All this talk of boxes reminds me of cigar boxes. As a kid, there was nothing more mysterious then a cigar box. The wood, the sweet spicey tobacco smell that lingered forever, the little gold locks, the images of beautiful havanna ladies and officail looking seals on the inside…
So when I organized an “decorate your own nature collection box” event for my youth club, first I visited an cigar shop, a real oldfashioned tobaccionist, and asked if they had some boxes for a good cause. I left the store with a dozen free wooden cigar boxes piled high in my arms.
But I guess that is no longer possible. Tobacco and kids, you know. Or even tobacco, period.
We had one very tough year when my oldest (BloodyL)was not much older than your daughter. That year she asked Santa for a fancy stable for her toy horses. That stable was around forty bucks. Way out of my price range. I am not at all crafty but desperation makes us that way sometimes, so I took a cardboard box (I found it behind a store. Not a liquor store box, a full box) and turned it into a stable, decorating it with markers and glitter glue. To me it still looked like crap, but that stable and a dollar store plastic horse is the one present she remembers 15 years later. She thought it was the coolest present ever, and when we did have the money for her stable she kept the cardboard one too, and played with it just as much as the real one.
When she got older things could still get pretty tight that time of year because I worked construction so we knew work was slow that time of year so she received occasional IOUs for whatever I thought she might want. She always got a decent gift when things were better. Usually tax refund time. It kinda sucks but knowing he’ll get a gift as soon as you can afford it will be a valuable lesson. You can still have fun and make treats together.
It’s the love they remember, not the gifts themselves.
Ooh, and for added fun, pack your gifts in bubble wrap. The kind with thousands of little air cushions just begging to be popped by little and not so little fingers. .
There are still tobacco stores, you know. Plenty of people smoke cigars (and pipes). I love to go with Himself to the cigar shop, because I adore the smell in the walk in humidor. Hate how they smell when he smokes them, but before? Heaven.
Obviously, this depends on how good a relationship you have with the children, but I like coupons that give special time from you (instead of time off from a chore, or a “will buy present later” coupon). That is, you promise them a special day - can be an excursion to a museum that interests them when admission is free on Sunday, or a picnic with a wonderful basket you prepare before…
Or it can be a special Sunday, where you put everything aside for what the kid/ teen wants: they can choose what to eat for breakfast, lunch, dinner, they can choose what to watch on TV, they can chose what board game to play…
It could be a coupon to help with a special project - crafts, to finish a model airplane/ build his own skateboard/ bookcase whatever, write a story - you will help even if you spend all your free evenings for two weeks.
I know that as a kid, it was difficult to get time specially for me when my mother way busy with the household and the other kids and stuff, so being able to depend on that this promise will be kept and my project is important enough not only to me, but to an adult, too, that I need somebody to listen to me about this and not scold now, or that the sunday in two weeks will be my special day - that can’t be bought with money.
For the teen, you could allow him to throw his own party for his friends at his birthday, and relax some limits you wouldn’t normally do. (Or maybe that’s his birthday present already?)
What are his interests? Would he like to do crafts with you? Learn a new craft? Can you make something he needs for his own craft?
How about a special grown-up dinner coupon for him? No, not at an expensive restaurant - you cook a special meal at home, get out the special dishes, he dresses in a real suit, your husband plays server, you put on classic music CD, light a candle and act like in a high-class restaurant. (You can offer this as etiquette class for later - people pay for this at universities, because employers like to see good table manners from prospective employees). It all depends not on his age, but on his personality and interests.
Does he like animals? Can you offer him to go camping in a nature park and watch animals with him in the summer, and give him a “how to observe animals in the wild” book now for starters?
For a quick and really neat sewing project. There is a free pattern for an adorable stuffed squid here. Who doesn’t want a stuffed squid under the tree for Christmas?
How are you set on old photos? An album of favorite memories might be a good gift for your teen.
If you have time to put everything in chronological order, great. If not, it’s still fun to look through. I threw one together at the last minute for my youngest brother’s high school graduation. He got a kick out of it and took it to college in the fall.
I used to do this for Christmas when I was a kid. I’d use ziploc bags, grocery bags, yarn, aluminum foil-- etc. Whatever we had on hand- then put it in a box covered with 1 layer of tissue paper, then one of wrapping paper. I have five siblings, the fun part was nobody knew which was the “prettydorky” present until after unwrapping a couple layers. This went on into early adulthood.
Also, the Netflix idea is a great one. Netflix sends us “30 day free trial for a friend” offers all the time, so it WOULD be free to sign up if you could find one, and get your first DVD, which you could wrap (bless those no late fees).
In the past I’ve also made wooden blocks. This set actually. They went over very well with my younger kids.
For an older boy I’ve done a home made trebuchet kit. I googled for instructions and then pre-cut all the wood and included the odds and ends needed to build it. My son and husband built it together on Christmas day.
My son has also gotten a Game Boy case before to hold game boy games. There are a ton of tutorials on the internet for that one as well.
If you have access to cheap/free wood and have a basic set of woodworking tools, you might look for projects at www.ana-white.com Maybe your 17 year old needs a bookshelf or a new desk?
I also made about five little fabric doll houses a few years ago for little girls in my family. They are time consuming but perfect for scraps. I suggest doing little tabs with button holes for the buttons instead of the elastic. Round elastic is a bear to get to stay in place and sew properly.
If you feel you have a good handle on the teenager’s taste in music, you can find free music downloads on-line at http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/mp3s.htm (and there is more on the site under ‘live music’).
This is an Australian site, but there may something similar where you live (or you may find enough stuff that you think he’ll like on the Aussie site).
You can then create a CD with a mix of music you think he’ll enjoy.
Maybe an mp3 player for the 17yo? I don’t know if this is close enough to free, but Sandisk Sansa mp3 players are good and go pretty cheap. The Clip goes as low as $30 on Amazon: (2GB $30, 4GB $37) and there are sometimes cheaper deals on refurbished ones. Sansa refurb deals are often posted on woot.com. You’ll need to use a computer to rip CDs and load the songs onto the player, though.
Also you could look for stuff on Craigslist. Some types of stuff go very cheap. Here are a few tips:
perform a search, then bookmark the results page. It will perform the same search every time you use that bookmark. Bookmark some searches for stuff you’re interested in, then check them once or twice a day.
for stuff where looks matter, use Firefox and install the extension Craigslist Image Prefetcher. This will load pics from the ads and make them all appear together on the search results or category page so you don’t have to click on every ad to see stuff.
include your phone number so sellers know you’re serious and they can get back to quickly.
also watch the free category, but good stuff goes very quickly there.
There are so many good ideas here, aren’t there? I’m saving the whole thing for ideas not just for my kids, but for grown-ups, too! Thank you all again. I don’t care what the naysayers say, online friends **are **real friends!
My mother once made my sister a life sized doll that was a huge hit and if I remember correctly didn’t cost a thing.
Take the bag of clothes you are going to donate, grab a favourite long sleeved shirt, a pair of pants and a pair of socks. Using a plain white cotton shirt or any suitable fabric from the bag, make the head and hands ( simple or complex, a book from the library on stuffed toys could give you a template). Sew the socks just inside the pant hem, the shirt into the pant waist , attach hands and head. Use some of the stuff from the bags as stuffing or see if a fabric store has a deal on a huge roll of quilt batting. A little yarn hair or a hat and paint or embroider details on the face.
Your little one then has a life sized doll to haul around, curl up with and even dress up in her own clothes
