Home
Menus & Recipes
A Well-Stocked Pantry
Shopping Wisely
Price Book
Master Shopping Lists
Sam's Club
Helping Others
Frugal Gifts
Date Nights at Home
The Kitchen Garden
On Our Bookshelf
Heirloom Sewing
Homeschooling
Encouragement
Speaking Engagements
Copyright Information
Link To This Site
What's New
 
 
 
 
Frugal Gifts
 
 
 Often, the most frugal gifts you can give are the ones you make.
With careful shopping, store-bought gifts can be frugal, too.
Most of the ideas below can be made with items you already have at home.
  
 
Note: I am not including sewing links on this page.
Links for clothing and sewn gifts can be found on the Sewing For Less page.

 

My guest post: Christmas on a Zero-Budget

Girls

 

Flower Earrings

 

Changing clip-on Earrings to Pierced Earrings

 

Seed Beeded Bobby Pins

 

Hair Bows

 

More Hair Bows

 

Lip Balm

 

 An Embroidery Kit

Thread, a small hoop, and a pair of embroidery scissors (bought 50% off at Joann's), free embroidery patterns and a disappearing sewing  marker

 

See the Embroidery page for more ideas on what to include.

 


Toddler Toys

Using items you probably have on hand already


Boys

 

Marshmallow Shooter

 

 Homemade wooden blocks

made from scrap wood

  

Homemade Bouncy Balls

 

Food Gifts

 

Homemade candy

Homemade cookies 

(both of these are also great stocking stuffers)

  

Bread

  

Homemade Hot Chocolate Mix

 

Canned jams, fruit butters, jellies, etc.

 

Fudge

 

Vanilla Salt

 

Free printable labels for canning jars 

 

Jam labels

 

 

 Gifts from the Garden

 

Did your aloe plant make new plants this year? Pot them up and give them as gifts. 

 

Plant some herbs indoors (in leftover containers from your garden purchases), and give those new plants as gifts.

 

Did you dry lots of herbs this season? Put them in empty glass jars, label them, and tie with fabric and twine for a gift from the garden.

 

Give seeds that you've collected from your garden using our

printable seed packet

 

Lavender Wands

 

For the garden:

 

Metal Plant Markers

 


 Other ideas

 

Homemade Bath Salts

 

More bath salts and containers

 

Lavender Ironing Water

 

Print a picture for a child's room, a friend, etc, and put it in an inexpensive frame from a garage sale or thrift store. Consider painting the frame if needed.

 

Several sites have free images:

 

Graphics Fairy

 

Vintage Printable

 

NY Public Library

 


Baby Gifts

 

Floral Sock Bouquet 

 

Paper Gifts

These cost just

paper (or cardstock) and your toner/ink.

 

 

Paper Toys

 

Think play castles, buildings, and cars. These are cut, folded, and glued to construct. These are great to print out and let your children construct!

 

The Toymaker

Beautiful, simple toys (along with a couple of fun boxes for gift giving, including a frog and a chocolate truck) 

 

Paper Toys

  

Vintage Airplane Models

 

Small Airplane Models

 

Merlin's Castle

 

Civil War Soldiers

 

Jamestown

  

Nativity

 

Cuckoo Whistle

 

Canon's Creative Park

Good for older children or even adults

 

Victoria & Albert

Museum of Childhood

Victorian Village, French Classroom, 1930's paper dolls, doll's room, tumbling acrobat and more

 

Paper City

 

Vintage-Style Concentration Game

 

 

Paper Dolls

 

Patty Reed Paper Dolls

 

Betsy McCall Paper Dolls

 

Soldiers of 3 Wars and Their Lasses

 

Vintage Finnish Paper Dolls

 

Dutch Costume Paper Dolls

 

Beautiful vintage paper dolls

 

Joan Walsh Anglund Valentine Dolls

 

Lily & Thistle Paper Doll

 

Dolly Dingle Paper Dolls

 

More Paper Printables

 

Bookmarks, cards, stickers, calendars, recipe cards, toys

 

Custom Bingo Cards

Print these on cardstock and then cover them with clear contact paper to help them last longer.

 

Print a coloring book and give it with some crayons bought at back-to-school sales

 

Print coupon books for your family.

Children would love coupons for you to clean their room, and a spouse might enjoy a coupon for you to clean their car, etc.

 

Beautiful Free Printables from Martha Stewart

 

 

A Print a Day

Free downloadable printables

 

 

Containers and Wrapping

 

Something to put your gifts in

 

Oragami Nesting Boxes

 

Accordian Envelope

 

Gift Boxes and Tags

 

Gift Bow from Paper

 

Some of the Prettiest Free Printables

(cards, gifts, cookie boxes, gift boxes, freezer labels, and more)

 

Magic Boxes

 

Matryoshka gift tags

 

 

More printables

 

Free Sheet Music

 

Music Theory Flash Cards

 

Scripture Stickers

 

 

Personal Gifts

 

Record yourself singing hymns or lullabies onto a cd or as an MP3.

 

Record yourself reading a children's book. Send it to a faraway grandchild.

 

Record yourself reading scriptures onto a cd or as an MP3 and give it to your spouse to listen to on the way to work.

 

 Record yourself playing a instrument onto  a cd or as an MP3.

 

Print photos or make a photobook for members of your family. You can often get these for free, or a minimal amount.

 

Make a cookbook of favorite family recipes for your adult children or a child attending college.

 

Make Family Games

 

Family Trivia

 

Family Yahtzee

 

 

Photo Jewelry

In the comments it tells you where to get the supplies.

 

Make silhouettes of your children and frame them. Or, turn them into ornaments.

 

Books

 

If you are giving giving books for gifts, consider buying them used. Often, they still look brand-new!

 

I have bought used books from the following places:

 

Thrift stores

Used book stores

 

Some of their used books are .01! (you do pay shipping on these--usually $3.99). Just look for the books you want and see if they have some for sale that are used.

 

Half.com

Alibris.com 

 

Also, I have seen great cook books, children's books, and art instruction books

(brand-new) for very little at Joann's and Michael's stores around Christmas time. These are usually hardcover, too! I have bought hardcover cookbooks for $1-$5 and unabridged children's classics for $4.

 

I have packaged an Italian cookbook with dried basil, oregano, and parsley, balsamic vinegar and olive oil.