This Week: Low-Cost Holiday Gifts

The annual holiday buying binge is upon us. Stores are decked out in red and green, ads entice us to spend, spend, spend, and spread some holiday cheer. But some of us (including the editor of this section) are too financially strapped to blow a wad of cash on gifts for friends and loved ones. What are your best suggestions for low-cost holiday gift-giving that won't make the giver seem cheap or thoughtless?

Read what others have said.

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jmd: There is this tragic notion that you must spend in order to give an appropriate gift. Bullpuckey.

Now listen to me, as this is coming to you from someone who once spent 7 percent of her net income on holiday gifts -- and dealt with consolidation loans later. The most important thing you can do is remember your loved ones. You can make wonderful gifts that are not expensive. If you're a writer, write or translate something as a gift. If you're a baker, fire up the stove and get cooking. if you can't cook, find a friend who does, and likes to, and for the price of ingredients and a good dinner, have him/her bake for you. If you're a programmer, make a software widget. If you're not a propeller-head, you can still make a free Web page for someone on Tripod. Music lovers can make mix tapes. You can make gift certificates (the nicest gift I ever made for someone was a membership to Jan's Book-Of-The-Month Club, where the recipient could present a certificate on my payday, each month, for 12 months, and get the book of his choice.)

Most importantly, if you're giving expensive gifts because everyone else does, or because you compete with your siblings as to who can give the best gift to Aunt Tilly, you're missing the point. Free yourself, go beyond it, and experience of the joy of giving from thoughtfulness.

formicacid: I enjoy printing photos and giving these as gifts. Cost: 50 cents for an 8x10, 75 cents for mount board, maybe $4 for a cheap frame. Total: $5.25. If you don't print, make something else. I enjoy recieving/giving handmade gifts like this because the person actually took the time to make something especially for me. With a store-bought gift, you spend the time earning the money to buy with. With a handmade gift, the giving is more direct because you spend your time actually making the gift.

Abyss: Go to a craft store and buy some fabric or beads. Then you can make a necklace for a woman or other simple things. The fabric and beads are fairly inexpensive, and the gift will be more personal.

Hopey: Well, I've been a po' girl all my life, and I am the queen of cheap but neat gifts. If the recipient likes to read, go to your local library; they usually have some fairly new books for sale. These books are oftentimes just replicas of books that they have over 3 copies of, so there's nothing wrong with them. Other times, they're out-of-print and hard to find books. A very good example: I got my roommate a 1st edition copy of a1984 hardback for FIFTY CENTS. It's in very good condition. I saw the same book in a used bookstore for 30 bucks! For the collector-minded folks, you can also try matchbook collections. Go to your local bars and restaurants. You'd be suprised at the neat matchbooks they have. They're free. Antique stores usually have old matchbooks. I got 500 for ten bucks once. Arrange them in an old candy jar and you have an interesting thing to put near your fireplace.

cyber1: Well, with the joyous holidays soon to be upon us, I'm already hearing the stories of financial woes of the past spirit of giving and the expectations of the young, but not truly innocent siblings. This year would be a good year to start a new tradition or should I say "old" ? Try sending a card with sincere feelings and a blessing for a happy and healthy life. If you could make this expression yourself, applying true effort, would it be received in the spirit it was sent? Probably... not!

KMorrison: Looks like everyone who has added their two cents agrees that homemade gifts are best. I'd rather give them, and I'd rather receive them. It takes about a half-hour to select and pay for a scarf or whatever at a store, but the one I crochet for you takes days or weeks. If you give me one, I know you worked hard on it. You cared about me that much. Very special!

Teena: How about home-made ornaments? Last year mine were a big success! My mother and I used to make ornaments and that's what I used to look forward to every Christmas. It was a lot of fun.

Also, another cheap gift is TIME. If you don't see this person often, offer to take him/her on a hike, or bike riding, or to the zoo, or to the beach, or fishing. I've never seen anyone disappointed with a gift like that.

caffine: I feel the best gifts anyone can give or receive are the following:

1. Make a small donation to a charity in the person's name as a gift!

2. Volunteer along with the person you are "giving" to a local soup-kitchen or shelter and spread some cheer to the truly less fortunate.

Forget the commercial aspect of Xmas for one year - and see how better you feel, along with those you share these experiences with!

Aquamoon: As a teenager (with no pocket money or job), I've been making gifts instead of buying them for practically my whole life. Earrings are very nice; you can buy the hooks at craft shops, hang on some beads, an acorn, a leaf dipped in varnish so that it won't break... whatever you feel that person might appreciate. Then, find a small box, paint it or collage magazine pictures on it, then varnish. I once made a chain from orange pips -- you wouldn't believe how beautiful it looks. Home-made chocolate is another good idea; you just melt the chocolate and pour it into molds.

amie: Since my husband and I have eleven (yep, count 'em) relatives to cover this year and strapped resources, we're doing shirts for everyone. White t-shirts, red and green fabric paint, a different design for each person (some kind of decoration and the person's name, like a gift tag), and our daughter's handprints to make the designs. We figure everyone is crazy about her, so it should go over really well. Each person will have a momento of our daughter at this age, along with a neat shirt!

xiola: Photographs are always good. It's also nice to buy prints of paintings, photos or drawings -- try not to get something trite like flowers. You can get a cheap matte board to frame it for about $2-4. Decorating a cheap frame from K-mart with silver or gold spray is nice, too.

dalleh: For years I have collected the comic pages from Sundays newspapers. I use them for gift wrap, and everybody asked me if they can find them in stores. If they don't like the gift, at least they will enjoy the funnies.

haituanv: If you have a computer (do you?) and some software, make personalized Christmas cards with poems or warm wishes. If you have a color printer, add some photos -- and there you have it!