thrifty gift giving

Our family is living on one income since I am a stay-at-home mom. And even if you have two incomes, times are tough. I don’t know anyone that has endless amounts of money to be spending on gifts. Gift giving is fun and it is the way many of us show we care. But it doesn’t have to be expensive. It seems like at this stage in my life, all my friends are either getting married, having babies or having birthday parties for the kids they already have. So, I’ve seen a huge increase in the number of gifts we give each month. Here are a few things I’ve started doing in the last few years that have really saved us money and brought out my creative side.

-I save all ribbons, bags and tissue paper in good shape. Baskets make great gift holders too. I save any boxes, cute containers or things that can be used to “wrap” a gift. I'm into making crafts these days so I keep my eye out for anything that can be glued to a present or a craft to make it look even cuter. I even save scraps of clothing so I can cut them into shapes like hearts and stars. I know I go a little overboard but you get the point.

-Trader Joe’s bags turned inside out (or other paper bags) can be used as gift wrap with some string or bows to decorate. You can even sign the brown paper with a special note or draw pictures on it for kids. For the gifts below, I used a ribbon I received with a gift last Christmas and a flower I saved from something else. On Mason's present, I just used scrabble pieces I had from another craft and black card stock as a background. I drew a baseball on the front and back because he's into that these days. The box that is holding his toys is a shoebox. They are both wrapped in Trader Joe's paper bags.

 

-Save cool cards. You never know when you can use part of a card as a cute decoration. Or even reuse the card for another card. My family makes cards so I reuse their cards a lot. Also, I’m not a big believer in buying cards. It’s totally fine if you are. I just see no point in spending $5 on something that will be thrown away the next day, especially when it comes to kids’ birthdays. You know they could care less about the card. They want the gift man! The parents are always reminding them to read the card first. I like to use some card stock or construction paper, fold it in half, punch a hole in it and tie it to the gift with ribbon or tape it to the box. It’s cute and thrifty. It looks like you took the time to make something rather than just buying something. I also have scissors that make cute cuts like zigzags too. They were a couple of bucks. Great investment. I use them all the time. I also have a lot of construction paper and card stock from when I used to do scrapbooking. You can make cards out of that as well. I have a ton of sharpies. You can never have enough sharpies, black or colored. They make everything just a little bit more awesome. The best craft investment I've ever made was my mini glue gun. It was just a few bucks and I use it all the time. I use it to fix things too. Here are some cards that I've saved to use with another gift in the future. You can frame the front picture of the card with card stock and slap it on the front of a gift bag or box to dress it up.

-If you couldn't guess, I'm a total regifter. When I get something as a gift that I know I won't use, I throw it in my gift box, an entire storage container dedicated to gifts. You have to have somewhere to keep all of your goodies like things you find on sale or gifts you want to “recycle.” Same goes for baby shower gifts. I received a few things I already had at my last baby shower so I put them in the gift box for the next baby shower. Aint no shame ladies! Save where you can.

-I don’t give many adult birthday gifts because adults don’t usually throw birthday parties. Most of my gifts consist of kid birthdays, baby showers and bridal showers, in that order. Let’s start with kids birthdays. 

-I always keep an eye out for good sales or clearances. Think about what birthdays are coming up and see if you can use the sale to your advantage. For example, Old Navy just had a 4^th of July sale on their kids clothes. Tanks and shorts were $2 a piece! I got some for my daughters but I totally forgot about my niece’s birthday that is just around the corner. I could have gotten her a $10 birthday present consisting of 2 adorable summer outfits and some flip flops (also on sale for just $1) Man, I totally blew that one.  Also, kids don’t care about where you get their presents. Whether it is toys, clothes, books etc., you can find some great cheap stuff at places like Walmart. I just went there the other day because I overspent at the beginning of the month so I’m down to the end of my budget with 2 birthdays and a shower coming up. I got a 7 year old boy several fun toys for $7 total. I love shopping for boys. They totally appreciate things like silly string, rubber snakes, light up bouncy balls and silly putty. All $1 at Walmart :D Another fun gift is tokens to use at chuck e cheese or a gift card for tokens. Kids love that place. And you don’t have to take them! :D

