Frugal, crafty Christmas present ideas

Cafe Society
1

This year I’m determined to limit our spending on the holidays - we just don’t have much to spare right now, and I think in that circumstance it’s dumb to shell out $50-$100 for an impersonal gift card for each family member. I’d rather put some effort in starting early, and make some nice (and cheaper!) things for each person.

I’ve got some ideas, but I’m also interested in your input. Specifically, I’d love to be able to use supplies I have on hand. I have tons of yarn, fabric, sewing supplies, knitting and crochet tools, doll making supplies (including tons of wool batting), some simple stamping stuff, some melt & pour soap, and some leftover stuff for making toiletries, especially essential oils. I was thinking about maybe exploring candle making or basket weaving, but realized it would involve buying a whole new set of supplies and tools, and I can probably buy baskets at the thrift stores cheaper than making them anyway!

So here are some of my ideas so far:

  • Baking/candy making for nearby friends and neighbors
  • Giving my mom a hand-knit wrap made from artisan yarn, which I originally knit for myself, but I hardly use, and I think it would look fabulous on her
  • A hand made Waldorf doll and doll clothes for my daughter
  • Pillowcases with hand-knit lace inserts for my MIL, who will be moving into a new house around Xmas; maybe also some lace-edged guest bath towels
  • Mittens for everyone - I have many different colors of the same type of yarn, so stripey mittens are perfect for using up the small amounts
  • Semi-homemade scented toiletries, like scented soap and bath salts

The hard people are my dad and my husband. I’m thinking I might just buy them a book and a computer game, respectively, using gift certificates we get for Amazon (by paying our bills through a rewards credit card). Not crafty at all, but the manly men don’t go in for much knit stuff or smelly bath potions!

So, what are your ideas?

2

I would be happy to receive those cookie mixes in a canning jar, with the ingredients artfully layered and instructions included. I always thought those were neat.

Everything you’ve listed seems like a pretty good gift to me, but then, my mom is really into crafts and we’ve gotten used to it.

Do you have beading stuff? I’d like another beaded lanyard for my badge.

3

My most well received and requested gift item (that is, people I’ve given it to always ask me if I have any more) is a gift basket of herbal and essential oil products for fighting colds and flus.

Antibacterial room/body spray: spring water, rubbing alcohol and essential oils. My favorites are lavender and grapefruit. It’s great for spraying into the air as air freshener, on toys as disinfectant, and even on your face for cooling and refreshing. I travel with a spray bottle and spray down doorknobs and telephones in hotel rooms.

Chest rub: carrier oil with eucalyptus and grapefruit essential oils. It’s like Vicks only it smells good and it’s safe for babies. Good for congestion and tightness in the throat and chest, and the fumes relieve nasal congestion as well.

Peppermint and echinacea tea: just loose tea, in a muslin sack. I also throw in a teaball.

Throat spray: I make my own, but this is one item you’d be better off buying and tucking in there. It’s really no cheaper to make your own, unless you make a gallon or more of it at a time. Mine has soothing and numbing herbs and essential oils.

A buckwheat hull or rice pillow, with lavender flowers stuffed inside. You can keep it in the freezer for use as a cold pack or spray with water and heat in the microwave for use as a warm pack. The lavender just makes it smell heavenly, and the smell of lavender helps relieve headaches and bodyaches. These are so easy to make, if you have some scrap material somewhere.

Bath salts, again with eucalyptus and grapefruit essential oils. So soothing in a bath or a steam tent (put them in a bowl of steaming water and lean over it with a towel draped over your head) when you’re not feeling well.

Since you have soapmaking stuff, I’d throw some nice soap in there as well, maybe with some lavender flowers floating in it.

Of course, all this stuff can be adjusted based on what essential oils and herbs you have. Got a lot of ylang-ylang and sandlewood on hand? Make it a romance basket, with scented massage oil and erotic room spray and “aphrodisiac” tea and romantic bath salts for two. Throw in a $5 massager and you’re good to go.

Got a sports nut? Use rosemary essential oil in the massage oil, the bath salts and the pillow, and you’ve got stuff perfect for soothing muscles sore from overuse. The antibacterial room/body spray is perfect for the locker room, and can even be sprayed on the feet to reduce the chances of picking up athlete’s foot!

