blanket out of a favorite article of clothing now too tattered to be worn. If you're a crafty kind of person, weave a basket or mat, sculpt some pottery or make a pair of matching lampshades for the bedroom or some art for the living room. Or create some jewelry: a bracelet, a necklace or a pair of earrings.
The Right Read
A book is another excellent idea for a low-priced gift. You can use your discount card at a bookstore, or shop online for secondhand books. And like the gift basket, books are a good gift for family members and friends who are hard to please. Everyone has something that they're interested in; find out what it is and look for inexpensive books on the subject. Science, fashion, music, architecture, history, insects, cooking, travel, foreign language, woodworking, chocolate, animals, coin collecting, comics, maps -- you can find a tome on any topic. And don't forget to personalize the book by writing in it "To:___" and "From:___," with a short message and the year.
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