List some christmas gifts that friends and family will love but that aren't very expensive???

List some christmas gifts that friends and family will love but that aren't very expensive???

for both men, women and children????

women:
Wen hair care package
Meaningful Beauty by cindy crowfoot

Anyone:
hologram iphone cases
crystal chakra bowl

Teen:
Do it yourself tattoo kit (and it's fun for the whole family too!)
night vision googles

Men:
Razor
wallet

A thanksgiving turkey, so they can get thanksgiving out of the way before the Christmas season comes?
You must have a book of questions.

This is a bit cheesy but i live accross the country and rarely see my family, i make calendars with the pictures of my kids, my girls choose the pictures and help to decorate them, my family and close friend find it quite nice, its cheap, and personal.

reply to post by spartacus699


Tacky Christmas sweaters?

Everyone likes food. And it isn't buying a trinket that will sit in the closet or get forgotten.
Food for adults from Wolfermans Bakery, Fiji or Hickory Farms - all deliver.
Food for kids ... make a gift basket with popcorn and holiday fruit, chocolate a candy cane.
Gingerbread houses for kids. There are gift boxes at Bed, Bath and Beyond as well as
MIchaels craft stores. I'm sure they are elsewhere as well.

dukeofjive696969
This is a bit cheesy but i live accross the country and rarely see my family, i make calendars with the pictures of my kids, my girls choose the pictures and help to decorate them, my family and close friend find it quite nice, its cheap, and personal.

Awww, that's not cheesy!! Especially in that context, if you lived around the corner... well that would stink of gouda lol!

I bake my little heart out! I spend about $40 on ingredients and packages (DollarTree is AMAZING) and bake for one solid day! Everyone gets more than enough and you know what? No one is ever disappointed because Holiday baking seems to have gone out of style in our busy world. $40 seems to make more than enough for the 16 people who aren't my kids. They ship well too for the ones across the country

reply to post by IrishCream


I bake also, I do peanut clusters and fudge and put them in tins to be given as gifts. I also do counted cross stitch, and make various pictures or towels etc that make great gifts.

One year for a friend I did a 8x10 counted cross stitch picture that was "Garfield's Diet Tips" it had Garfield diving into an ice cream sunday and little kooky sayings all down the side such as, "Don't Date Sara Lee". I framed it and it is something she still has hanging in her kitchen to this day...

There are lots of things you can do that are nice, but not very costly at all!

For the men in my life, I like to give personal manscaping tools.

This year they will be receiving "Wahl" ear, nose, brow trimmers. Under $20.00.

Every year they get a couple pair of good wool socks. Taking care of our feet is important.

And something that I am looking into this year, is a gift certificate from a reputable Dentist to have there teeth cleaned. I know that sounds weird. But most health insurance doesn't have dental. We only get one set for the rest of our lives. We need to take care of them.

My husband started losing his teeth in his 30's. He says now he wishes someone had taught him the importance of dental care when he was young.

I also give them fun stuff too. video games. (if you know their likes, you can go to a place like Game Stop and find used games.) Magic tricks, fun puzzles.

And every year they get a good book. My youngest (21) loves art. This year his favorite medium has been charcoal. So I will be looking for a book on how to work with charcoal on canvas.

For the lady of the house. (that would be me) I like to receive personal goodies too. Bath soaps, perfume, maybe a nice pair of sapphire earrings. (hint hint if anyone is reading this) and also some new line for my ice fishing rods.

reply to post by FlyersFan


I was going to say food also but you beat me to it.

We made Cinnamon toast and gave it for Christmas a few years ago and it was well accepted. I like giving good meats also, not store bought stuff, naturally aged grassfed beef is great. We have been programmed to stimulate the economy and buy stuff we do not need for Christmas and birthdays. Most Christmas gifts just make people at the top richer. It has got so carried away that it is ridiculous. People think they have to waste money to make people happy. We do not have to accept this programming, we can think on our own. We do not have to feel inferior because we did not buy junk. It seems that most people nowadays think this way and everyone wonders why they are in debt.

reply to post by spartacus699


I find that gifts are best received, when they are personal to the recipient. For example, my mother likes blue glass. If I can find a bottle or vase in the right shade, I know she will love it. My sister is a bit steampunky, so a bag of watch parts, anything with cogs she can repurpose, will go down a treat. A young lady, with whom I have had a long association, very much loves the work of Salvador Dali, so prints or calendars of his pictures will be appreciated.

