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Gift ideas

Christmas 

• This year 2011 I was on a very tight budget so this year I decided to give a jewel I no longer wear as a Christmas gift. I made a pretty gift bag for it. I get most of my gifts from the dollar store like coin save or variety plus shops. - L.M.
  
  

• We have decided this is the best way to go this Christmas. I have made beach bags for my Grand daughter Cost nothing as I have material scraps at home As they are teenagers have included an inexpensive hair bush, lippy hair grip and mascara One granddaughter has made an apron for mom and painted a picture for dad and has hand made pressies for her friends at school. I do all the Christmas baking which includes the cake, mince pies, truffles and stuffed dates. The girls bake biscuits for the neighbours. – MD, Auckland.
  
  

• My three year old has been very busy all year making Christmas gifts. We bake and freeze throughout the year and save our large tin cans for him to paint and pop plants into them for the gardeners in the family. We also make him decorate all our labels (for homebrew and chutneys) and because he goes to kindy and makes about 10 pictures a week throughout the year I use them as wrapping paper for pressies. The family love getting his 'gifts' and he is very proud of his hard work and peoples reactions to it. - A OS, Wellington.
  
  

• I have recently been trawling galas, garage sales and op shops for Christmas pressies for the kids. You can buy fantastic gifts at very reasonable prices. I have bought all my nieces and nephews puzzles and games of their favourite cartoon characters for 20c each and they are still in almost new condition. My nieces are also getting jewellery boxes that were less than 50c each and my son is getting a huge box of lego we found for $5. Cannot believe how little we have spent so far and the fantastic toys and gifts the kids are getting this year. Have also saved some presents for Birthdays too! - A OS, Wellington.
  
  

• Save as much money as you can using your supermarket Christmas Club. When Christmas time comes around you can use your club money to do the usual shopping, saving your usual shopping money to spend at other retailers.  Also buy non perishable goods, (soap, detergent, foil, loo paper, rubbish bags, stuff that you won't be tempted to use before Christmas), when they are on sale through out the year and put them aside for the Christmas period. Leaving you more money for nicer things. - Mean Girl", Hastings.
  
  

• I have a lot of soap pieces that I keep during the year. I render them down in an old pot, when it's a bit cooler add petals from your garden, even pieces of orange peel, apple peel, lavender flowers, even use your old perfume. Use cookie cutters [$2 shop] stand on waxed paper, and tip the melted soap in and let it set, and wrap in sellaphane paper and tie with ribbon. D.M.
  
  

• I think the only way to prepare for each Xmas is to put some money away each week, fortnight or whatever and try NOT to use it during the year.  It makes things so much easier and not so stressful. Buy presents during the year but it this doesn't happen put a limit on each present and stick to it.  The same goes when buying groceries - stick to a limit and look for specials ALL THE TIME!!!!!  If you haven't got the cash on hand for Xmas items then the credit card nightmare begins and the start of the New Year is one big nightmare!!!  Don't go there!!!! - Peter & Robyn.
  
  

• Last year I made pickles and chutney and made nice home made labels for them on my computer. I wrapped each jar in bright red or green new tea towels and tied them with ribbon. My friends seemed well pleased with them and if you make a few extra they come in handy for gifts for people who visit around Xmas time (recycled jars of course). These can be made in advance and take a lot of stress out of Xmas. - Canny Scot, Christchurch

General

• For years I have been making gifts for my family and getting ideas from others. these include; oven gloves, pot-plants, photo frames (either make your own or do up an old one from a garage sale or second hand shop, with a nice family photo in it), homemade body or cleaning products (good ideas in library books), sewn handbags or  pillowcases, homemade lollies, drawer, wardrobe and shoe sachets to keep clothes and shoes smelling fresh, garden signs, decorated notepaper or handmade paper and notebooks (get a made or brought plain notebook like a school or office one for a few dollars from paper plus etc, and cover  neatly with nice material), card sets (make nice all occasion cards and envelopes, and put in a nice box),  jewellery from old beads, buttons and wire etc. The list goes on, and I find it real fun to think of and make presents for people, especially useful ones. - E.H
  
  

• I was helping my daughter with her stickers, and after I'd taken the stickers of, the plastic that the stickers were on, I cut around the shapes, and painted them with finger nail polish, and made a small hole with a needle, and hung them up on a small stick in the bathroom. Already my friends ask me where did I buy them, but that is my secret. Try it, the recycling habit is so good. D.M.

Gift ideas

• GIFTS: collected seeds popped into home made gift envelopes make wonderful gifts for gardening lovers. - Jules, Napier
  
  

• Our wider family got together and decided to limit Christmas gifts to $2 per person. That way nobody is too disappointed when they don't get anything flash. After all what do you expect $2? So what can you give for $2?

 Greeting cards

• For about 6 or 7 years I have been making my own greeting cards. I started by taking the insert out of the cards people had given to me, put a new one in and send them to someone else. Then someone was kind enough to give me off cuts from a printing firm and I cut out the front of the old greeting card and put it in the new card. And a school gave me photocopy paper, which had only been partly printed. Then friends started to give me their old cards and it has become a little cottage industry, with some people buying my cards. Then last year I heard you could make your own paper with torn up paper and water! So I bought a paper making kit and that’s what I do as a hobby! I still cut out old greeting cards and even have used stamps from envelopes to make an abstract design on the cards. After cutting inserts for the cards, I often have lots of scraps left over and that in turn gets used for making more pulp. – J.O. Christchurch.
  
  

• Cut the back off previous years cards and fold the front in half to make gift tags. This works best with patterned cards rather than a complete picture. - F.L., Auckland

Plants

• Indoor plants – split and repot. Good for presents. – D.G.