-When it comes to baby showers and bridal showers, it’s always nice to get something off of the registry. But that doesn’t mean you have to break the bank people! Leave the pricey stuff for the family. There are so many options for baby showers. You can spend $10 on their registry and add a few other cute things that are inexpensive but useful. Diaper cakes are always fun if you have that kind of time and talent. I made one out of diapers I had saved from my last kid. I added some ribbons and little things that didn’t cost much like pacifiers, receiving blankets, baby toys etc. I don’t think I spent more than $10-$15 and it looked awesome. It’s all about presentation. Save all baskets. They come in handy for baby showers. Just throw the stuff in a basket, dress it up and voila, a crafty cute gift just like that. Even if you don’t buy off of the registry, people always appreciate practical things like baby shampoo, powder, cream, burp cloths, socks, bottles, wipes etc. They are all relatively cheap. I like to check the clearance section at target to see if I can grab something cool to add to the gift for cheap.

A great gift I've been doing for baby showers and bridal showers lately is something I found on Pinterest of course. It's a daily calendar that can be reused each year and gets better the longer you use it. Each day you write the year and something that happened that day like, "(Child's name) took her first steps.

Here is the pinterest pic. It explains it pretty well.

 

 

Here is a pic of one I just made.

 

 

I make them a little fancier than the one on pinterest. It's a gift after all. For this one, I found a little basket in the dollar bins at Target. It was blue with a pink heart so I painted it beige with a black heart and glued a ribbon around it. I used some scrabble tiles I got at Michael's a while ago to spell out the last name. And I used card stock to label the months of the year. I put a little card in it with instructions. I spent about $3 on the whole thing. These are fun because you can decorate them however you want with whatever you have in your craft supplies. Even if you're not crafty, these are not hard to make at all. It just takes a little paint and glue. These are great for baby showers too. 

-The next bridal shower I am going to is for a friend at church. I am making the calendar mentioned above for a couple bucks and I added a super cute lacey pink lingerie set I found at Walmart of all places. I wasn’t even shopping for her at the time but I was there and thought, hmmm, I wonder what they have. It’s totally something I would wear and it looks like something you could find for $50 or more somewhere else. There are so many weddings in the summer. If I spent $40-$50 (easy to do once you add up the gift, wrapping or a bag, ribbon and a card) on everyone, I could be spending $100 a month on showers alone! Add in the wedding present and forget about it. Unless you are really making good money, no one can afford that. Throw in a couple of kids’ birthdays and you’re going to have to live on pasta and beans for the month or charge up your credit card. Neither one sounds fun to me.

-I have found that if I want to be a thrifty gift giver, I must plan ahead. I mark all birthdays for the year on my calendar. Make a note of each birthday party you are invited to. Chances are,  you will be invited again next year. Each month, look at all the birthdays coming up on the calendar and pencil in those Evites for showers and get a gift list going. Or just make a mental note to keep an eye out for some good deals. I love making lists. I go to Michael’s arts and crafts store for my pads of paper with magnets on the back. They are usually $1 or even 2 for $1 sometimes. I keep 3 on my fridge. One for groceries, one for my to do list and one for gifts. Make a list somewhere of the gifts that you need to buy that month. Add it in to your budget. It is also a smart idea to have a “gift budget” you can spend monthly. That way you know exactly how much you can spend on each person.

-Out of towners are a little tricky because you can’t fit much in a card. For young kids, stickers are a great idea. Also, a $5 ice cream gift certificate is a huge hit. Everyone loves ice cream. Kids get so excited about it. For teenagers, they are all about the cash. I like to do $10 itunes gift cards. Or you could do a bunch of $1 bills. That makes it look like so much more :D Kids like $2 bills too. You can get those at the bank. Older folks like grandparents appreciate pictures of the family. Movie tickets are also fun. You can get two tickets for $15 at Costco. Scratchers are a fun idea too. I would love to get something like that for my birthday! And they are only $1.

