A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2004 Need idea for cheap Christmas presents!

Preferably not food, cause I'm not known for my cooking, and anyone who knows me would be suspicious of any foodstuffs I might send.

Since we have a baby and I'm not working, we're on a tight budget this year. I'm trying to think of things I could put in smallish gift bags (Walgreens has them on sale 8 for a dollar), or little ceramic Christmas figures about the size of a coffee cup. (Again Walgreens, I think 79 cents each. Walgreens rocks!) The ideas just aren't coming...

Sorry, but I accidently added the above before I was finished.
Bath salts are always a nice gift and are inexpensive to make.

Recipe for Bath Salts:

Mix: 2c. Epsom Salts
1/2c. Baking Soda
14 drops essential oil
Few drops food coloring (optional)

Stir together until all clumps formed from the oil break down.

Spoon into glass jars (small canning jars work well) and tie with a pretty ribbon. You can personalize them with the recipient's favorite scented oil.

Oh Geegee, there are millions of neat ways to "give small tokens of your large esteem" to people you care for...

With a baby in the house, I don't suppose you have much time for crafting? If you do have chunks of time for putting things together, a trip to your local largest craft store might provide you with a ton of great ideas and inexpensive ingredients. Yet if time is of the essence, I hate to recommend doing that.

Merme

GG,
OMG, here's my alley of no money and wanna give something!!!

First Cricket's got a great idea, I can give you a link too that you can get some epsom salt and a bunch of stuff, I think is really reasonable
and a nice company to deal with, never had any problems ordering or refunds or anything...
Bolek\'s Craft Supplys/Make Your own bath salts
Gives you some good discription of different salts and whats in them...
Here's Soap Kits
Here's Crafty Bubbles Section Main Page

GET A CATALOG, YOU WON'T BE DISAPPOINTED...

And I gave home make wreaths a couple of times...
Go to your Dollar tree or Everything's a Dollar store and find some wreaths, then the $1.40 string of lights, and wrap the wreath with the string of lights, then different colored garlands and wrap the wreath with the garland, then find different deco's to do each one differently..
one with bells and apples and cinnamin sticks,
one with pinecones and gold stars,
one with red beads and red and white candy canes,
one with tree ornaments,
one with just bows,
OH MY GOSH, I could just keep going!!!!!

Hope some of these ideas get you some more ideas going!!!

Weezie

And Merme is right too, if you go to those craft stores there's alot of neat things that can spark your imagination!!!

GG. Why not give everyone a small framed photo of your baby, l am sure they would love lt.
Take several photos of your baby, and give each person a different one. You would only have to pay for the film to be developed, then buy some small frames.

Doreen

We did that one year tooo, for some we just gave the one photo photo frames, and then on up the line, aunts were given the frames that can accomindate 2 or 3 pictures and Gramma's and Grampa's were given the little bit bigger one's that hold up to 8 or 10 photo's....
And we found some in the Dollar Store that were different shapes for X~mas, tree, wreath, fireplace, etc. and I took a bunch of those, and each year I gave them each a different one, so now they have 3 or four different frames for the holidays as they get older....

Weezie

Oooh, these are all great ideas! I REALLY might be able to do the bath salt thing, esp if you can order over the internet!
(Merme- craft stores are dangerous places for me! I always end up buying all kinds of stuff I think I'm going to work on (on credit card, of course), then don't do it. I have to drive past Michaels averting my eyes and holding my breath and hoping the car doesn't just somehow "magically" turn in there!)

Ah Geegee, I know EXACTLY what you mean...a good craft store can be a real budget wrecker!

I "cured" myself of that years ago. Well, it isn't a true cure, but let's just say I put myself in remission! Otherwise, I'm Banned!

Now I be better.

Merme

Gee Gee,

Most drug stores carry epsom salts for a reasonable price (here in Canada 2kg (about 4.5lbs)for under $5.00 and most health food stores carry a good selection of essential oils.

This is a great link for inexpensive gifts and, Gee Gee, there are even ideas for things you can do with baby food jars!

