Fern's picture

Christmas on a tight budget

Submitted by Fern on Tue, 11/04/2003 - 8:24am.

Here are some ideas, some crafts, some not, most pretty iexpensive:

Manicure sets;
Whetstone sets for guy who carry pocket knives;
Wooden type boxes or other masculine looking containers to put wallet, keys, pocket change, etc. in when they get home and get in their comfy clothes;
Sweat suits for wearing around the house;
Dew Rags (can buy or probably could find a pattern for them if one sews);

Have yours and DS's photos made together, make a frame & give for gifts. I saw one post where they mentioned buying photo mats , hot gluing all kinds of items on the exterior to make the frame (buttons, shells, beads, etc.). Probably have to glue some sturdy kind of poster board on the back of it, leaving a slot to slip the photo in. I thought about doing an ocean one, using elmers glue smeared on, pour dry sand on and let it dry. Then on top of that glue things like tiny starfish, sand dollars, shells, etc. Then spray over that with shellac.

Things kids love are posters.. . select a favorite photo of your child and have it enlarged into a poster. You can probably do this at a place where you send photos off to be developed, or if you have a place that does color copies on a big copier. I can get them done here cheap. . . like an 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper in color would be $1, poster size probably $4 or so. Great idea for all kids on your list.

Also can do refrigerator magnets from kids photos. Great for gifts from child to grandparents, aunts and uncles. In fact, you can do these on your own. Select a photo that your child's picture can be trimmed out easily with scissors. Purchase some of those flat magnets that have sticky peel off paper on one side and glue the photo to the magnet, then trim. The magnets trim easily and cleanly with a good pair of scissors.

Any kids gifts one has to buy. . . they love personalized things. Order a dozen pencils with their names stamped on them. Note pads with their name printed on every sheet. . that sort of thing.

Another idea is a calendar for the upcoming year. I've seen them done by people who like to make their own, using their computers.
I purchased one for $20 I think it was. . . You select your own photos, one for every month and that is your calendar photos. I gave this for Christmas one year and that person loved it so well that she has one made every year now for herself. Another time we did them for my aunts, using photos that was their life. .. as a child, young adult, married, their babies, their babies as adults, aging, etc. One of them had tears in her eyes when she saw what it was.

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