A reader asked me to follow-up on post about alternatives to store bought Christmas presents—especially given we find ourselves looking at yet another holiday season amid still uncertain economic times.
Below, take a moment to cheer yourself up with no fewer than 53 inexpensive holiday gift ideas!
Got an idea that’s not on this list? Please share it in a comment.
53 INEXPENSIVE GIFTS
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1. Potted plant
2. A painting or photograph in a a nice picture frame
3. A scrapbook
of photos/memories with the gift recipient4. Hat, mittens, or scarves
5. A loaf of homemade bread
6. Great for a couple: Free movie rental coupons and a box of popcorn
7. A mix CD or $10 iTunes card
8. Nice stationary
, a quality pen, and a few stamps9. A journal
with a personal note10. A coffee or tea mug
with a bag of coffee or box of tea-
11. A nuts and trail mix gift bag
12. A gift bag or basket of gourmet chocolate truffles or bars
13. A deck of playing cards
and a book of rules
14. For her: A makeup bag and a cosmetic product or two
15. A few of the recipients’ favorite magazines
16. Board games
17. A nice vase or jar filled with candy
18. Decorative recipe cards
with a few of your best recopies filled in19. For her: A great shade of nail polish, cotton, and remover
20. For pet lovers: A box of pet treats and a pet toy
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21. A great cookbook
22. A travel guidebook
for an upcoming vacation23. Nice socks
24. Colorful post-it notes
25. An action figure
(for adults too, they make great desk decorations)26. A kitchen tool
or two (think can opener, cheese slicer, potato peeler, etc.)27. A decorative bookmark (could be homemade, and free!)
28. Water bottles
29. Scented candles
30. Costume jewelry
- 31. Photo album
32. A small flashlight
33. Homemade cookies
34. Small gardening tools
35. Travel size toiletries
36. Winter skin care kit (small lip balm, hand lotion, etc.)
37. Christmas tree ornament
38. A six pack of a specialty beer
39. A good $10 bottle of wine (plenty abound)
40. A small die-cast car
(again, great desk items for adults, too!)-
41. A USB thumb drive
42. Travel alarm clock
43. Bottle of nice olive oil
44. Puzzle book (crosswords
, Sudoku)45. Bubble bath
or bath oils, or a nice soap46. A handful of nips of quality whiskeys
47. Travel pillow
48. Wallet
(with your photo pre-loaded!)49. Pancake mix and maple syrup
50. A collection of nice hot chocolate mixes (plus a mug and marshmallows?)
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51. Funny shot glasses
52. Creative key chain
53. A $50 savings bond (at a cost of $25). Okay, $25 is pushing the envelope of “cheap”, but what a great gift!
What’s your favorite cheap or free gift idea? Please share!
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I'm David Weliver. At 26, I had NO savings and NO financial plan. I was maxed out, stressed out, and fed up. Then, I changed. I repaid $80k of debt, tripled my income, and bought a home. I'll show you how to get similar results. 
There is really nothing better than nice socks.
-Dan Malone-
How about a big old handful of NOTHING!
sorry..my money went to the bailout..lol
ROFLMAO!
I review cookbooks for a living, and I’m not sure I’d put “a great cookbook” up there. You’re going to have a hell of a time finding anything decent for under $30, and the hot new stuff for fall is all $50-up.
Unless you meant writing someone a cookbook, an activity which I wholeheartedly support.
@DCBuppie: Wouldn’t it be nice if we could just tell everybody. “Eh, let’s skip the gifts this year.” It’s so much easier said than done.
@Paula: I had NO idea cookbooks cost that much. Most of mine I have received as gifts…guess they were bigger gifts than I thought. Yikes!
NOTHING. Stop giving gifts is the cheapest thing. I managed to stop gift exchange with friends, but family, well can’t win all the battles.
Costume jewelry is a great idea. I don’t know about other people, but I freakin’ love those huge over-the-top rings, and clunky necklaces. But then again, I might just have bad taste.
I often give homemade gifts for Christmas. I make homemade biscotti- almond or chocolate dried cherry and also include homemade hot cocoa mix or Russian tea mix. I have made homemade butterscotch and hot fudge sauce and given them in nice mason jars as gifts. Very cheap to do- buy butter, sugar and cream at Aldi’s. Everyone raves. I have also given wonderful scented soap that I carry home from Florida every year. I have also made Lebkuchen and strudel for gifts. My kids always get lip balm, a toothbrush and a movie pass in their stockings’ – it is a Chrismas tradition. I also go to resale shops and find really neat cookbooks for my daughter. They aren’t high priced and I am recycling them to another cook. I shopped at Sahalie last Christmas and got my DD and DDIL beautiful gloves for ten dollars each- free shipping and no tax!I like to give something that can be used and not end up on the table at the garage sale in a few years.
My mother in law went to a garage sale last year and I just moved and wanted to decorate my kitchen in the wine them and you would never believe she found 2 nice vases with the tags still on them for 5 bucks. I loved it and thought it was a nice present.
i do cheap gifts such as at the dollar store. dollar coffee mugs, cookie tins(then bake sugar cookies) for my boyfriends parents and the neighbors, lotions and bath gels and bath sponges for girls. i also go to wal mart down the travel size isle and get dollar mini axe shower gels, sprays, and shampoos for the guys. very in-expensive. i spent fifty dollars on ten people this year! five a person and it looks more expensive seams i used the dollars store! the lotions look like bath & body!! i spent more on my boyfriend but of course, hehe.
Some great gift ideas. I find the less you spend then the more effort you put in and therefore i think it is much more appreciated. One that i do a lot is but a decent size frame for arround $4 to $5 and then hunt out a load of memorable photographs of the person that the gift is for and then make them into a collage inside the frame. This is always received with enthusiasm.
Another great gift is wax bears. Get a slab of wax 7-8 dollars at flee market 2 bottles of the same scnt 20.00 melt wax adf sent get a stufged animal dip it in sented wax comb fur out let dry and harden can make 8 or 10 bears. Varying on size of bear. Tjen it will smell for ever if it stops smelling all you have to do is take a blow dryer and run across it its a great gift for moms grandmas aunts….anyone!
I think the best christmas gifts are from the heart and are the gift of family and love. Shouldn’t that be it?