Frugal Gifts

Another gift idea, for your gardener friends, is to attractively package an assortment of seeds you have gathered from your garden!

more ideas - a box of cheap glass Christmas ornaments, some ribbon, and some shirt paint makes great personalized Christmas ornaments for under $5. a dozen.

pine cones, sparkly beads, green/red felt and white glue (or a glue gun) makes great Christmas tree ornaments

Many years before she died, someone got my ex-mother-in-law a box of ornaments and had written each of her grandkid's names on them with gold glitter paint.

The Christmas after she died, I wrapped the ornaments and gave them to the grandchild whose name was written on it. They will be cherished forever!

I'm glad you brought this idea up...I think I will make these for my mom this year.

Cindy

Stephen's grandmother used to make things out of those little plastic grids and yarn. She used to make tissue boxes and coasters and all sorts of stuff. She also used to make little tree ornaments and would send them to everyone in the family. She died this past year and we really miss her, but I'm looking forward to hanging the ornaments on the tree and remembering all the great conversations we used to have. She was such a sweet lady.

Geegeeburr, my daughter made me a lighted potpourri jar for Christmas one year. She used an empty jar (any size will do), potpourri, a 35 strand light set, and a little doily for the top with a pretty ribbon tied around it.

Every time I plug it in, I smell the potpourri and think of my daughter. It was an inexpensive gift that I still use to this day.

Dianna

On top of the wonderful ideas allready posted, you could make some fruit preserves or jam. It is easy, cant be messed up, and you can use baby food jars!

Strawberry Jam

INGREDIENTS:
2 pounds fresh strawberries, hulled
4 cups white sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
DIRECTIONS:
In a wide bowl, crush strawberries in batches until you have 4 cups of mashed berry. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice. Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil. Boil, stirring often, until the mixture reaches 220 degrees F (105 degrees C). Transfer to hot sterile jars, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch headspace, and seal. Process any unsealed jars in a water bath. If the jam is going to be eaten right away, don't bother with processing, and just refrigerate.


To test for jelling:

Place three plates in a freezer... after about 10 minutes of boiling place a tsp of the liquid of the jam onto the cold plate. Return to freezer for a minute. Run your finger through the jam on the plate... if it doesn't try to run back together (if you can make a line through it with your finger) it's ready to be canned!

Gdaughter

Also, I think in the link that Cricket posted on the first page..."frugal gifts" there are cookie mix jars. There is no baking involved. You just put ingredients into a jars and then put a recipe on the jar. VERY easy. I did this for a fund raiser back in July.

Just a suggestion, do you have the airial photos of the area's where you live showing your house or apartment pinpointed from the air.
You could blow them up on your computer and frame them.
l have a black and white map of our area with my street and house pinpointed l love lt.

Doreen

Hey, that's funny, Jogger! I've seen the aerial photo of our house- it was kinda neat to see, but our house doen't really look like much- I guess because we are in such a big city, it just looks like lots and lots of little grey boxes.

I think I'm gonna do the photo idea- I've got the baby in a little red Christmas outfit, and I'm putting up a miniature christmas tree that's about the same height he is, so I'm going to let him stand next to the tree, and if I can find my kitty-antlers, I'm gonna put them on his kitty and see if I can get her in the picture as well. I think it should be really cute.

And for the people who might not want pix of my baby, I think I'll do the homemade bath-salts idea. Thanks for all the great suggestions!

I'm SORRY everyone, but I SCREWED UP!!!

I posted the bath salt recipe as using 14 drops of essential oil. Well, you can use that much but if will be very STRONG (expecially if you let it cure for a couple of weeks). I made a batch today and added more epsom salts and baking soda to dilute the scent. So, I would suggest that you use 7-10 drops of essential oil for 2c epsom salts and 1/2c. baking soda (which softens the water and your skin).

Of course, it really is personal preference but I didn't mean to lead anyone astray!!

One year one of my nieces went to the cheap store (I don't know if we had dollar stores then) and bought all of us a glass snowman with his hat as the lid. She put peppermints or lifesaver in them and tied ribbon around the top. I loved it and still have that glass snowman. I bring him out when it gets cold because I can use a snowman all winter.

