5 Quick and Easy $5 10 Holiday Gift Ideas

The holiday season is here. Friends come to visit or we go to them, the work place is filled with holiday cheer and gift giving. This year, more so than previous holiday seasons, budgets are tight.

Still, there's the mail person to think about, the doctor's receptionist, the hairdresser and the office party exchanges. Gifts to people you hardly know or relatives you seldom see are way down there on your priority list.

Here are 5 quick and easy gift ideas that you can use repeatedly throughout the holiday season: for Halloween, Thanksgiving, birthdays, office parties, special friends, Christmas, - just about any time you need a gift for any occasion.

You don't need to be a crafty wizard or spend a lot of money to be remembered for special gifts. Many of these ideas will cost you less than $5 each; only one or two may cost you $10, depending on where you shop for supplies.

You can buy in bulk to make everyone on your gift list the same thing, make several each of 2 or 3 ideas, or try them all! You'll find it easy to change themes as the season moves through the different holidays.

1. Tea lovers love teapots! It's easy to find 1-2 cup ceramic teapots in discount dollar stores, thrift shops or on sale when the malls hold holiday specials sales. Choose an appropriately themed one for general gift giving or something special for a tea-drinking friend; fill with a variety of flavored teas, tie it up with a bow and add a handmade gift tag that looks like a teabag. You can also use a solid color teapot and decorate it with holiday decals, such as whimsical spiders for a Halloween surprise.

2. For coffee and hot chocolate drinkers, find fun and funky large holiday themed mugs, fill with flavored coffee(s) or hot cocoas or even flavored swizzle sticks or cinnamon and peppermint sticks. This gift will definitely be appreciated on chilly evenings.

3. Most offices allow family photos to be displayed. Purchase a simple wood frame and decorate it with candies of the holiday. You can even purchase handy glue dots if you don't like burning your fingers with a hot glue gun. Simply attach candy corn (for Halloween), foil wrapped turkey candies (for Thanksgiving) or any wrapped Christmas candy to the frame for another quick and easy gift idea.

4. Book loving friends always need bookmarkers! Find holiday themed greeting cards with large simple graphics; i.e., a single black cat, a large turkey or Christmas tree. Cut it out, back it with a pretty fabric or paper, poke a hole in the top center and thread a simple ribbon through the hole for the page marking tassel. Even the non-crafty can add a large bead to the ribbon(for weight) before tying the ends together!

5. Nothing could be simpler than a festive bag of candy. Party stores have many holiday themed candy bags in different sizes and shapes. One bag of candy will make 3-5 nice sized gift bags. Secure the top with a rubber band, tie a bow with ribbon or fancy yarn and give them away. You might want to consider buying a bag of sugar-free candies, too, for those who may be on sugar restricted diets.

A simple gift wrapping idea for the crafting challenged is to make your own from appropriately themed wrapping or gift paper. Depending on the size of your gift, make a large circle (use a large dinner plate or serving platter) on a piece of card stock, poster board or other sturdy paper, to make a template. Use the template to cut circles in the wrapping paper. Place your gift in the center of the paper circle, neatly and carefully pull up the sides, secure with a rubber band and embellish with ribbon or a bow! You can make more elegant wrappings by using fabrics.

Use these 5 simple gift ideas over and over again for any occasion and you'll never be at a loss for a gift even under the most pressing schedule or unexpected invitation.

Resource: Ideas I've had to come up with in a hurry for unexpected occasions, parties, or visitors!


By Lynn Star