Inexpensive Christmas Gifts

Christmas is a time of joy, piece, and giving. It is also a time of being
broke. Adults often think that the idea of making Christmas gifts is only for
children who do not yet have their own money to buy gifts. However,
with a little bit of ingenuity, some clever shopping, and a fair amount of
free time, you can make some very grown up do it yourself Christmas
gifts.

The first step is to spend an afternoon at a craft store, and see what
sticks out at you as things you would be comfortable sitting down to
work on. Some very basic, but very nice final product ideas include:

(1) Knit caps. If you have time to pick up crocheting or knitting,
Christmas is a perfect time of year to put that talent to good use. You
can make knit caps, mittens and scarves for men and women alike on your
holiday shopping list. With all of the different available colors and textures
in yarns today, it is virtually limitless what you can do to personalize a
knitted gift. For some extra special fun, you can work in some fun beads
fairly easily to jazz up a more basic design.

(2) Pick up some shadow box frames at the art store, and make some
personal home decorations. For example, if you have someone on your list
who is a big fan of Beethoven, you can create a shadowbox picture with
some music notes in the background with a copy of a Beethoven
songbook and maybe a dollhouse piano in the frame. Stuff like the
dollhouse furniture as well as lots of great designs for backgrounds and
the like can usually be found in the scrapbook section of your favorite
craft store.

(3) Jewelry is a great personal do it yourself gift. There are all different
skill levels for creating your own jewelry, and lots of different pieces that
you can purchase to make your gift as professional looking and beautiful as
you want. If you go to a good bead store, they will have lots of different
settings on which to put earrings and a great selection of different and
interesting beads for you to use. The best part though, is that they have
expertise. With a little bit of help from the experts, you can make
beautiful, one of a kind jewelry for less than a dollar a piece.

(4) Ornaments are a great way to celebrate the Christmas season. There
are so many different ways to create your own unique ornaments, that
you could make a different type of ornament for nearly everyone on your
list. You could cross-stitch some ornaments, hand paint a box of regular
glass ornaments, create egg shell ornaments with glitter or paint, make
picture frame ornaments, bead Holiday shapes with pipe cleaners and
pony beads, string some Hawaiian flowers for a funky tree garland, or just
put a glittery hook on a plain ornament bulb. The best part about this
gift, is that you get to see it every year on your loved one¡¯s Christmas
tree.