Christmas Frugal Gifts, Thrifty And
Fun
Buying Christmas frugal gifts for all your fiends and family might make
you worry that they will think that you are stingy. This is silly of course,
as it is perfectly possible to buy lovely gifts that not only look expensive
but will also delight the recipient.
For some reason the spirit of giving and receiving gifts has become
lost in all the modern day commercialism and hype. What we must all
remember is that when we give or receive a gift it is a symbol of someone
caring and thinking about you, rather than how much money has been spent.
For me, often the best gifts are the ones that someone has either
spent the time making themselves or has tried to give me something they
think I would like, no matter how small. It shows that the other person
really cares and has made a real effort rather than grabbing the first
expensive bottle of perfume off the shelf.
 Here
I hope to give you a few ideas on how to give Christmas
frugal gifts that won't break the bank but will show that you have put
some time and thought into the gifts.
Make a frugal plan of action
I know I have said it before but to keep costs down and to work out
what Christmas frugal gifts you can afford to give, it is vital that
you plan your budget
well in advance. If you don't you will be in grave danger of spending
far more than you intended and will be left with debts in the New Year.
- Decide how much you can afford to spend on each member of your family.
Don't be afraid to keep this figure a frugal one. The last thing anyone
wants is for you to get yourself into financial difficulties.
- If there are a lot of children in the family, it may be an idea
to spread the cost out over several family members by each of you
deciding either which children each of you will buy for or by clubbing
together and buying a more expensive present for each child rather
than lots of smaller ones.
- If you have a large group of friends or work in a large office,
arranging a secret Santa draw could be the answer. Decide on a budget
and each of you picks out someone else's name to buy for. That way
everyone gets a gift but the cost is kept to a minimum.
Make your own Christmas frugal gifts
 My
boyfriend used to give me a gift every year that he had either made
or that he had personalised himself. These were the best gifts I ever
received. Making gifts yourself can be fun, look great and can be very
easy on the purse.
Here are a few suggestions on some homemade Christmas frugal gifts:
- Home baked Cookies - why not bake some cookies and put them
a glass jar, fasten a big colourful ribbon around the top. Or use
an old sweet tin and decorate it with cut out Christmas pictures and
glitter.
- Hand puppets - Kids love puppets and they can be easily made
using cut up material from old clothes, scraps of wool etc. My mother
gave my sister and me a family of wooden spoon puppets when we were
kids, they were one of the best toys we ever had and we played with
them for years.
- Take a kitchen wooden spoon; draw a face on the bowl of the spoon
using felt tip pens. Stick wool on top with glue for the hair and
cut out simple triangles of cloth and glue on for the clothes. Different
hairstyles and faces can make a variety of family members so easily.
You could even take it one step further and make a stage or television
screen out of a large cardboard box decorated with paint and coloured
paper.
- Knit a jumper - if you are a dab hand at knitting, why not
buy second-hand jumpers from a charity store and reuse the wool to
knit your own jumpers, socks and gloves. This frugal idea was suggested
by my partners mum who is always using wool from old jumpers for all
her knitting projects and believe me she knits a lot.
- Grow
your own Plants and herbs - A really lovely Christmas frugal
gift to give is a pot of fresh grown herbs or a plant. You will have
to think of this gift well in advance to give you time to grow them
but it will be well received and will show you have put some thought
into the gift.
- Family Album - why not collect together some old family photographs
and put them into an album. You could decorate the outside of the
album or you could personalise each page with either decoration or
with a few words about each picture.
- Framed Poem - write in your best curly writing a short poem
and frame it. You could also hand stitch the poem if you are handy
with a needle and thread.
More Christmas Frugal gifts
If you simply do not have the time to hand make your gifts, there are
plenty of gifts that will not cost too much but will be considered as
excellent presents.
The secret is to match a gift to each person's personality or circumstances.
For instance a student away at college might really appreciate a cookbook
of cheap easy to prepare recipes or a newly married couple might like
some plants for their new home.
Some inexpensive gifts could include:
- Books - there are many good second hand or discount bookshops
- Pamper baskets - make up a basket of bathroom luxuries like bath
salts, soaps, talc and other personal care items.
- Blank Cd's, DVD's, and Videos - All these items can be bought very
cheaply now but are very useful items to receive. Glam them up by
wrapping them in some nice Christmas paper.
- Candles - I love receiving candles and they can easily be personalised
or made to look Christmassy. Bunch three candles together and bind
them with ribbon or holly twigs. You could even buy some cheap candlesticks
and spay paint them with silver and gold and present the candles inside
them.
With a little thought and some clever use of ribbons and glitter almost
anything can be made to look more attractive of expensive then it really
is. So Christmas frugal gifts need not appear to be dull or uninteresting,
just add your personal touch.
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