What frugal items did you give, make, or fix for Christmas presents 2007?

[krbshappy71]

I thought this would be fun to get ideas from each other for the coming year.

I made:

satchels: I have chocolate mint growing in my front yard. I cut and dried a bunch of it. Wrapped in cheesecloth I had on hand, tied into little satchels and fastened a velvety bow. (bows purchased 1/2 price previous after-Christmas sale) Satchels were given to the women in my family, three per person. (the mint grows like crazy, I had tons) Total cost: free!

I fixed: a curio I received from Freecycle and gave to my mom. It isn't perfect, but it is a very pretty curio that needed a leg brace fixed. She was thrilled! I gave her pictures of me working on it which she also enjoyed. Total cost: free! had the wood and tools needed to repair it on hand

I fixed: a cuddly love-y from my teen's baby years. I restuffed it where there were rips and it sewed up very nicely. I then framed a baby picture of her with the love-y Total cost: Free! used a picture frame already on hand, and of course needle and thread.

Free items I gave: clothes, belts, and sashes received from Freecycle for both teens and the above items listed.

[inneedofhope]

I have to say, I did not do well in 2007.

I used cards from previous years (I never use a whole box, just keep putting em back in the storage, a $1 box lasts like 3 years!
For co-workers I attached homemade spritz cookies to their cards.
For a friend I found a nice frame very cheap and inserted a pic of us together when we were kids.
Stayed away from electronics or battery operated stuff for ds.
Put together little gift bags around a theme for each neice & nephew, shopped dollar store for them.

[monkeywrangler71]

I made pyjamas for the kids. Most was fabric I already had, but I did buy a meter of flannel for my son's bottoms since I had nothing appropriate.

I made a denim quilt for my inlaws.

I made a rag doll for my youngest daughter.

I built a train table for the kids, and bought them a second hand brio train set.

[Marie78]

I made cookies .

[sunshine]

purchased: $50 crystal candy dishes with sterling silver serving spoons -- on sale for $4.99 -- these went to neighbors, preacher, dance teacher. All were VERY impressed.

weather station for my storm chaser dh -- reg. price $249, on sale, online codes and GC's for doing survey's -- final price with shipping $29.53

Taste of Home hard back cookbooks- on sale for $5 each - much appreciated by my DIL's.

NWT nightgown for my mom - purchased at a yard sale for $2

Freebies: fleece blanket (free with med purchase at drugstore) - matched my mom's bedroom theme.

lip gloss set - dd loved it, free from VS with purchase (spent $2.99)

quilted jacket from Chadwick's - free with purchase (spend $1.29)

hat/glove/scarf set from VS - free with purchase (see above) much appreciated by DIL

solar lights- actually purchased with GC earned online by doing points programs.

ETC.

handmade:

potholders
dishcloths
2 camis
3 scarves
1 sweater
2 quilts
1 afghan
2 soft Tic-Tac-Toe games
2 soft checker boards/pieces
lots of soft jewelry
many puppets

More things I can't remember.

[Neeley]

I am not much into making things for everyone, however I always try to put together something personal for my mom and dad for either Christmas or birthdays.

This year one of the gifts I gave my mom and dad was DVDs we(DH, DD, DS and I) made. We scanned over 200 hundred photos dating back to when my parents were infants all the way up to some new photos we took a couple of weeks ago. We have a program on our computer that allows us to put the pics to music, make transitions from one photo to the next, add texts, etc....I was going to have them done professionally, but they charge a minimum of $50 a song. So we found this program and did it ourselves.

We did one for my dad that was about 15 minutes long - 4 songs
~My Wish by Rascal Flatts - pics of me through the years, my kids, my mom(my parents are still very close eventhough they are both remarried), my step mom, my step-nieces my dad is raising etc....
~The Dance by Garth Brooks - had only pics of relatives and friends who have passed away showing during this song like his mom and two brothers~
~Daddy's Hands by Holly Dunn - only pics of my dad and me during this song. Keep in mind my dad lost both arms when I was 18 months old and when I was little this song reminded me of Daddy. Now that I am older and understand the meaning of it is all the more special to me.
~I Love NASCAR by Cletus - Pics of my dad stock car racing in the 70's. He raced against some of the greats like Bobby Allison, Red Farmer, mainly the guys from the Alabama Gang. Also included a few pics of my kids go-cart racing through the years.

Also made a smaller DVD for my mom - only 2 songs. I did My Wish and Celine Dion's song Because You Loved Me. I am making her a longer one for Mom's Day.

Yeah - they both cried.

Previous years I have made a shadow box for my mom w/the outfit in it they brought me home from the hospital in when I was born (my great grandmother made the outfit). I made my dad a shadow box of an 8x10 photo of him getting his 3rd place trophy for total points for the racing season in 1974 here along with a newspaper article where he beat Red Farmer in the last race of the season. I made my dad a special wooden box w/pics of my nieces, my kids and me all over it. I gave my mom a shadow box with DD's baby shoes, first hair bow and a few other items my mom cherishes from when DD was a baby.

[homemaker66]

when I went to garage sales over the summer I pick up items that was new or slightly used and gave them for presents.
ALOT of gifts came from the dollar store. Made candy and gave that to anyone who stopped by.

[MVS0122]

Well first of all I spent less than normal and tried to buy stuff I thought would be useful and not just end up in a junk pile.

I gave my son's teacher, my co-workers and several family members coffee that I roasted myself.

I gave some of the women in my family sugar scrubs that I made.

I gave my granny and my dad some loaves of cranberry bread.

I gave my aunt a wreath I made.

[AmyBoz]

This Christmas, I:

~baked cookies for my co-workers instead of buying them gifts (2nd year in a row for this...they appreciate the cookies)
~bought 33 used chapter books cheap for Dd off of eBay
~bought a bunch of books from our church bazaar for $0.05 each for Ds#1

[tbs727]

I made purse organizers, which went over really well.... you can see it here. I also made cookies for my bosses.

[mcphlips]

I made purse organizers, which went over really well.... you can see it here. I also made cookies for my bosses.

The purse organizer looks really cool! Was it difficult to make? I am a really beginner sewer!

[ilovechocolate]

I made homemade goodies for co-workers.

[Daisygirl]

I made cookies for teachers, coworkers, friends and neighbors.
I made a beautiful fancy scarf for the lady whose name I drew in the work Secret Santa.
I made a scrapbook of the girls and a scrapbook calendar for my mom and dad.
I helped the girls make fancy Christmas ornaments to give as gifts to their dad's side of the family.
Aside from that I didn't really give any gifts except to my girls and a couple of close friends.

[SammeyG]

This past christmas i didn't make any gifts. But for 2008 christmas I am going to make several scrapbooks for some family members. This past christmas I was kinda of inspired to do something. One of my cousins gave picture ornments that she had done at walgreens. Plus I have been doing ancersty stuff. So I think that I am going to give that to my grandmother next year for christmas. What other gifts that I don't make then I am going to try to find stuff on sale.

[krbshappy71]

I had good intentions to make calendars for people on Shutterfly using family photos but then ran out of time to do a good job at it. Then I found out my computer has it's own calendar-making ability, ha! Oops. So that is on my "consider doing this" list for Christmas next year.