Cool and Inexpensive Gift Ideas Collected by Me 2013

Ok, so I have been missing from my blog for a month and a half or so, but this is a post that I wrote right after Christmas.  It is not as inclusive as I had originally intended, but so that it is not time and effort lost, I have posted it rather than hide it in my drafts.  Feel free to add other ideas, if you are so inclined!


Gift 1--We are ornament collectors, and I have always tried to give my children an ornament each Christmas that depicts, in some way, an event or accomplishment or hobby or character trait demonstrated during the year.  Sometimes, they are hard to be found, so I have to create.  This year, I was the recipient of a cool ornament from our PWOC group leadership who lead in a study of Mark Driscoll's book Who Do You Think You Are? in which he listed all of the "benefits" we have as children of God.  The ladies purchased clear ornaments, printed the "benefits" on diverse colors of paper, cut them apart and placed them inside the ornament.  So meaningful to me, but I see the endless possibilities of other interests as well.

Gift 2--This one came from craft fairs and holiday bazaars that I attended this season.  I attend such events, yes, to purchase unique gifts, but also, to get ideas and make my own.  One of our retired military wives has, in the past, hand printed various sayings on cardstock, framed them and then sold them for $6 or so.  They are very simple, and while I am not very artistic, I certainly can use a computer right down to the art to enhance it!  The Dollar Tree sells 5x7 and 8x10 for--you guessed it!--$1.00!  For less than $2, I can create something personal and inexpensive.

Gift 3--Very similiar to gift 2, but a unique idea for a Christmas card.  Going through my mom and dad's collected items this past year yielded vintage cards of all kinds;  some were even from my grandmother's collection.  I have not only Christmas cards, but birthday, thank you, and other sorts of cards.  These framed in frames to fit the card style itself make wonderful gifts.  Two downsides would be 1) I have a hard time parting with them myself when it comes to my families' cards and 2)  I believe that you would have to find these at estate sales or yard sales to keep them inexpensive.

Gift 4--I've mentioned The Dollar Tree already, so there you go.  This year, for an inexpensive gift for right at $10, I purchased a popcorn bowl shaped like the retro movie popcorn containers ($1 each),  a cellophane sleeve for baskets (2 for $1), a classic Christmas movie from Amazon (varies in price, but at the most $8 with free shipping with Amazon Prime), and a variety of hand written recipes for caramel corn and others, popcorn flavor shakers (buy several small ones from a variety of stores and split up the packages), and hot chocolate for a "classic" Christmas basket.  Plastic Coke glasses would be cute additions, and the list of ideas go on!

Gift 5-- Last year since my daughter and son-in-law were in their own home for the first year, I decided to collect items to mark the holidays throughout the year for the purpose of decorating principally and make those one of their gifts as a couple.  Some of the items were reusable while some were consumable. If you gather these as the special days arrive, depending on what you want to spend, you can get quite creative and still remain conservative in price;  after the gifting, it is a year of remembrance of the one who gave it.