I hope that you enjoyed reading yesterday’s post about saving money on home decorating. Today I want to share some ideas for frugal and fabulous gifts!
1) Keep a stash of small gifts on hand
Sometimes you just need a little birthday, hostess, or thank-you gift, and it’s nice to have a small selection on hand. Some ideas are bath goodies (buy at Tuesday Morning, Ross, or on sale at Bath & Body Works), candles (pillar or taper; wrap with ribbon for a nice touch), a few yummy chocolates (package in a small decorative box), books (stock up on deeply discounted books at Christian bookstores and online), and stationary sets.
2) Store your gift-wrapping supplies and cards together
Rather than having to search all over the house for a pair of scissors, store your tissue paper, gift bags, ribbon, tape, scissors, and other supplies in one location for easy packaging in a hurry. Read about some gift stations here and here.
3) Keep cards on hand
Keep general birthday, thank-you, get-well, and other common occasion cards on hand so that you’ll always have one to use in a pinch. Buy in bulk from Current or snag 2/$1 cards from the dollar store. Purchase special cards (family member birthday cards, for example) months ahead of time and store in a filing box (separated by month) or a card storage notebook in your gift station. In the front of your filing box or card notebook, keep a list of birthdays and anniversaries of important people in your life.
4) Shop ahead
I have found that when I wait until the last minute to shop for a gift for someone, I end up feeling stressed and frustrated, and often I am not able to find the item that I had in mind. Start shopping before you HAVE to have their gift ready so that you can shop around to get a good deal (there I go again…) and allow yourself plenty of time to wrap and/or ship their gift if needed.
5) Pick a theme
This works in two ways. First, you can pick a theme for someone’s gift, such as purchasing a cake pan, measuring cups, measuring spoons, a spatula, a mixing bowl, and a favorite recipe for a bridal shower gift. Choosing a theme helps make your gift-giving seem less “random” and more heart-felt! Another idea is to make an Italian food gift basket (pasta, sauce, cheese grater, Italian music CD, candles, etc.) as an anniversary gift for a couple. Get creative! Theme-ing your gifts can be really fun.
Secondly, you can pick a theme for a year and have all your gifts be in that category! For example, we are giving books as birthday gifts to all of our family members this year. We shop ahead of time and purchase several books at once (to get free shipping from WTS or Amazon), and then we can mail them (we can use media mail!) to our family members if we won’t be seeing them around their birthdays.
6) Make gifts
Despite what you might think, you ARE creative enough to make gifts for people! Anything from crafts to sewing projects to handmade cards to baked goods can be given as gifts, and gifts made with love are deeply appreciated by the recipients. When giving handmade gifts, cater the gift to the person (use colors you know they’ll love, double the chocolate chips, etc.). Beautiful packaging (like boxes/bags from Garnish or Michael’s) can jazz up even the simplest of baked goods! (What cookies DON’T look better in crisp cellophane bags??) Include your recipe so they can make it again.
7) Give your time
Even if you don’t have a lot of money, you can still bless people by giving of your time. Offer to babysit their children, clean their house, wash their cars, or help them with house projects. Sometimes the gift of time is more appreciated than anything else!
How do you save money on gift-giving? Share your frugal and fabulous tips with the rest of us!
I don’t have a lot to add to your list, as I follow most of these suggestions too. I think the one I really focus on is buying ahead. I try to keep in mind what occasions are coming up when I shop, and if I see a great deal, I can snatch it up then. I regularly check out the clearance toy deals (at Target, mostly), so I can have some children’s birthday gifts on hand. I really love Target’s twice yearly (usually in January and July) toy clearance when they have some really great deals. I try to stock up then. Thanks for all your tips, Aliesha! I am enjoying this series!
I’m a big gift maker. This is easiest for girls given my hobbies! Some of the things I make that make easy universal gifts are: jewelry, soap, notebooks, gift card sets, bags, decorated candles, candle holders…
You’re right, people appreciate handmade SO much!
I love the theme idea. Also, I have gifts that I stick to for certain occasions and people know me for them like monogrammed notecards for wedding gifts and monogrammed pillowcases for kids.
Okay, see I loved the theme for the year thing but my family hated it. Everyone was like oh what is it..let me guess…a book?
I thought it was great. Oh well. I guess you have to consider how your recipients will react.
For wedding shower gifts I like to give holiday decor. You can save lots of money by buying it right AFTER the holiday and stashing it till needed!
I keep a gift box for each of my kids, as well as one general one for when we are invited to birthday parties. It has saved so much money, not only because I can buy on sale, but also because I know where it is when I need it!
Great ideas, all!
What is a Tuesday Morning? Never heard of it.
🙂
Stop by and visit me over at Free 2 Be Frugal sometime.