Affordable & Unique Gift Ideas
by Donna Thomson
It's that time of year again when we search our minds and the stores for gift ideas for family and friends. We all know how expensive Christmas can be but I'm here to help you with some ideas that won't break the bank and have a special personal touch to them. This should be a time of reinforcing positive relationships through spending some quality time together and finding ways to show you care. So let's combine all this into some practical gift-giving ideas, many of which I'm implementing myself this year. Of course these ideas are also great for birthdays, anniversaries and even wedding gifts!
Memory Books
The idea behind a memory book is to find photos with a theme that you can compile into an album and add some anecdotes and/or descriptions of the photos. Possible themes are:
Nana or Grandad's Brag Book - photos of the grandkids
Life Story Books - e.g. the first 10 years, 18 years, 21 years etc for a child or a whole life story for a parent, grandparent, etc. This is basically a photographic time-line of someone's life. I've created a 'First 10 years' for my soon-to-be 10 year old daughter and added a page with the story of how we chose her name, its meaning and the other names on our short list at the time. I've also added a baby milestones page and grouped photos into smaller themes such as funny photos of her asleep over the years, photos of dancing concerts, birthdays and so on.
Special Occasion Albums - e.g. holidays, honeymoon, wedding, a special outing and just about any other theme you can think of. Perhaps your child plays a particular sport so you could compile photos of events, trophies etc and some memories from over the years.
Best Friends - have you got photos from over the years with a special friend? Why not put them all together and record some of your favourite moment, funny stories and special qualities you love about your friend.
Memory books can be small or large. The biggest component is time to go through your photos and put together an album. There are some great online services and software that allow you to upload your photos and put together albums with different fonts, layouts, colours and cover choices for reasonable costs. I've created my daughter's album using an online service but you might like the personal touch of a handmade album, especially if you're into scrapbooking!
Calendars
Calendars make great gifts for parents, grandparents (and don't forget the great-grandparents), aunts and uncles and so on. You can create a single page calendar with a small year overview at the bottom of an A4 page and use the top to decorate with your own artwork, your children's artwork, a family photo or a whole collage of photos.
Or you can create a 12-page calendar with a month to a page, staple or bind them with a cover, then decorate the back of the previous month's page so that when you hang the calendar you will have artwork or photos on the top page and the month on the bottom page.
I've used this idea for my own grandmother this year, using photos of my four grandchildren for each month. I chose a theme for each photo and looked up quotes online, placing one underneath each month's photo. For example, some of the quotes I chose were "Some pursue happiness - others create it", "Laughter is the best medicine", "Imagination is intelligence having fun" - the last one goes along with a photo of my 2 year old daughter covered in green paint! Maybe those quotes or saying will inspire you to create your own calendar gift.
Photos
I know that the last two gift ideas revolve around photos but you really can't go wrong with a simple photo in a frame because it promotes relationships, family and love. Children are the source of great sayings, so why not have them come up with special sayings about what they think love is, what they love about the recipient, or even about the photo itself. In years to come you'll look back on those innocent words with special fondness because your child's words may not be so sweet and innocent by the time they hit the teen years!
Box of Wishes
This is an exciting one because you can choose to fill it with written wishes for the person or simply send the wishes into the box with your thoughts. You can decorate the box beautifully by painting, covering with special paper or fabric, adding ribbon and so on. This really is a box of positivity and love - you may even wish to call it something like that. A message tag can be attached with a sentiment along the lines of: "If you are ever feeling down, open this box and take a wish out to brighten your day. These wishes have no expiry date but can be transferred to others through a simple smile or hug." Or "Any time you need a little love and support, open this box and know that it contains an endless amount of love from me to you."
Charity Donation
I think this is a beautiful gesture, especially for people who seem to already have everything. Make a donation to a charity that appeals to you on behalf of the recipient. As with the Box of Wishes, you can create a card with a special sentiment, perhaps along the lines of: "I tried to think of something special to get you this year and couldn't think of anything more special than helping someone whose needs are much bigger than our own." (adapt for children, animals, the planet, etc.)
Creativity Packs
I've done this one many a time for the children in our family. Basic art and craft supplies are something that children can go through quite regularly. We're all familiar with the requests for new pencils or felt tips not long after we've bought some. So I think they are great to stock up on and give as gift packs. A cheap scrapbook and a set of coloured pencils is sufficient if the budget is really tight and the child have hours of creativity and fun from those simple items!
Here's a more comprehensive list of suggestions that could be included in a Creativity Pack, depending on what your budget will allow:
Paper: scrapbook, sketchbook, ream of paper, coloured paper or cardboard, foil paper, corrugated cardboard, butcher's paper, large roll of paper (Ikea sell them), etc.
Books: colouring book, sticker activity book, how-to-draw book, sticker album, diary, craft how-to books, etc.
Pens & Pencils: writing pencils, coloured pencils, crayons, markers, fine liners, felt-tips, brush-tip pens, gel pens, glitter pens, chalk pastels, watercolour pencils, oil pastels, etc.
Other Supplies: ruler, eraser, sharpener, scissors, stapler, tape, glue, hole punch, edging scissors, corner punches (with different designs), etc.
Painting: acrylic paints, watercolours, paint brushes, paint pallet, canvas, watercolour sketchbook, etc.
Crafty Items: pipe cleaners, pom-poms, buttons, shells, wool, paper plates, wooden matchsticks, icypole sticks, foam balls, stamps and inks, and so on.
Many of these things can be bought very cheaply from your local Dollar stores and they now sell bags of all sorts of decorative items, threads, laces - just about anything you could think of!
Homemade Goodies
I'm talking about the food variety here. Are you famous for your butterscotch cookies, pumpkin scones or plum pudding? Why not make a big batch (or many batches!) and tie them up with cellophane and a ribbon or get a decorative tin or jar to put your goodies in. Even if you don't usually bake, you can find a recipe and give it a go. Rocky road is easy and fun to make, as are cookies and muffins. Just make sure to know how long your recipe will last once it's been made and find out how to make it last longer, such as putting in an air-tight container, freezing, etc. My great-aunt makes her special Christmas cake each year and gives one to each family. Everyone loves it and they return the decorative tins in preparation for next year! That's recycling too!