Kids love citrus scents and lemon balm tea. It’s great for calming them down and increasing their attention and focus.

4

Here’s one that very small children can help with. All you need is a piece of sticky-backed paper (I had some “print your own label” full-size sheets laying around), some markers or crayons, and an el-cheapo $4 clock (that’s what I paid for them at Target).

Let the kid scribble all over the paper.

Pop the plastic cover off the clock face and use it to trace a new face on the scribbled paper. Peeling off the old label isn’t that bad, it’s really just 2 lines of glue. Replace it with the circle you’ve cut out of the kid’s artwork (I cut a line from the edge to the center and cut out a small circle in the middle for the gears) - voila! “Scribble clock”. Extra blank stickers can be used to mark off the 12, 3, 6 and 9 spots.

We did seven of them last year (who can’t use another clock!?!).

5

I love the doll for your daughter! She’ll always remember that.

As for the others, I’m very big into consumables as gifts. I’m trying to minimize the sheer amount of stuff in my life, so I really appreciate gifts that I can use up. This year, I’m making blueberry jam and hot pepper jelly, and my husband’s making hot sauce, to give out as Christmas presents.

6

In keeping with recent Dope material:

I’m getting every male in my family a 3-pack of Bacon Salt this year.

Granted, you don’t make it yourself; but it’s not horribly expensive, and (let’s face it) who doesn’t like bacon?

Bacon, bacon, bacon!!!

7

I like your list!

I was going to suggest baking or knitting/crochet. Lots of folks on my smaller boards got my scarves over the last couple of years.

The scribble clock sounds way cool!

8

You could knit facecloths and give handmade soap with them as a present, if you have some yarn like dishcloth cotton or hemp or linen.

The menfolk might like felted/fulled slippers or a messenger bag or something.

9

I have had quite favorable reactions to my crochet covered coat hangers. I chain stitch about 8 inches or so, then I single crochet around the body (but not the hook) of a wire coat hanger. I tie the end of the working thread to the end of the chain, and chain another 8 inches. Then I tie the chain strings into a bow. Sometimes I crochet a small pouch for a sachet, and add it into the bow before I tie it. I’ve also made simple felt squares for a sachet, and again add it to the bow strings before I tie it.

These coat hangers will help prevent creases in the shoulders of garments, and will help hold garments onto the hanger. A few men have requested these, too, though of course I don’t add floral sachets. However, some men DO like sachets with a masculine scent.

These are great for using up scraps of yarn. I advise not using a shedding yarn, though…don’t want to add to any lint problems!

I also like the idea of food gifts. It’s so much better than this year’s Gadget (salad shooter, etc.)

10

Do you cook or bake? My mom made boxes of foodstuffs for years at Christmas. Homemade bread, cookies, candies. The ideas are limitless.

11

Oh, such wonderful suggestions! And I do have the supplies to make so many of your ideas! Not only do I have eucalyptus, various mints, clove, and lavender EOs for the cold-fighting basket, but I forgot I have a big bag of cheap rice from Aldi, and home-grown dried lavender, that I can make into heat packs.

I also love the idea of knitting a face cloth (one of my books has a pattern for flower-shaped ones) and putting it with homemade soap. A trip to the drugstore for Epsom salts, and a thrift store basket, and I’ll have a very tony gift basket there.

Oh, and I also have a pattern for knitted padded hangers, though Lynn, your crochet one sounds easier.

Y’all also reminded me that I have a dozen or more small canning jars and a canning pot & rack. I’ll have to see if I can still get some good peaches at the farmer’s market and make jam - especially for my northern relatives.

And yes, I’m actually known for my chocolate cake and chocolate chip cookies around the neighborhood. I also use Alton Brown’s recipe to make kickass fruitcake, for them what likes it. Though between the various dried fruits, nuts, and booze, it may be more expensive than many store-bought gifts! Once upon a time I also made several different types of candy from a Christmas edition of Cooking light, and they were really good. I should dig out the recipes.

And once I clear out some of my current craft supplies, I’m so doing the scribble clock - that’s an adorable idea!

12

Hmmm…I like to do more technological crafty stuff. How adept are you at doing stuff on your computer? Do you have a scanner? Camcorder? How new is your computer.

