Affordable Christmas Gift Ideas

Christmas can be the most financially draining time of the year. However, there are many ways to find affordable Christmas gift ideas.

Make It

If you are crafty or have any special skills, you can make a present. For example, if you knit you can make the person an afghan. If you are a closet poet or song writer, write a poem or song about the person. Perform the song or poem and have the original framed.

Coupon

A custom made coupon book can be a well loved Christmas gift idea. Make special coupons for doing chores, organizing, and cleaning for the person. You could offer to organize their pictures into albums, do a week's worth of dishes, or clean their garage. If the person is a spouse you could offer romantic treats such as foot rubs and date nights. A coupon book can be made by printing off blank coupons that can be found on the internet and bound with staples or ribbon.

Gift Baskets

If you have a whole family to gift, and have no idea what they like, a gift basket may be perfect. You can fill an inexpensive basket with homemade cookies or muffins, packets of cocoa mix, mugs, and fresh fruit. A child may love a gift basket filled with treats from the dollar store. Some ideas may be chalk, bouncy balls, jump ropes, balloons, colorful windmills, small stuffed animals, play clay, and candy.

Tweens may like a gift basket filled with hair ties, clips, brushes, make-up, nail polish, and a magazine or two. A new mother may like a gift basket full of pampering bath salts, foot creams, and lotions. If you can, add a gift card to a spa, beauty store, or department store. The important thing is to incorporate thoughtful Christmas gift ideas that consider what the person likes into the gift basket.

Treasure Trunks

Kids love treasure, so why not give them a treasure trunk? This Christmas gift idea is simple and you can incorporate items from thrift stores, dollar stores, and your own closet.

First, find a trunk with a safety lid. This can be a decorated plastic tub, cardboard box, or a real trunk. Next, choose a theme. If your theme is dress-up, you can fill the trunk with costume jewelry, hats, old clothes, toy wands and swords, shoes, ribbons, and flags. Several theme ideas are pirates, princesses, knights, animals, spacemen, or aliens.

As you can see, with a little thought you can come up with creative Christmas gift ideas that are quite affordable.