Giving gifts at Christmas time can be so much more fun than receiving them, but if you’re on a limited budget it can sometimes be tricky to figure out what to get your loved ones; especially if you want to get something meaningful rather than just a token gift!
Here are some of our top affordable Christmas pressie ideas:
A DIY coupon pack
Whether it’s for a grandparent, friend, parent or child, create a homemade pack of coupons for them to redeem over the coming months. You can use your computer, draw them by hand or if you have a slightly bigger budget and want to be fancy you can create them using a company like Vistaprint.
Some ideas include:
- A shoulder massage
- A home cooked meal
- Babysitting/petsitting for a night
- A car wash
- At home spa (DIY manicure, pedicure, facial)
- Lawnmowing/gardening services for a day
Home baking
Many people tend to buy baked goods these days, so home baking often goes down well as a much-appreciated gift. If you need to give presents to large families or many individuals, you can either bake multiple recipes and create a gift basket of goodies, or make a greater quantity of one recipe so that there are enough baked goods to share around. Some of our favourites include these Raw Chocolate Bliss Balls and this sugar-free Cocoa Pumpkin Fudge.
Buy some clear cellophane (can get this from most $2 shops) and some plain brown string or ribbon and package your baking up with a homemade gift tag.
Cookie ingredient jar
This is one of our favourite ideas; take your favourite cookie recipe and layer all the dry ingredients into a jar. Tie the lid off with some ribbon (you could also cut a square of festive material to cover the lid if you like) and add labels – either sticky or on the gift tag – with recipe instructions and any additional ingredients that need to be added.
Just make sure that the jar is the right size for your recipe; the ingredients will need to be relatively tightly packed to prevent them getting mixed up and the layers are what makes this present look great!
A mix CD (or playlist!)
The days of the mixtape are done and dusted, but there’s something special about a compilation of songs made just for you. Make someone special a mix CD or if they’re a bit more technologically inclined, you can buy a snazzy USB stick and gift the songs that way instead. For bonus points, record your own festive message and add it as an extra track.
Image / Pixabay (top); NZ Real Health (bottom)