There is nothing quite like having the intention to present someone with a thoughtful gift but being unable to do so because you lack the money to buy the item of your liking. Well, who said that gift giving is about the money? Not at all – it has to do with the appreciation and thought that you invest in the gift.
When you don’t have the money, you can certainly make use of the many low-cost gift ideas around and end up surprising the recipient. What’s more, the recipient will probably love the gift better because putting it together for him/her is not only thoughtful but very personalized indeed.
Following are a few ideas to get you going:
1Cheap Gift Ideas: Personalized Towels
Making personalized towels is a great low-cost gift idea with the best part being that it does not have to involve any sewing or embroidery work, if you prefer not to do either of the two. All that is required for this gift idea is various sizes of towels (a bath towel, a hand towel and a wash cloth, or kitchen towel), a suitable measure of fabric, and some bonding agent.
You are basically going to paste the bonding agent on the wrong side of the fabric and then proceed to cut out some pattern designs, perhaps the recipient’s initials, patterns that relate to their profession, or some abstract patterns. All the towel sizes must feature similar patterns for uniformity. Once your cutouts are ready, you just have to peel off the paper backing and dry iron the patterns in place on the towels. Ensure that you follow the bonding instructions provided.
2
Cheap Gift Ideas: Making Gel Candles
This low-cost gift idea requires you to have gel, a glass container(s), zinc wicks, liquid color dye, embeds, and essential oil for that fragrant appeal. The gel, dye, wicks, and essential oil can be purchased cheaply from online candle-making suppliers. The glass containers can be sourced from garage sales and second-hand stores, while embeds can feature non-flammable materials as diverse as sea shells, marbles, artificial pearls, sand, glitter, and even pebbles.
Place some drops of glue at the bottom of your glass container and then stick one end of the zinc wick there, giving it sufficient time to dry. Cut the gel into small pieces for easy melting and drop these into a stainless steel pot on a heat source. Heat the pieces to melting while using a thermometer to ensure that the temperature doesn’t exceed 200°F. Add a suitable amount of dye and fragrance. Next, place the pot in a microwave set at 150-160°F, the reason being to avoid bubbles. Next, hold up the wick and pour the hot gel down the glass container’s sides. To add embeds you should first dip them in hot gel and then arrange them as you please, preferably next to the glass walls for better visibility. Allow the gel to solidify and then trim the wick accordingly.
3
Cheap Gift Ideas: Sewing Coat Hanger Covers
This is yet another great low-cost gift idea that will be quite a favorite with both male and female recipients. We all know how drab and plain wire hangers look – if you take the time to observe – and the indenting effect they can have on items of clothing, especially with prolonged use. Timber hangers are much better, and covering or padding them with attractive scraps of fabric is a good way to decorate them and also improve their usefulness. Giving someone a set of timber hangers decorated in this way will surely show lots of thoughtfulness, innovation and effort on your part. For this project you will need a template (which you can download), some fabric, foam/wadding, timber hangers, thread, needle, ribbon, and scissors.
Proceed to cut a rectangular shape of wadding/foam and wrap it around the hanger ensuring the ends are neatly tucked in. Loose ends should be sewn in place. Use the template to cut the fabric into a rectangular shape of appropriate dimensions. With the fabric’s right sides folded together lengthwise proceed to cut a scallop shape from either end. With the fabric still folded together stitch both ends while providing a 1cm seam. The long side should remain open to allow for hanger insertion. Turn the fabric inside-out; insert the hanger, then stitch decoratively to enclose it. Stylishly tie the ribbon piece on top and your padded hanger is done.
These are just a few of the ideas you can use. There are so many more, such as http://notmadeofmoney.com, http://hubpages.com/hub/Holiday-gift-ideas-that-cost-little-or-no-money, and http://hubpages.com/hub/No-Money-Christmas-Gifts.
4Frugal Gift Wrapping Techniques
Your low-cost gifts will also require some sort of wrapping, cheap as well. You just need to be innovative and creative. How about using a computer to design and print out a wrapping paper template of your own? Alternatively you can stamp your own designs on plain wrapping paper or have the kids do some coloring on the same. Low cost gift wrapping can also be based on the use of related items, e.g., a set of kitchen mittens can be wrapped attractively in a kitchen towel and some handmade jewelry can be presented in a suitably decorated glass jar that probably contained honey or jam back in the day.