-This one is kind of extra credit as a gift giver. Pay attention to your friends and family. They will mention something they really like or that they don’t have and sometimes it is really inexpensive. Make a note of it somewhere. It may not be costly but it will mean more to them than something you spent a lot of money on because you were listening and you remembered. My friend Karla is the most thoughtful gift giver. She travels a lot with her husband. Whenever she sees something that reminds her of me she gets it and saves it for my birthday or Christmas. I always look forward to her gifts because I know I’m going to love them. The last one consisted of a really cute pen that I use all the time, and some really yummy smelling soaps she got a hotel she stayed at. Her gifts are always made up of 4 or 5 small gifts which I love. Another good gift for close friends and family members is a burnt CD. If you know what kind of music they like, burn them your favorite songs for any occasion. It's a good birthday present for a mom, sister, brother, bff etc. It's also a nice thank you present when someone does something so nice is warrants a thank you card. 

*Everything mentioned above also applies to Christmas, maybe even more so than any other time of year.

Christmas time is a big bank breaker for everyone. A lot of families have instituted things like secret santa or a white elephant gift exchange to save money. Rather than buying presents for everyone, you just buy one present. At my family get together each year, we have about 30 people. We do a white elephant gift exchange for $20 max. (So does my husband’s family) The only kids are mine and my brother’s so people buy for the kids but no adults. If your family is still not on the white elephant or secret santa bandwagon, it’s time to institute it. It was super easy to do with my family. Everyone was so relieved that they didn’t have to buy for everyone. It is expensive and it's a pain to try to think of good gifts for everyone. Bring it up. I’m sure everyone will be on board.

Homemade presents are always allowed at our get-togethers if we are so inclined. I’ve done mini zucchini bread loaves with pretty wrapping. My sister has made spaghetti sauce a few years in a row now. She puts them in a mason jar with a cute note. That’s a great one. And my brother-in-law has done fudge for a few years. There are lots of inexpensive food items such as homemade candy, chocolate covered pretzels, homemade syrup for coffee, cookie mix in a jar, cookies and so on. Pretty much anything you can package is fair game. Neighbors and coworkers are great recipients of homemade gifts as well. Pinterst.com has endless, awesome homemade gift ideas that save lots of money while showing people you thought of them. And for wrapping, hit up the $1 store, Michael’s or Walmart for cute Christmas bags or cellophane to wrap your homemade gifts. That is unless you have planned ahead and saved tons of gift wrap and ribbons from last year ;-) Here are some of my favorites I've pinned and used:

Bake a mini loaf and put it on a frame as a plate. Put the recipe in the frame.

 



 

Cookie mixes in a jar with the instructions.

 

 

Cookies in a spaghetti container.

 

 

Salted caramel hot chocolate mix in a jar.

 

 

Homemade presents were started by children so don’t forget to make presents with your kids. I love getting decorated picture frame ornaments from my nieces and nephews. We get to hang them on the tree each year and watch them grow up through the different pictures. We have the kind of tree that is mostly homemade ornaments we've received.

Christmas is also a great time to share Christ with your non-believing family members. Simple things like cards with messages from scripture or crafts made by your kids that include baby Jesus in a manger are pretty common so why not take advantage of the season?! :D Even better if you have little ones. No one can say no to a homemade craft from a child.

Well that is everything. Don't be overwhelmed. You have to start somewhere. My collection of crafts has been built up through the years. Just remember these few things that will help you save money:

1. Save anything that can be used to wrap gifts including brown paper bags.
2. Keep an eye out for sales and clearances where you can score good birthday and shower gifts.
3. Don't be afraid to check out thrifty places like Walmart the next time you need a good gift for cheap.
4. Plan ahead. Mark your calendar and create a gift budget.
5. Check out Pinterest.com for great homemade gift ideas.
6. Release your creative monster and start gifting!