It’s Almost Christmas

Of course the spirit of Christmas is the most important aspect of the holiday, but despite was most people say, everyone, young and old, loves to get presents. This can present a problem for those that have a long gift list and a limited budget because you still want to give everyone something special. However, despite the budget cuts in Santa’s workshop you can give everyone on your list a great gift. This is where inexpensive homemade Christmas gifts can help you out.

Begin by jotting down each name on your gift list and note some personal detail as to what they like or dislike.

Personalized Recipe Books
Do you have a friend who is a vegetarian or one who just loves to cook? Consider putting together a personalized recipe book. You can use a regular small note book and print recipes from the Internet to paste onto the pages or get a small metal box from the dollar store, decorate it with paint, or shelf paper. Then use index cards to hand print (if there is time) the recipes onto them, or if you are short on time you can put several of them together on the computer, then print them out and attach them to the note cards. This is one inexpensive homemade Christmas gift that still shows you cared enough to personalize it.

DIY Spa Packages
Is one of your recipients a sucker for nice, long hot baths? Consider making your own Honey Bath Oil. You need about a cup of baby oil to mix with about a fourth of cup of honey and a ½ cup of liquid soap. You can add a drop or two from an essential oil (these are very inexpensive in any craft store and a little goes a long way), mix it all together and pour it into a pretty squirt bottle, add a little Christmas bow and you have an inexpensive homemade Christmas gift that anyone would love.

Tasty Morsels
Home baked goodies are always great for inexpensive Christmas gifts and they can be personalized in many different ways. For instance, goodies do not necessarily have to have a Christmas theme, is there a group of people that you play bridge or poker with on a regular basis? If so why not use your imagination to make sugar cookies and decorate them like a deck of cards, plus you can always include the recipe for the cookies as an added touch.

All Sorts of Gift Baskets
Gift baskets are very versatile and you can stock up on them by visiting dollar stores, they always have several different kinds baskets. What you put inside the baskets should be something that reminds you of the recipient or something that you know they enjoy. If you have an avid gardener on your list you can always add several packets of seeds (these are very inexpensive), perhaps some gardening gloves or shears. Or, how about something soft to kneel on when they are weeding the garden?

For the Coffee or Tea Drinker
Another idea is to include several different types of flavored coffees, yes they can be a little pricey, but if you buy several and just take enough for a cup or two out of each one and put the coffee in a little decorated container you will have enough to make several presents. Or consider getting different flavored tea bags and putting several together in a tea cup and wrapping it up. This can also be fairly cheap if you buy a few boxes of tea bags but just put a couple of different flavored ones together for each gift, giving yourself enough tea bags for several gifts.

Frame It
A photo basket is always a big hit, you can make your own frames by decorating the cheap ones from the store in some type of motif that suits the recipient. Add pictures of them, their family or their family and yours doing something together. Even a small scrapbook would be a great gift and they will love the fact that you thought enough of them to think of their whole family and personalized the gift.

There is nothing wrong with creating your own inexpensive handmade Christmas gifts for the people on your Christmas list. As a matter of fact, they will love the fact that you took the time to personalize something just for them and what that says about your relationship. Making your own gifts is actually a lot more fun than running around the local stores and really shows the true spirit of Christmas.