ALT-5 Ten Creative Gift Ideas that Won’t Hurt your Pocket
Once again it is Christmas and the spirit of gift-giving is everywhere, but this year the economic situation is uneasy, and the money is so tight you could bounce a dime off the sheets, if you had one to spare. Is Christmas canceled? Not a chance! Instead of spending your time and hard-earned money fighting the throngs for the latest videogame release, it's time to think creatively. Here are ten ideas, divided into last-minute, a few weeks to spare, and planning ahead for next year.
LAST-MINUTE
For last-minute gifts and office secret Santas, these are all gifts that can be pulled out of the hat in the last few days or even hours before Christmas.
1. Gift basket. Perfect for your neighbor, your coworker or even your boss. Why spend $40 or more for a generic gift basket when you can put one together yourself for a fraction of the price, and fill it with the things you know they will really love? The trick here is to customize your basket to your giftee.For an avid gardener, begin with a clay pot or watering can and fill it with ribbon-tied bundles of seed packets, gardening gloves, hand balm, and a couple of packets of instant ice tea. If the weeks leading into Christmas have been particularly stressful, a relaxation package for a coworker might include destressing candles, herbal teas, chocolates, a light-hearted book, and a hand-held massager or stress ball. Wrap the whole thing up with an appropriately-colored cellophane and tie a huge bow around the top. If you think they might like it, add a small stuffed animal.
2.A framed photograph or memento. Find something which is special to the giftee, and make it into something extraordinary. Chop, crop, enhance, edit to bring out her eyes. Find the perfect frame, or have it framed professionally. Add a short poem or quote, if appropriate.
3. A personalized CD or DVD. This could take longer to make if the contents need much editing or format translation, as with old family videos. Don't forget to decorate the cover!
4. Add to the treasured collection. Be it cows, Santas or tumbled rocks, you will always be able to find something for the collector. This is often the ideal gift to bring out a laugh, so why not run with it and add some more light-hearted stuff? If you are willing to hunt through craft stores and dollar stores and flea markets to find the perfect addition to the collection, this becomes a gift that will take at least a week. A twist on this idea is to continue (or begin) a tradition of a new Christmas ornament to be added to the tree every year, which can be either bought or handmade.
A FEW WEEKS TO SPARE
1.A treasured moments book. Depending on your individual talents, this can be a desktop-published creation or a crafted scrapbook. It can include photographs or sketches or handwritten poetry. It can celebrate your group's recent adventures, or it can bring together treasured recipes. You can have it professionally coil-bound at an office supply store, or you can sew the pages together or tie them off with ribbon. If the book is intended for use in the kitchen, you should have the pages laminated. For a last-minute gift, you could make a bookmark instead.
2.Baked goods. If you have a knack for turning out the kinds of artisan breads and anise cookies that always vanish first at office parties, many of your time-stressed coworkers will appreciate taking some of them home. Arrange different types of cookies or breads on a Christmas-themed tray, wrap in Saran wrap, cross a couple of candy canes on top, add a bow, and you're done! A fun variant is to find the perfect cookie jar and fill it. For the diabetic giftee, a welcome variant on this theme is to use only diabetic-friendly recipes in a wide assortment of baked goods.
3. Custom candles or soaps. You can make them yourself, or find them at the local megastore. Choose scents you know the giftee will like.
4. Fancy foods. For people who love food, nothing beats a selection of sauces, marinades, and condiments. From homemadeinfused oilsto your uncle'sfavorite barbecue sauces, you can mix and match these to your heart's content. Unless the bottle is to stand on its own as a kitchen decoration, keep the individual sizes small, just enough for two or three meals.
FOR NEXT YEAR
1. The Project. Learn to make pottery, or paper tole, or crochet, and make something special for another. One of my friends learned to knit on a knitting machine and gave me the very first project she ever made on it, a winter hat which keeps me warm to this day.
2. The Long-Term Addition. Maybe the two of you have been talking about a needed piece of furniture, or overhauling a room? After you have both agreed on what you want, what a wonderful Christmas present it will make for both of you when your special other discovers that you have already completed the hardest part of the work.
Perhaps our grandparents and great-grandparents who lived through the Great Depression knew something we have forgotten. AsDr. Seuss reminds us, "Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store? Maybe Christmas ... perhaps ... means a little bit more?"
