10 Frugal Gifts I’m Giving
Whew! I just crossed the last item from my Christmas list. It did require a last-minute run into Fresh Market, but overall, I came in under budget.
Here are 10 frugal gifts you might find on my kitchen counter this season:
4 Tickets to the Country Music Hall of Fame & Museum. Don't laugh--admission costs $21 per person. We're delighted to give our free passes to a music loving family. Have you entered any radio contests lately?
A green centerpiece. Our gourmet shop sells small baskets of fresh pine and pinecones for $15. If you have access to evergreens, you can put these together for $2 ($1 for floral foam, $1 for container).
A bundle of cinnamon sticks. I stopped by the Indian grocery for star anise and left with a bag of cinnamon sticks. A long bundle costs less than $2, smells and tastes fabulous. I tied up a few with beautiful ribbon for holiday hostess gifts.
Chai tea mix. Speaking of spices, Amy from Momadvice.com shared her frugal gift mixes at a local blogger party last month. A nice change from hot cocoa or Russian tea, her recipe is absolutely gift worthy.
Glade holiday candles. Amy came to Nashville to demonstrate Glade's Holiday Collection candles. Product promotion works, because I found myself at Walmart's endcap display a week later. For $2.25, these Christmas scents smell like the gift shop version.
Perfectly preserved vintage items. Just ask stylist Eddie Ross if his thrift store table finds are appreciated. One relative will open a $3 cut glass dish in her gold-rimmed pattern, filled with dark chocolate truffles.
Digital photo slideshows. Someone in my family lost his baby book, so I'm creating a digital version using Smilebox, my favorite free slideshow service. The color and theme choices are amazing.
$5 magazine subscriptions from Amazon. Get a year of Country Living, Popular Mechanics, Smart Money or Veranda for $5 and no shipping.
Great music. An i-Tunes gift card is great, but a playlist of favorites is personal. Hunt for free MP3 downloads on Amazon's 25 Days of Free or check your favorite musician's websites.
Service to others. We are truly at a loss for people who want nothing. In addition to a good book, we'll be giving them a card, saying that we have served a hot breakfast to 2 dozen hungry people in their name.
Finding a few real bargains can help you give more generously in other areas. How are you stretching your gift dollars this season?
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5 Responses to “10 Frugal Gifts I’m Giving”
December 7th, 2009 at 3:04 pm
I ordered the $5 real simple subscriptions for lots of women on my list (myself too!). I bought several of the glade candles and some tulle to tie them up in for hostess gifts.
With very limited time this year, I haven’t had time to make much of anything!
December 9th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Thanks for the suggestions. On another note, I do hope you made it to The Pioneer Woman’s book signing in Nashville last night. You are lucky she was in your area although you can mail her book to her and she will autograph and return to you at her expense. How gracious (and frugal for the recipient!) is that!
December 9th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Thanks for the ideas. I just ordered some $5 magazine subscriptions as gifts. I noticed that while Amazon does NOT charge to ship these (of course!) they DO count the cost toward the $25 minimum required to get free shipping on the rest of your order. Very nice!
Here’s my frugal gift this year for young children outside the family: personalized pillows.
With about 1/3 yard of cute fabric and just a bit of contrasting fabric, I can applique a child’s name to the front of a child-sized pillow. A $3 bag of poly-fill will do 2-3 small pillows. With a little planning, most of the materials could probably be thrifted to make a new and personalized gift for next to nothing.
We did round ones, square ones, rectangles, etc. and also appliqued hearts & butterflies.
I plan to post about them after our extended family gift exchange this weekend.
December 10th, 2009 at 1:49 am
Great post…. I really think we should all spend a little less and think a little more this xmas.
December 15th, 2009 at 2:10 pm
Great post! love the Country Music Hall of Fame…the architectural “creek” is stunning.
One of my favorite frugal gifts is framing a favorite movie quote, verse or lyric for someone I know well. One year it was a John Wayne quote from True Grit for my Duke-loving niece, this year it will be lyrics from “Christ Alone” (a meaningful song this year) for my daughter. Use a thrifted or spray-painted frame, print from computer.
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