I think it is much better to tailor the gift to the receiver, than to operate from another stand point.

Hmmm....a thread by Spartacus.....it must be either:

- a drunk post
- a question about how to make/save money



Cheap useful gifts

- mag light flashlight
- pressure cooker
- LED lantern
- pocketknife (you can get a gerber for under $20) or the $15 leatherman tool


For my youngest, we give him coupons for things he likes.

- a week of no carrying the trash out
- other things that he would be embarassed to disclose...but you get the idea

Since he is a (not very active) member here, too....i best keep my mouth shut.

reply to post by spartacus699



Time-share in Maui (Sands of Kahana) You "present" the idea during the exchange of gifts.(Christmas is always booked yrs. in advance) Here is the beauty of it.. The place sleeps 6, so You're covering how many You want to take and it is quite tough to have a bad time in Maui. The place is located between Ka'anapali and Kapalua, | haven't used it for yrs. as | no longer golf.

Go and have a great time and then when You return You can pay Me what YOU think the place was worth...

win/win

namaste

Home brew alcohol!

Surprised you didn't mention it, Spartacus.

I knitted like crazy last year!
Also I went to my local antique place and it's a definite place to get man presents...like a WWII whistle (into anything WWI and II), a Guinness jug (an Irishman who loves his Guinness obviously), a bosun's whistle (this one loves anything to do with sailing, the sea etc)....all at a fraction of the price that you would pay for 'normal xmas gifts. If you shop well, not only will you get something personal and unique and save money, you also buy an investment.
I'm going back there again this year once I have my christmas pennies together!

Rainbows
Jane

reply to post by spartacus699


If you can cook make a basket of goodies!

This is what I'm giving out and give out every year. I haven't done it in a couple yrs though but this year I'll get together with my mom and make some goodies!

I have to make a list of who will get such baskets first then go from there lol

I know biscotti's, various cookies, crackers and homemade breads will be added! All homemade of course.

reply to post by spartacus699


Cake

Definately Cake.

Failing that, throw a party with a heap of your hooch.

And some cake. Obviously.


I was purdy skint in the run up to last chrimbo and spent the couple of months leading up to it making spoons and spatulas out of the prettiest woods i'd foraged that year - laburnum, hawthorn, cherry, blackthorn. I felt a bit sheepish giving them as gifts as they had cost me nothing but time and care.

Turned out that was what everyone valued most.

Tools.
If the men don't know how to be really handy, they need to learn.

Same with women.

I'm a woman, I asked for a router table (with router) this year.

Plus every year, there's a new gadget on the market.

reply to post by snowspirit


Ha, that's funny you should talk about tools.

Last year I asked for a Dremmel 7700 kit. Some of my co-workers that didn't know me well, looked at me alittle funny.

Yes, I agree, tools are fun too.

reply to post by skalla


Clocks. Clocks are a good way to spend little money and give a great gift. You can buy the cheap little clock kits and make a clock out of anything.

Wanna really wow you guy friends? Find some swank old hubcaps and turn them into clocks. I found some old Cadillac hubcaps one year (a set of 4). There were 4 very happy men in my family that year.

Last year I made sugar scrub for the ladies in the family. Gave all of them a cool little gift basket with the sugar scrub as the centerpiece (in a large mason jar).

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Good ideas all - there are some cool knife kits out there too where you construct the handle out of pretty woods or slices of leather, bark, horn etc... they can come with decent inexpensive steel blades through to various patterns of damascus.
I've seen pretty good ones for as little as £15 iirc and they dont need much in the way of tools and skills.

Another one is making cool drinks glasses out of beer bottles - Cobra beer for example comes in a nice embossed bottle. Just grind the top off with a dremel attachment and work it smooth and safe.
They look pretty awesome, i've got various bottles saved from last year when i was gonna give it a go but ended up making a bazillion spoons etc. Maybe i'll have a go at it in the next couple of weeks.

ETA: and for boys, wooden swords never fail - this wasnt for chrimbo but i made my lad a wooden "sword of omens" (ish) complete with a gemstone for sight beyond sight
Then i made a furry claw shield glove thing from an old ugg boot from a charity shop, there was even an armoured section inside made from hardwood batons that you could whack as hard as you liked. tremendous fun! His cousin was way jealous and i still need to make good on a promise to make him one. Bad uncle