I am a college student and I have 5 siblings with varying sizes of families. I"m trying to figure out something to do for christmas gifts that won't cost me a lot. (my time is valuable also) any ideas?
Not swapping gifts is not an option.
One sister has a family 6,
One sister has a family of 3,
one is a family of one,
and
both my brothers are married with no children.
2006-10-18 05:20:07 · 11 answers · asked by washington_maverick 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Holidays ➔ Christmas
It's funny you should ask this question because my girlfriends and myself were just speaking of this in the market this morning.
I don't know where you live but I'm certain you can find what you need with very little travel time.
I have 8 sisters and only one of us is not married with children. I can tell you it pretty much makes me eat, well just about anything I can get my hands on, around this time of year.
Okay here goes!
First stop; Wal-Mart. Purchase movies. Nothing too expensive, keep it to the discount or half off movies. Two movies per family! One for the kids one for the bigger kids( adults), that should be no more than 10 movies starting at about 3.99 each.
Go to the candy isle, pick out two bags of candy you think the kids will like. Hint: Do it now while candy is on sale for Halloween!
Second Stop: Go to the dollar store: You will need wrapping paper this will cost 2.00 dollars enough to wrap the movies in. Get FIVE baskets or buckets or something along those lines something large enough to put your gifts in along with the candy. Now, Ribbons or colored transparent wrap paper to wrap the baskets or both if you wish. Find some tissue paper to fill around the gifts kind of like a blanket. No more than 2 or 3 packages. Go to the food isle and find the popcorn. Get at least 2 packages of popcorn for each basket. You can usually find this for 2 for a buck.
You should be able to get everything you need with no more than 50.00 dollars and still give the nicest gifts. If there is any money left over..
Go to Starbucks get a grande 'whatever' and.. Sit down Girl! You just ran your behind off and your tired! Now don't you feel better? Except, you forgot a gift for the parents!
Don't panic, you have a little bit of cash set aside for Mom and Dad or Mom or Dad or well, you get the picture. Mom likes perfume and Dad can never find his Hankies.
All done!
2006-10-18 05:57:59 · answer #1 · answered by wonderingmom 3 · 3⤊ 0⤋
One thing that might be fun and personal to give each family is a personalized calendar. I did this one year and it was a hit! It will take a little work on your part, but not to much. You just gather as many photo's of each family as you can, or pictures that represent that family such as sports teams, school, etc. You then put the top 12, in the order you want from Jan - Dec and take it to a local copy shop or print shop and they put a spiral bound calender together and give you your photo's back. I went a step further and put stickers and such on that family's birthdays and anniversaries.
Just a thought. I hope you find what you need.
2006-10-18 17:39:41 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Best gift you can give, especially for Christmas, is love. If you don't have a lot of money and time you can make or buy Christmas cards and write something memorable for your family. You can make your cards with inexpensive materials like color paper, cardboard, foam, old pictures, and whatever your imagination asks u for (If you don't have time to make the cards you can always buy one and personalize them by putting stickers or photos). Then your words will do the trick! they are magical! Last Year my brother wrote a really nice card for me. He is not a very expressive person...but that card really made a big difference in our relationship. Now it is one of my treasures, and it is worth more that a new laptop, tie, camera, or whatever present i would have expected.
2006-10-18 12:33:24 · answer #3 · answered by zepe333 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I like to give magazine subscriptions as gifts. They aren't very expensive at all.... some run $15 a year some cheaper. Its not time consuming at all, the hardest part is figuring out who gets what. And a lot of times you can find deals where you give a subscription to one person and then get another one free to give to someone else. (especially around Christmas time).
My dad is the worst person to buy gifts for and every year I get him a subscription to MAD magazine. He says its the best gift .
2006-10-18 17:49:13 · answer #4 · answered by prettypinklinds 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
One idea to save you money is to buy or save a bunch of different sized jars. Mix up the dry ingredients only for cakes, cookies etc. Create a label on your computer with title of product, what they need to add and cooking temp. Place bow--or decorate jar festive. These make nice gifts for busy people. I once received these with cookie dough--of course without the eggs etc-which I had to add. Look up some simple recipes on the internet that are easy for you to combine the dry ingredients for gifts that have a long shelf life. Good luck.
2006-10-18 12:28:47 · answer #5 · answered by MicG 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
If you're a student, then of course your time is valuable. So one approach is to try something creative that relaxes you. Something like beaded bracelets for the girls, earrings for the women. Years ago, when I was studying in a town with THE most boring shops, I found a nice piece of polished onyx in a new agey place and glued it to a tie tack thingy from the cheesy craft store. It cost less than $2, took maybe 30 seconds to actually make and my father absolutely loves it. (Turns out he had lost his onyx tie tack and hadn't found one to replace it -- if you can do something like that, then the appreciation is so much greater than the cost.)
Handmade ornaments or picture frames. Cover cardboard squares with fabric and fasten them around pastel paper, add a picture of the kid on the front, and voila a personalized diary.
TONS of ideas and directions on the net and in the library. Jewelry gets my vote for best impact for effort, but work with whatever appeals to you.
Another approach is to try to think of something that carries some memories behind it. (I intentionally put a particular DVD on my list so that my sister can get it for me and remember a particular night back in 1982 when we were the best of friends.) Things two of you shared a love for, or something one of them loved and you hated, something that she or he has probably forgotten about. That can make a CD, DVD or book worth more than the price.
2006-10-18 13:17:53 · answer #6 · answered by The angels have the phone box. 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Food baskets are always nice, so does gift certificates for a family restaurant. Movie coupons may be a bit more expensive. I like the baskets personally because it looks pretty and that you put a lot of thought on it.
2006-10-18 12:29:56 · answer #7 · answered by QuiteNewHere 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nice towel sets,as many as needed to give to each family
Nicely framed old family photos
Holiday socks or slippers for each family member
Hallmark ornaments
Food baskets (you make the foods or sweets ,buy baskets on sale)
Restaurant gift certificates
2006-10-18 12:29:22 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
Wright each person a personal letter about how important they are to you and how much you love them. That is worth more then any material gift you could give. a gift they will treasure forever
2006-10-18 12:30:02 · answer #9 · answered by ratoniluna 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
There is a group on yahoo360 that has gifts in a jar. You need to check it out. They have all kinds of ideas.
2006-10-18 13:09:22 · answer #10 · answered by tensnut90_99 5 · 1⤊ 0⤋