new goal: $100 christmas

[markio26]

my friend and i have set a new goal, to spend only $100 on xmas gifts... i really do need the input from our members....
we are only gonna give gifts to ppl. who we feel need them.... i am gonna explain to everyone what we are doing....so, when they give me a gift, that i am not expecting... they will receive back a card with a stencil for a tee shirt, inside or something of that nature... a cup maybe with a mix for cupcakes, or simply a recipe inside the cup....
for family, we always give our younger son, $100. for our older son and his family, they receive $50 each for xmas, there is 4 of them, so, that is
$200.
my family of origin and my spouse's family, are mostly out of state.... we will decide what to do with that.. perhaps a xmas letter inside a card.....
please post and tell me what you think... thanks in advance...

[JanH]

The goal is for 100 for outside the family gifts? Or are you trying to have a 100 Christmas?

[markio26]

thanks for the questions... we are speaking of outside the family gifts.... you know work friends, pals, minister, teachers, etc....
my friend mary lou paid over $350 for outside family gifts last year... she felt she had to recipriocate when someone gave her a gift or she thought they were gonna give her a gift she did not want to be empty handied... so, we are gonna do the $100 spending limit on this...

[Broken Arrow]

My usual budget is $150, but I try very hard to go below that... and I think I have been successful this year.

Budget high, spend low.

[JanH]

Setting a limit on outside gifts makes sense to me. Otherwise it could get to be a be budget breaker.

[Ima saver]

I just made a rule not to give gifts to anyone but my dh. Grandchildren get checks. I have no family. My dh has a father with girlfriend. We sent them a ham or this year we will try to give a gift certificate to their favorite restaurant. We should spend less than $100 for outside gifts this year too.
I personally think, cookies or fudge, make a wonderful gift! Ya'll can send me some if you want. Merry Christmas!

[JanH]

That's an idea. Make something to give. One of my neighbors used to give us a plate of Christmas goodies as a gift every year and we loved it.

[PrincessPerky]

Everyone gets a basket of food from us, if we really like you we might include a small persoanl gift, or I might pay attention and not give mint fudge to the people who dont like it (and of course peanut butter fudge to those that do!)

I buy the baskets after christmas now, so that they are all marked way down, and I save them for the following year. never empty handed because in Novemebr I start baking and storing the stuffin the freezer...that way you give me one I say oh I couldn't put yours together I didn't want it to thaw...

[markio26]

we are gonna make cookies in different varieties, purchase or use reuseable containers, to place the cookies in, tins or cookie jars...
also, fudge is another option, we may use too... so many ppl. are on diets now...
thanks for the comments..

[Thrifty Ray]

One of my favorite gifts one year was a CD of Christmas songs that a friend burned himself. The CD had a wonderful winter picture on it...and I use it every year and remember him.

Do you have the ability to make these?? or do you know someone who can?? These are super easy to mail, can be used year after year and take just a little time to put together.

There are so many categories of music that you could easily give one each year...and I am sure the recipients will always appreciate it!

[tinapbeana]

depending on who your outside gifts are for, you might be able to go the instant gift basket/bag route.

1. keep 10 gift bags on hand
2. buy 10 candles from the dollar store
3. buy 10 boxes of candy/chocolate bars
4. make up a batch of bath salts, package 10 in baggies (depends, but $10 would make way more than you need)
5. check your dollar store for relaxing CDs (dollar tree has 'em $1 each)

for $50 or less (less is likely), you have 10 homemade gift bags ready to go. if there's no need for the gift, you can save them for birthdays, use them yourself, whatever

[budgetmom]

For friends/coworkers and some family in the local area we make cookies or bread (banana, cranberry, we usually know what they like before hand). I make boxes for them out of garment boxes you get for free at department stores or leftover garment boxes from the year before (cut and fold to the size you want) and line them with wax paper. For the cookies I decorate baby formula cans and line them with wax paper or I put them in non ziplock baggies and tie them with ribbon.
I also make cards, bookmarks, and small picture albums (like brag books) for them to fill with their own pictures.
The cards are sometimes made out of paper, sometimes out of fabric. The ones out of fabric are more like little decorative pictures that can be displayed at Chrismas time for years to come.
The bookmarks I make out of paper and lamanate (I got a lamanating machine for real cheap this past spring) or fabric, or cross stich. These are great gifts for our bookworm friends and all of our friends we go to church with to use with their Bibles.
For the brag books I make them out of brown paper lunch bags, old candle tins, just about anything.
I also sometimes make baked goods mixes and put them in jars or baggies. I always attach a recipe to it of what wet ingredients to add and oven temps. to make them.

