Searching for ways to save money while gift-giving around the holidays is an annual event. Although it can be a headache at times, it can also spark the creative juices needed to come up with unique, unusual, and special gifts for family, friends, co-workers and anyone else on your Christmas list. As Plato said, "necessity is the mother of invention."
The following is a short list of different ideas that are inexpensive and fun - and open up pathways to other ideas for unique gifts.
Annual Family Photo Albums
In our high-tech world, creating and sending images of various events is commonplace anymore. The advent of the Internet, digital cameras, YouTube, and other online mediums has allowed for increased (and in many cases improved) communication in real time. For those who enjoy sharing pictures, an active online life is a literal world of pleasure.
For the holidays, one way to maximize the online experience is to create a digital photo album. There are more ways to do this than can be readily named here, but a few examples include:
The above outlets are public - with sites like facebook and myspace being networking outlets, and flickr being a photo-sharing outlet specifically. There are also, however, several outlets for password-protected albums, to include through Kodak, MyPhotoAlbum, Shutterfly - to name just a few.
For family members who do not have personal computers, there are online photolabs that you can use to print lightweight photo albums. The above-noted sites provide this type of service. Snapfish and Blurb are two more examples of decent photo printers. There are many others. Get creative with it, and have fun!
Needlework
The term "needlework" here is used to denote a broad spectrum of needle and thread or yarn crafting creations that were seemingly becoming lost arts. A recent surge trend of quilting, knitting, and crocheting is on the rise among college-aged people - and not limited to women. Men have gotten in on the action of creating their own scarves and hats - and gifts for their friends. For these, a few great gift ideas include skeins of yarn, books with unusual patterns, and knitting needles (or crochet hooks).
Latchhook rug-making is still a favorite among people of all ages, and the range of patterns and sizes is immense. Cross-stitching, for those who know, can be an extremely relaxing hobby. If you cross-stitch, consider a pillow sham or a wall hanging as a gift. If you know someone who is interested in learning cross-stitch, a set of needles, embroidery floss, and pattern books tucked into a kaboodle-style box makes a great Do-It-Yourself gift. Sure, you can purchase a pre-made kit through many craft stores, but often it is more affordable to create one yourself - and you have more control and flexibility with what you include in the kaboodle.
Tatting, macrame, and knotting are also forms of art that are dying out - and should be passed on before they become extinct altogether.
The point is, even if you are not a needle-crafter yourself, there are numerous ways to make needlework (as a category) a terrific and inexpensive gift.
Books
No, I don’t mean going to a book retailer and buying books. This is an idea that began between certain members of my family who are avid readers. Several of us read dozens of books (and more) per year, but are too busy or too lazy to resell them through Amazon or other online outlet. Taking them to a new/used bookstore is one possible option, but we came up with another idea. We decided to go through our different hardcover and paperback books that we had already read, choose 3-5 of them, and wrap them for a book/gift exchange.
This idea became popular between me and others outside of my family (friends and co-workers), and continues to be an annual or semi-annual idea. We might do it every year, honestly - but many of us continue this tradition - whether it is done every year or not. It is a free idea, except for postage and shipping costs - which, kept to between three and five books is extremely affordable.
Homemade stationary
Like needlework, letter-writing is a skill that is slowly disappearing. Many reasons for this exist, including the use of email as a primary means of communication. When I was a child, penmanship was a segment of school work that was graded - both print and cursive. My older kids both gave me a very strange look when I told them about that - and it really is a product of time. While enjoying the benefits of increased online communications, a bit of classic gentility seems to have been lost as a result - perhaps dismissed anymore as quaint and archaic.
As old-fashioned as this might seem, few things are as nice to receive in the mail as a hand-written letter or Thank You card. Being able to actually read them is just as nice. For this reason, I continue to encourage my children to write neatly and legibly - even though penmanship is not something they are graded on in school. Additionally, just like teaching my children to address their elders respectfully, and use courtesies that at one time were expected - like "please" and "thank you" - I have also strived to instill in them the importance of writing Thank You cards to everyone from whom they receive gifts.
To that end, one thing I made for each of them was personalized stationary with their initials. This gave me the idea of creating personalized stationary for other people - like nieces and nephews, cousins, friends, friends’ kids, and others. Monogram templates can be created easily with a word processing program (such as Microsoft Word). Decent and inexpensive heavier weighted paper can be found many different places.
Trends made cheap
Two of my favorite catalogs (available in hardcopy and online) are Red Envelope and Uncommon Goods. The gift ideas in these catalogs are really unique - and most are reasonably priced for specific occasions and recipients. However, there are also gifts in both of those catalogs that I have found can be easily (and MUCH more affordably) made from home.
Many of these crafty little ideas can be made with your children, like painting rocks, drinking glasses, and vases, or beading jewelry. They are a lot of fun, and a neat way to show your kids that almost anything that can be purchased can also be made by hand.