We get together at Thanksgiving and this year my sister, who has just separated from her husband and is strapped for cash, got each of us a few items and put them in brown lunch bags that she had cut up a little bit. She cut the tops of the bags with pinking shears and then cut little hearts and stars in the rest of the bag. It was very cute. I thought I had gotten a bargain by getting my Christmas bags for a dollar each but hers were much cheaper and made a much bigger impression.

One thing that I've been doing every year with one of my best friends is making about 10 different flavors of hard tack candy and putting it in really cute mugs or jars.....it's pretty cheap to do and a lot of fun! And easy! Everyone always enjoys getting it so much....

Just be careful you don't put too much flavoring in like I did by accident last year :rolleyes: .......It was just supposed to be x amount of drops and it came out so fast that almost the entire bottle of cinnamon went in the pot.....wow, that was strong....our noses were burning from it!

How do you make it?

Cindy

Here's a recipe I found.....the recipe we use is pretty much the same as this but my friend has it at her house since we always make it there....

HARD TACK CANDY

Ingredients:
2 c Sugar
3/4 c Corn syrup
1 c Water
3/4 ts Food coloring
3/4 ts Desired flavored oil extract
Powdered sugar to dust over the candy....

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Instructions:
Mix sugar, syrup and water in saucepan.
Stir until sugar is dissolved; continue to cook to 300-degrees. You'll need to buy a candy thermometer but they don't cost that much.
Remove from heat.
Add coloring and flavoring; stir.
Pour into 8 x 11-inch buttered pan. Make sure it's buttered pretty good.
Cut into squares as candy begins to set.
You can sprinkle with powdered sugar, it helps the pieces not stick together...

One tip: When we make it we bought a cheap pot to make it in.....we were scared of ruining a good one.....think we bought one of those dollar type stores for 4 or 5 bucks.

Sounds like something I could make without getting into toooo much trouble!

I don't eat candy, but I like to keep it around for Leslie!

Cindy

It really is easy....trust me if it wasn't easy I wouldn't be helping make it....lol If you do decide to make it keep your eye on the thermometer that you keep in the pot.....when it gets to the temp called for in the recipe you have to pull it off or it'll get to hard.....and keep stirring it pretty good....I'm thinking that last year when it started to cool on the tray we picked it up and cut it with scissors and found it easier that way than breaking it up, or using a knife.....when my sister makes it she covers it with a dish towel and uses a hammer.....but sometimes when you do it that way the pieces can be pretty sharp.....

They have all kinds of neat flavors you can get too......we did the traditional spearmint, and cinnamon, but also did pineapple, and things like that......

I have to go down to her house and make it soon......hopefully this year I won't dump the whole bottle of flavoring in the pot.... :rolleyes:

Leslie and I were just talking last night about getting together for a candy-making session.

Cindy

Loz- seems to me that recipe is pretty close to the recipe for taffy, isn't it? Is it just pretty much un-pulled taffy?

Hmmm geegee, I'm not really sure what the recipe for taffy is.....taffy is usually chewy though, and this stuff sets up and becomes hard..... It's not hard to make though......I know that much....

Yep, I was thinking back to when my mom used to make taffy with us, and I think it's the same ingredients, except I think taffy has cream of tartar. When it's cooked to "hard-ball stage" you pour it out, and let it cool a minute, then start pulling it. If you don't pull it, it hardens into real hard candy, like glass. I remember, the kids couldn't pull it too well, because after a while, you really need some arm strength, so ours would always be kinda soft on the outside and kinda hard on the inside. It was great, though! You've made me want to make taffy now!

See you learn something new everyday.....I honestly didn't know that taffy was pulled like that......hmmmmmmmm, maybe I can try making taffy with my friend sometime!!!

Yep, you just grab a handful of "goo", and pull, then fold, pull, then fold....FOREVER. If you pull till you think your arns will fall off, it starts to get soft and creamy. Then you dust it with flour, set it down and pull the next chunk. And you have to work really fast, or you'll finish one or two pieces, and the rest will be hard as a rock. And you have to butter your hands before you pick it up, or you'll burn your hands. Actually, you still burn your hands.

