Free/Frugal Xmas

[buildmybudget]

So I need to scare up some ideas for my mother who has an incredibly small Xmas budget this year due to retiring early. Despite my advice to just give everyone hugs she still wants to give gifts, so any new ideas are most welcome for frugal/free gifts.(She has ten kids and 11 nieces/nephews!) Any help is most appreciated. =)

[nmboone]

I would imagine she knows how to bake, especially having 10 children. I think baking holiday cookies in some cheap wrapping is a wonderful idea! I wanted to do it myself, however our family's oven is broken Other baked goods like cakes, pies, and cupcakes sound great too! Also the dollar tree (if she has one around) has tons of stuff that may give her ideas to buy or make.

Hope that's helpful! Good luck to her!

[buildmybudget]

Thanks nm, you're exactly right about the baking thing. Unfortunately a direct result of cooking for ten kids is cooking inexpensive dinners, such as baked chicken, grilled cheese, or spaghetti on a constant basis. There was a lot of repetition in our diet growing up. =) Thanks for the suggestion though, I think this is something she is really considering.

[cjscully]

The place to start is with her total budget. Then work out how much to spend on each individual on her list, making sure that they all add up to the total amount she can afford to spend. From there she can look for things in that price range that each individual would like.

She will usually be able to get more bang for her buck with stuff she makes rather than buys. Are there any other things she has the skill to make? Since she's retired I'm assuming she has time. There might be other things beside cookies she could make that family members would like. If she has basic know-how in something like knitting (just an example), she could find detailed instructions for various knitted items online.

[Jeff78703]

Some ideas

A couple ideas:

- It is easy to make lotions and soaps with fairly minimal start-up costs. Just buy some of the oils and she can make that home-made.
- She could do experiential coupons (like a piece of paper that says "night out at the movies with Mom") or ("picnic with Mom")
- For kids, social service agencies in the town you live often have free or low-cost toys that she could probably get...call your local social service agency for referrals.

[SnoopyCool]

Something I've been doing is making ornaments with pictures of that year. I use either 1. baby food jar lids, or 2. seals for mason jars. I rubber cement a cut-out picture of the kids onto the lid/seal, then I hot glue tinsel around the outside edge of the lid/seal. Hot glue ribbon to the top and it's ready to go on the tree. The grandparents LOVE this gift. Being that it is your mom, maybe she could make copies of older pictures to do this with, then distribute to you and your siblings.

HTH

[bjl584]

When my Grandma was still alive she would bake cookies for everyone in the family. She was also good at sewing, crochet, and quilt making. She would always make something for each family member every year.

[Joan.of.the.Arch]

Does she have access to a good scanner and good printer? Assuming her kids are adults, she could make up a little booklet of family photos with notes as to who the people are/ when/ when the photos were made and some personal notes about them. I'd love to have something like that from my parents. My dad has emailed me copies of some of his old photos, but not necessarily any info on these people who may have been dead since before he was even born. The bits of family history would be nice.

Also, if she has anything "heirloomish" to pass on, Christmas might be a great time to do so. I have a couple of odd things like that that mean more to me with my parents living, since we get to share the memories. For instance, my mother gave me a kerosene lamp that belonged to my grandmother. Around 1914, my great uncle converted it to electric and it has in it a bulb that had been a porch light in my grandmother's house at the time. Almost 100 years later and the bulb still works! And my Dad gave me several things my grandfather made --like a wooden mallet, a hardware chest made out of old wood fruit boxes, and a garden knife modified from a linoleum knife. The mementos I have are not monetarily valuable, but that is not the point, is it?

[buildmybudget]

Snoopy/Joan, thanks, these are the kind of ideas I was looking for! Something fresh and different. I especially like the idea of expanding on the idea of one picture(ornament) and making it a book that can be personalized. Growing up with 9 brothers and sisters, you might be surprised at how little time was spent capturing video and pictures and giving them out and such.

One comment though, Joan, doesn't it seem like many of these "heirlooms" could come across as simply passing along junk? You're right that the point is to be sentimental, but you should see all the crap in my mom's house she could "pass down!" lol

[zakity]

If she passes stuff down, have her write down the history of it. Nothing worse that having a family heirloom and no history for it.

She could give everyone a cd of family stories that she typed out, well, if there is enough of them anyway. I know a relative has a whole website of our family history and that would be awfully cool on a cd as a present.

Soaps and lotions are great ideas. You can find some great recipes on the net. You can get melt and pour soap base at a craft store (even better if you can get it with a 40% off coupon). You can even get already scented soap base and just add in some oatmeal (toss it in the blender first) or some coffee. I make homemade soap and the coffee soap is great for getting your hands clean after gardening or working on the car. And, the coffee soap is good for in the kitchen too because it gets the smells off your hands. If you make soap balls, then you don't have to worry about molds. To package them, get holiday treat bags from the dollar store and tie the tops with a pretty holiday print ribbon.

Oh yeah, for anyone who lives close enough, coupons for date night babysitting! I loved it when Grandma would watch the boys so we could go for a date. It really saves money if you just have to pay for dinner instead of dinner and a babysitter. It was also great because it was guilt-free. I hated to ask her to watch the boys because I felt like I was intruding on her time since she is retired.

[snafu]

We have a family custom of making gifts rather than buying [we only buy children's gifts]. A cookbook of family favorites or a menu plan targeted to the seasons takes a lot of thought but very little cost. Fancy breads and muffins are ridiculously easy and inexpensive to make from scratch. Wrap it prettily! There are a great many dry soup mixes that fill a jar and merely need the addition of water & simmer to make the house smell divine. Store brand ritz type crackers dipped in chocolate flavored with peppermint oil are delicious chocolate mints for the holidays. Seasoning mixes with products from bins or bulk store fill Dollar Store shakers and make ordinary chicken or beef delicious. There are dozens of combinations
Herbes de Provence
This herb blend is great on chicken and vegetables.
1 tablespoon thyme
2 tablespoons chervil
2 tablespoons rosemary
2 tablespoons summer savory
2 teaspoons lavender
2 teaspoons tarragon
2 teaspoons marjoram
1 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoons mint
4 powdered or chopped bay leaves

[SimplySaving]

My absolute favorite gift that my mom ever gave me was homemade. The Christmas after I got married she worked HARD at making me a book filled with recipes of all of the dinners, desserts, snacks, etc that we grew up with. Now I will have that forever and can forever duplicate the things that I loved when I was growing up. I will cherish that book forever. It's a great thing for a mom to pass down to her kids and grandkids.

[ThePennyHoarder]

I would keep an eye on the coupon sites. I think MoneysavingMom posted a coupon this week for $5 off a Hasbro games. She also said that the games were only $5 this week at Walmart - making them free!!

[SavvySpendingMommas]

Oops double post!

[SavvySpendingMommas]

I would keep an eye on the coupon sites. I think MoneysavingMom posted a coupon this week for $5 off a Hasbro games. She also said that the games were only $5 this week at Walmart - making them free!!

Good idea about the coupon sites! I have a blog & have posted tons of kids toys for cheap lately!

Savvyspendingmommas on blogspot, check us out