Cheap Christmas Gifts

I heard about this idea for a children’s Christmas gift and it blew me away! Yes, it is homemade but even those who aren’t that artistically inclined can do this and have fun with making this gift!

How about creating a homemade costume box for kids this Christmas? Simply go and find or reuse a large over-sized box. Then decorate to your heart’s content. Glue on colorful fabrics, letters, designs, glitter and sparkles. Think of cartoon characters or hobbies that the kids like and press these pictures onto the box as well. After you’re done with decorating the box comes my favorite part… you get to fill it with goodies!

Raid Goodwill or other thrifty vintage stores and collect all types of clothes, accessories and other assorted items that would be perfect for costumes or dress up play. You can look for dresses, tutus, striped shirts, cargo slacks, vests, sunglasses, necklaces, hats, scarves, etc! The kookier the items the better and it doesn’t matter if they’re in perfect condition since they’ll be reserved for play time anyways. Throw all these items into the box and you have a gift that any kid is sure to adore! The best part is – this gift will provide amusement throughout the year and prove to be useful during themed parties or even other holidays like Halloween.

While you’re out, if you happen to find some good quality plain t-shirts that aren’t costume material and perhaps too plain as a gift, consider dressing them up with stencil designs and create your own homemade t-shirt print. See how adding a few simple green clovers to this plain white tee makes it super cool!

I know boyfriends are hard to shop for. You want to give them something personal and meaningful, yet useful at the same time. Let’s be honest – you can write the sweetest holiday poem in the world for your boyfriend, but it will most likely only be enjoyed for the moment and then stashed away in a drawer for the rest of the year. This is the predicament that all girlfriends go through when the holiday season hits. Plus, it’s important to keep in mind budget as well.

For lovely ladies everywhere, here is a list of 7 unique and inexpensive (and I mean really cheap!) gift ideas for your special man this Christmas. Put in the effort and give him a surprise he won’t forget!

1. Make chocolate-covered strawberries with sweet messages: Trust me, it’s super easy and they are a personal favorite! Everyone loves chocolate-covered strawberries Pick up 1 or 2 cartons of strawberries from any grocery (depending on how many you want to make of course) as well as large bars of chocolate for melting. The chocolate bars are usually in the baking aisle, or them come in chip form, pre-packaged in boxes. Type of chocolate is up to you, but I prefer dark chocolate and white chocolate. Melt the dark chocolate in a saucepan (low heat) and cover the strawberries completely. After chilling in the fridge until the chocolate crust is hard, melt the white chocolate to do little hearts and swirl patterns on the dark crust – this extra step makes them look store-bought and gourmet! Then obtain muffin holders and write sweet messages to your boyfriend on the bottom of each cup. Place one finished strawberry in each cup and present him with the batch. He’s sure to love this sweet treat.

2. Make him a custom game bowl or hard case: Find a hard suitcase from any Goodwill or find nice, large snack bowls from Target. Clean the surfaces of these items appropriately and then decorate with stickers or decals from his favorite sports teams or music artists. For the game bowl, choose his favorite team color and decorate randomly with stickers from his favorite sports team. This will be useful as a snack dish for when he’s enjoying games on TV. For the hard case, you can decorate with stickers, decals, or logos representing anything he likes so that he can have a custom and personalized carry-on.

It has such a cool, retro look

3. Burn your own special music: A classic idea originating from the “mixed tape.” Create your own special CD compilation with all of your special songs that you share with him. It’s a meaningful gift that he can pop in and listen to whenever to remind himself of you and inspire those loving feelings.

4. Design a picture frame with a special quote:  Purchase an inexpensive wood frame from Target or IKEA – just make sure it has a thick border to decorate. Paint and customize the frame with a quote or saying that’s meaningful for the two of you. A lyric from “your song” works well for this. Pick a picture of the both of you that looks great… print, frame and it’s finished!

5. Personalize a Christmas stocking: Buy a plain Christmas stocking and decorate with trinkets for a hobby he likes. For example, if your boyfriend enjoys computer programming or computer games, you can hot glue microchips, cables, old pawn shop video games, etc. onto the stocking. This idea turns out really cute and is useful for all the Christmas holidays to come. Finish off by stuffing the stocking with his favorite candies and Christmas treats.

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The holiday season is approaching which means that it’s once again the time of year where we focus on shopping and picking gifts for our friends and loved ones. In our extensive gift-giving lists, there are bound to be one or two items that call for presents on the cheaper end of the spectrum.

These are usually gifts for your company’s white elephant exchange or for a casual friend. We’ve all received gifts of this caliber: You can tell they’re cheap, they’re not very useful and kind of tacky sometimes. For these gifts we’re looking for the cheapest item we can find that says, “Hey, I tried.” If you’re lucky you’ll find a present that the recipient will look at for 5 seconds before putting it away, never-to-be-seen again.

Don’t look cheap and give a gift that will make your recipient smile (for real). Here are some alternative cool ideas for inexpensive gift exchanges. Try them out, all for $10 or less:

1. Holiday serving bowl or platter – Kitchen supplies are always going to be useful no matter what the season. Usually people won’t invest in specialty holiday serving dishes since they’re mainly used one season a year, but when that time comes you can be sure these come in handy. Ross or Target has plenty of these items under $10.

2. Fancy chocolate bars tied with a nice ribbon – Anything edible is sure to be used… particularly if it’s something as delicious as chocolate. Take it up a notch and find some really unique flavors or chocolate that is really good quality. You don’t need that many – maybe 2 or 3. Tie with a nice ribbon and you have a really elegant gift.

3. Gourmet jam, mustard spread, or maple syrup – Going along with the food theme, all these items are pantry necessities. A good gourmet spread is sure to be enjoyed by the family for a long time after the holidays are over. Maple syrup is one of those items that everyone has, but usually is just picked up at the local grocery store. The difference between the grocery store high fructose version and real maple syrup is staggering.

4. Movie theater gift certificate – There’s a stigma against buying gift certificates or gift cards for people but trust me, anyone will appreciate these. Considering the prices of movie tickets nowadays even one free movie ticket is sure to receive a lot of gratitude.

5. Jigsaw puzzle – These are fun and addictive, which are killer combos for a gift. If you choose a nice design, then they can be laminated upon completion and hung up on the wall as décor.

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