Of course, for "professional" taffy, they use machines to do the pulling, but I've never had a "bought" taffy that was as good as homemade.

ok, so now, i am going to make a request of each of you who has posted a recipe in here... can you go into the recipe section and post your recipe as an individual post? that way i (and others) can find them when we need them without having to try to remember which post they are in?

also, thank you geegee for starting this post in the beginning, i've gotten lots of good ideas!

I go to the dollar store and get cheap baskets,coffee mugs,ribbons and bows. I then purchase mini bags of flavored coffee.

I put the coffee in the mugs,put the mugs in the basket and fill it up with homemade cookies. If its for a larger family,I put flavored coffee,cocoa mix,skip the mugs and fill the basket with the cookies.

Everybody loves getting them and they are CHEAP!!

G-Mom

Cindy is good at making cheap meaningful christmas presents. She made my husband a booklet on the characters/actors of Gunsmoke. That was his favorite present last year. Of course, having a brain like hers helps -- to be able to come up with these ideas.

Les

I was going to make cream candy today!

NOT! ! ! ! !



Does Butch still have the Gunsmoke book?
Ahh...Gunsmoke!
With my idol...Miss Kitty!

cin

Oh, please do!

I'll share my "Dreamsicle" cake if you'll share your "Cream Candy"

G-Mom

I don't even know how to make cream candy!
I bought it and gave some to Leslie...
...and TOLD her I made it!

She's so gullible!

SHAME ON YOU!

G-Mom

In my family, we have "taffy pulling parties".

We set up a buffet style dinner and invite about 20 people, including kids. We divide everyone up into teams of two and each team picks a different flavor for the taffy.

While one team is cooking a batch, other teams are pulling it, still others are cutting and wrapping it. When we are finished, everyone takes home a huge paper grocery bag of the stuff in all the assorted flavors.

A word of caution, though: the kids will do all kinds of wierd and (yuccky) kid things to their taffy, including dropping it and picking it back up to eat it anyway.. ..so we always kept the taffy pulled by the youngest set isolated from the rest.

This is a great holiday party and everyone likes going home with a nice bag of it to give and to eat!

Merme

Well, if any of that got mixed in by accident, you could just say it was from a batch for people on a high-fiber diet!
That hair, fuzz, dirt IS roughage, you know!

Cindy

EWWWWWW

G-Mom

Truthfully, it wasn't so much the fuzz that they'd get into it as it was the licking of it they liked to do!

When we make taffy, we pour it from the cooking pot onto baking sheets that have been buttered and then it gets turned and turned with a buttered spatula as it cools enough to touch. We butter our hands too, and then start the pulling.

So the little ones loved to lick and pull, lick and pull.... They'd be so EXCITED and so PROUD, showing us all "Look what I made!" Lick lick lick, "Want some?" Uh, thanks, honey, but I'm finishing up my sandwich first...

Merme

Hey, Merme, I'll have to tell my mom about that stirring with a buttered spatula part! We NEVER did that. No wonder our hands got burned!

Merme,

That taffy pulling party sounds like fun!

Cindy, you reckon we could have one? We could do it over here to keep the animals out of it.


Les.

ANIMALS?????
Those are my CHILDREN!

Oh yeah, I forgot.

I like your little saying above your "signature."

Somebody has to!!!!

I change it every day or so....
......depending on my MOOD!

(You DO worry about me....don't you?)

Of course I do! NOT! I have enough to worry about without having you on my mind...

You amaze me, but you don't worry me...

Leslie

AMAZING!

I received a lovely gift from a friend yesterday - and I think I might steal the idea!

This friend printed photos from a vacation and affixed them to nice paper (the kind you print wedding invitations on - but I'm thinking handmade paper purchased from something like 10000 Villages) and gave them as gift cards.

They are so beautiful I'm unsure if I'll want to give them away! But it is nice to have beautiful cards on hand for those "special" occasions.