Almost Free Gifts You Can Make Now

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

10 Sep 2009 06:43 AM

Get started early on your holiday gift shopping with the following ideas that will cost you next to nothing!

It never fails that the gifts you get at the last minute are the ones that cost the most. But, you know what? I bet you can put some nice gifts together right now probably without leaving your home! Let's get started.

Stockpile basket Gifts

You can make a whole array of great basket gifts using your stockpile of items that you got very cheaply or even for free. Think about it and about what you already have. You can do a beauty or pampering basket, a travel basket, a food basket, a cooking basket, etc. If you don't have enough items for you basket, use these tips to get more. Sign up for free samples and use $1 manufacturer coupons to get travel sized items for free.

Additional filler items, such as mugs for a hot chocolate and cookies basket, for example, can be had at yard sales or thrift stores.

Plant gifts

Start your gift plants now. You can grow herbs from seed, little pine trees, spider plants, aloe vera plants and more. If you get them started now, they should be ready in time for the holidays. Little pine trees can be decorated with holiday decorations for an extra touch.

For containers, raid what you already have. Some ideas include mugs, glass jars, pretty bottles and more. Just be sure to either drill a hole for drainage (when you can) or place some pretty stones in the bottom of the planter.

Blankets and throws

Blanket and throws are always welcome in the winter. You can make a whole batch of these relatively quickly, depending on your crafting interest and skills. If you knit or crochet, choose an open weave design to make the project go quickly. Even if you aren't craft minded, you can make some pretty throws using just two large rectangles of fleece. Fringe the ends (make small even cuts so you have strips) and then tie the fringe together for a double layered throw.

You can read more blog posts by Mary Ann Romans here!

Related Articles:

Getting Free Gift Wrap

Inexpensive Gifts You Can Make

Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

View Full Profile | More from this Blogger

slimpapa (10) 12 Sep 2009 07:56 AM

What I'm going to do for this Christmas is give hand made gifts from the craft store. I go to Michael's. I'm going to try to get the kids involved as much as possible. But I figure we should start doing that stuff soon, since it takes a while to make things. One year we made cookies and gave chocolates in bags to our family for Christmas. We got the cookie dough that you just cut and bake. They were able to eat their sweets Christmas day. We might do a little of that again this year too. We'll see.

Mary Ann Romans (26886) 14 Sep 2009 08:38 AM

Slimpapa, that is great. One gift that I like to do is to hand stamp address labels with designs or messages and then wrap them around small wrapped chocolate (like Hershey nuggets). They make great teacher and neighbor gifts.