A couple of the things that I’ve done for the wife include:

I made a nice CD with several videos on it. I shot the footage, downloaded it to the computer and edited it all together with some songs. I did one silly one, one playful one, and one sweet/romantic one. It took a lot of time to get the video all edited together and synced up to the music, but it came out great.

Another gift I gave was a little story that I wrote about us. I took pictures from both of us growing up together and interspaced them inside the story…then on the page about our wedding, I got one of those inexpensive ($10) talking picture frames…you know…the ones that you can record a message in…and took it apart. I recorded a snippet of our wedding song on it, and placed it between two of the pages. So that when she opens that page, it plays our wedding song. Again, that was fairly inexpensive to do…it just took a lot of time.

For this past mother’s day, I got one of those “Photo-opoly” game boards. It lets you put pictures around for each of the properties and have little sayings for the property names. Again…it took time…although that board was a tad expensive. I’m sure there are cheap alternatives…hell you can even get an old set and paste over it. I also made up all new Chance/Community Chest cards too.

13

If somebody knit me anything, I would be so tickled. I think this is why knitters appreciate knitted gifts.

Mittens are always a useful item.

14

Following Atrael’s lead:

Try Googling “personalized postage stamps”. There are several websites that will print you legitimate, usable stamps with the picture of your choice. If you’ve got pics that are relevant to the recipient of your gift, this is something to consider.

Also on the photography front: www.blurb.com If you have a lot of pictures of someone (and/or their family), this website will allow you to assemble a photography book, and get it printed professionally. I’m not sure I’d call it “frugal,” but it can be a nice gift if you want to spend the money.

15

My plans so far for crafty this year are

A small felted purse for my younger cousin (she’s 12 or so, so a purse and some lipgloss can’t go wrong I think)

A hat for my uncle (his head gets cold)

A tea cozy for my aunt

Cousin (brother to female cousin), no idea.

Crocheted finger puppets for my son, and I think his friends/dayhome kids (small, portable, easy to make… I could probably bang out a few on the bus to work and I have several skeins of nice acrylic to use)

Scarf for my Mom

Mittens for my Dad

My brother- no idea yet, maybe mitts for him too.

Step-mom- no idea.

Best friend - socks (she loves sock, LOVES them, so handknit ones will be right up her alley)

And I have pretty much all the yarn in my stash for these, plus the patterns are free found different places online, so I won’t be spending much.

16

You don’t mention your location, but is there a Big Lots or similar store near you? In case you don’t know what they are, it is a chain of stores that buys up items that are from other stores (end of runs, or last year’s model, etc).

I saw they had really nice glass (and some mirror) boxes for just a couple of dollars. If you head out now, a lot of places have nice containers of all kinds that you could use for a very classy, and re-usable, gift box. Putting home-made cookies and candy in a nice glass vase or casserole dish or on a ceramic plate is like getting a two-fer; good eats plus a neat container that can be used again and again. Plus, it looks really pretty for presentation with a simple red bow.

17

I love these threads!!

I just saw a great gift idea in a magazine the other day…those reed or stick fragrance diffusers like this one? Make your own:

  • Find inexpensive glass bottle or vase
  • Fill with fragrant bath oil (they suggested rose or lavender)
  • Use wooden grill skewers to arrange in the bottle

Viola!!!

I’ll be trying it out this year!

18

Your ideas are so creative and clever! I especially like this one. :slight_smile:

19

We took a bunch of family photos down to a print shop and had them made into calendars…one photo for each month. We tried to pair pictures of people to their birthday month, or photos of something relevant to a month with a holiday.

Best part is…they’ll use the present all year, and I don’t think we spent more than $75 total for four calendars.

One year, for a Secret Santa at work, I made Bubble Bath in a Basket…a basket filled with bath salts, bubble bath, a small candle, and those small bottles of wine they sell in a four-pack. I knitted two washcloths to go with it and made sure everything was color-themed, in this case, pink and cream. You can get the goodies at Wal-Mart for less than $20 or so, and I had fun knitting the washcloths.

20

In the candy vein, homemade caramels are very good and very easy, but feel “special” (at least they did for me). You could experiment ahead of time to find some good recipes and techniques. Sending the practice results to me, of course.