It sounds to me like you are taking about putting your mixes into some kind of coffee mug? I would not recomend that if that's what you are planning. It can get rather pricey.

[aurielle]

My experience has been that making baked goods for Xmas gifts is expensive too, unless you have been stockpiling the ingredients and got them at a great price.

[Gruntina]

Originally Posted by aurielle

My experience has been that making baked goods for Xmas gifts is expensive too, unless you have been stockpiling the ingredients and got them at a great price.

That happened to me last year! I could not believe how much I spent on the baking ingredients. It would have been easier to save time and bought some simple gifts instead in some cases.

My favorite gifts for the office team that I work close with in the past were cookie cutters. Being Deaf myself, it was more of a way sharing my language. The small cookie cutter was in the shape of "I love you" sign. They happened to be a clear red plastic color. I bought a few for cheap and tied a plaid ribbon with Christmas colors and a tiny bell to tie it together. I hand made a small card to attached to each one.

[Snoopy2645]

Well last year for my dd's best friend I made her a gift bag with hair stuff I got pretty much free all suave hair hair stuff she is really into doing her hair I gave the gel the spray some shampoo & conditioner I probably spent less than $1 on all that after coupons!!! This year for my own family heres a few things I am doing CHEAP I got my dd & her best friend this year $5 comforters that say super girl these were clearance out at walmart & I got LUCKY!! For my brother I joined nascar points sight & am getting him a FREE racecar clock & my mom I have been saving my coke points & getting her something off that website she is a coke collecter!!!

And for my dh I am giving him a bed in the bag comforter & all clearanced for $10 fits our bed!!! And for my 2 youngest daughters some pjs I got $3 on clearance nice pants ones too!!! And some books in new shape I got for .25 at a garage sale 2 weeks ago these all retail for $25!!! And they are getting some games I got for less than half price on clearance so just a few ideas to get some cheap or free things!!! Oh ya & middle dd is getting a slipper set got last spring on clearnace for $1 they are saling again at walmart for over $10 & 2 youngest girls are also getting flannel pjs I paid $1.50 each for last spring!!! Oh ya & new baby niece is getting some huggies products I got free after coupons wipes lotions & bath & shampoos a nice set all FREE!!! I may throw in something else but more than likely something I get free or super cheap have to see what comes along!!!

[markio26]

thanks for the comments... we have already given our two sons, their xmas money, so, they can shop early this year...
i am gonna make a cd of tony bennett and add some pics of my father'n'law to give to my mother'n'law...

[nanamom]

We do alot at Christmas. Outside of family we do mostly food gifts, cookies for the guys where DH works and one special friend gets fudge. His boss gets a coffee basket with some individual coffee packs (about 1.00 each at the grocery store) and some chocolate spoons I can make myself. I add some cookies as well. Our friends at church are getting a hand stamped little box that we make for the cost of the paper with a few candies in it. Those can be purchased at the dollar store. One bag will do alot of boxes. We keep it cheap. Our biggest expense is the peanut butter fudge that we get requests for. I am slowly paring down the money we spend and trying to do more homemade gifts for family as well.

[Sandyman]

I have done the $100 chistmas before. I made magnets out of printed photographs that were glued to balsa wood. I think the trick is that you will always need to spend time in place of money. I figure its a good habit though. I still see these magnets in peoples homes years later after I forgot I gave them one.
Sandy

Good Luck!

[threebeansalad]

For my co-workers, I made a $50 donation to America's Second Harvest and recieved cards saying I had made a donation in their honor (see: https://secure2.convio.net/a2h/site/...le7 vn1.app5b) I probably would not have spent $50 on gifts for my co-workers, but I do typically make a donation to ASH at Xmas, so this took care of both. Plus, I don't have to hunt all over town for inexpensive trinkets people probably won't use, anyway.

[Fern]

I think it's very possible i will be able to limit my total gift expenditures to $100 this year. My sister made it easy for us when she told me and mom at Tgiving she doesn't want to do a gift exchange this year cus she's tight on money this year. We don't want ot to be a total bah humbug Xmas, so my mother said she's giving her $ which she certainly could use, and i got her a smalll GC from a health food store i know she'll like. So it'll just be maybe $50 or $60 for her and my mom and maybe $40 on a few friends. Each year, Xmas seems to get more modest in scale, which is mostly a relief to me.