ALT-2 Gift Giving Ideas for People on a Limited Budget
When it comes to finding a gift for someone and you are on a budget; it’s best to look at yourself first; what can you make, do, grow, craft or design for someone? People often overlook their own skills and abilities when searching for gifts, but with a little imagination, you can do much more than you might think.
Do you have a garden? Fix up a basket of vegetables, flowers, herbs or plants from your own garden; add a bow and a card and you have a gift that almost anyone would appreciate and enjoy receiving. Baskets purchased at dollar and discount stores are nice and inexpensive and ribbon, when caught on sale, comes in very handy when you need to give a gift. You’ll only have to buy the card, or, if you’re good at crafts, you can also make it.
If you don’t have a garden, head down to your local “Farmer’s Market”, late in the day when you can get the bargains, buy more than you need and share them with a friend, family member or neighbor.
Can you cook? Then make a nice lasagna, casserole, pie, cake or soup for someone instead of buying one? Food is a great gift to give at anytime and if you have your own garden, you’ll save a bundle and your gift will definitely be a winner.
A tasty jar of jam, jelly, or homemade granola is always perfect when you are running low on cash for a gift. A homemade soup mixture full of dried bullion, beans, lentils and soup pasta with a bow can be a fabulous gift on a cold fall or winter day.
Many people think that they aren’t artistic or crafty, but you’d be surprised at how much you can actually do when you put your creative mind into it. Making your own cards, stationery, quilting, weaving a basket, creating wood crafts, sewing, leather work and more can be created by you and many types of kits are available, which you can learn from while you’re making the gifts.
If you are artistic or crafty, you can give the gift of yourself and your crafts to someone who wants to learn an art or craft. Get together with the recipient and show them how to paint, sculpt, carve, built a birdhouse, a quilt or something else. Spending time with someone can go a lot further as a gift and sharing the gift of your know how is a perfect way to say that you care.
Do you have flowers in your yard? Dry them, in the oven or microwave or hang them up to dry by the stems with brown paper wrapped around them to keep them clean and dust free. Spray shellac them once dried and you’ll have a beautiful dried flower bouquet for someone when you need it.
Dried flowers and clovers added to a potpourri, with cinnamon sticks, dried orange peels, cloves, dried sprigs of herb florals, like lavender, chamomile, basil, etc., added to the mix make your potpourri even more colorful. Once dried, you can crush them or cut them up into pieces and mix it all together. Put the mixture into a plastic bag for about 2-3 weeks to let the scent grow; make it into sachets, holiday potpourri ornaments, or just give it away in a nice box, bottle or mug with a bow on it.
Sachets containing mints and lavender are great for pillows and eye pillow. With lavender, rose petals, cedar shavings and lilacs, sachets for drawers, or cabinets make a pleasant gift. Adding pieces of cinnamon sticks, cloves and dried orange peels gives it a nice spicy scent that anyone will love and appreciate.
You don’t even have to know how to sew; you can hot glue your sachet together if you don’t know how to sew; just cut out the shape from 2 pieces of material, glue most of the way around and stuff with the potpourri and finish gluing the opening. It dries in minutes and makes a sweet-scented and useful gift that also keeps moths out of clothing, bedding, towels and anything that you want preserved, because lavender, orange peel and cedar are all, natural insecticides.
Do you have a friend or family member moving away soon or a favorite co-worker, perhaps? If you have many photos of them with you, sharing good times, on vacations or otherwise, then you can make them a nice scrapbook as a gift. Scrapbooks can be bought or handmade by you from all sorts of colored cardboard or card stock, other colored papers, with ribbons, yarn, feathers and more. Get creative and spruce up those old photos, so that you can create a scrapbook so they’ll remember you and the good times that you’ve shared!
Do you know anyone who likes tea? You can grow and dry your own herbs and fruits for teas and tea mixes, such as, chamomile, parsley, lavender, ginger, lemongrass, jasmine, peppermint, spearmint, rose hips, blackberry, elderberry, hibiscus, hawthorn, dandelion, etc. Once these are completely dry, crush or pulverize them, place in a canning jar with a lid and bow on the top. Tie on a recipe for tea and a small tea ball or infuser and a measuring teaspoon.
Your recipe should give instructions for the recipient to make tea using 1 teaspoon of your mixture in an infuser, in 1 cup of boiling water, steeped for about 3 minutes. They’ll enjoy a nice, herbal tea and reap the benefits of herbal health.
Make your own wrapping from old linen napkins and decorative handkerchiefs. You can find these at the dollar and discount stores and sometimes at estate sales or garage sales. Along with a nice bow, you have a wrapping that looks more expensive than it really is.
Do you know someone who has a child or who is caring for an elderly or disabled person? Volunteer your time to babysit or just sit with the elderly or disabled individual while their parent or caregiver goes to the doctor, grocery, bank or runs another type of errand. Many people who are caregivers have a difficult time getting away when someone needs them to be there for them. Ask if they need, anything, while you’re out and you can run the errand for them. It’s just another way of giving of yourself and your time.
Just volunteer, sometimes, the very best gift is simply, you.
