Framed Artwork Gift Ideas

A great gift to give to a close family member or friend is artwork that your child made. There is hardly any cost at all to this gift. Go to the Dollar Tree and buy an 8"x10" frame. Let your child draw with crayons, markers, glitter and stickers. Have them sign their name to add a personal touch. Frame the artwork and they will love it! I recently had my boys do this for a friend who was expecting a baby. They each had their own frame and they drew a picture for their new friend. My friend has the artwork hanging in the baby's room.

Personalized Coasters

A wonderful gift to give someone is personalized photo coasters. You can make them at home and there is nothing to it. It is a very inexpensive gift to make as well! Here is a list of supplies you will need to pull of this great gift!
Supplies

Ceramic Tiles
Photos
Sandpaper
Mod Podge Decoupage Glue
Foam Brush
Felt Squares
Clear acrylic sealer

1) The first thing you need to do is choose your photos. For the best results, the photos need to be printed professionally at your local photo store.

2) You will need to sand the top of the ceramic tiles lightly to remove the shine.

3) Trim the photos a little bit smaller than your tiles.

4) Apply the Mod Podge adhesive on top of the tiles, using a foam brush.

5) Place your photo on top of the tile and apply multiple layers of decoupage sealer.

6) Apply felt squares to the bottome of your coasters.

7) Spray with clear acrylic sealer

Personalized Journals

My favorite gift to give is personalized journals. This is an excellent gift for mommies. Anytime a family member or friend has a baby, the first thing I do is take a picture or request a picture of the newborn and find out the height, weight, date and time the baby was born. I then upload the picture to a photo site, such as Snapfish. (Walgreen’s or CVS will work too). Once your photo is uploaded, click on Notebooks that is listed under Home & Office. You now can begin designing your notebook by choosing the background color, display of your photo, and your personalized message on the front cover as well as the inside cover. When I create a journal for a new mom, the baby’s full name, date of birth, time, height and weight is displayed on the front cover as well as “my inspiration…” In the inside of the front cover, I always personalize a message or quote. One of my favorite quotes to use is “Where there is love, there is life” by Gandhi. A personalized journal is great for moms to keep track of all the funny things your children do that you swear you will remember, but by the time the week is over you forget. Personalized journals are great for anyone. You don’t have to be a mom to enjoy a personalized journal. I have created journals for friends by putting a photo of their dog or cat on the front cover. Notebooks are very inexpensive to make, costing $9.99 through Snapfish. This gift comes from the heart and is something people can really get good use out of.

Movie Night Popcorn Basket Gift Ideas

A Movie Night Popcorn Gift Basket is a great gift to give to family and friends and is very inexpensive to make. You could create a popcorn basket for just a few dollars or you could spend a little more and your family and friends will be amazed at your creativity. Start with the container. You could use movie theater popcorn bags, popcorn bowls or tin containers. Fill the container with microwave popcorn, a movie or gift certificate to a local movie store, candy, home made rootbeer or cans of soda. If you make your gift basket with a popcorn bowl, wrap the bowl with cellophane and tie a ribbon around the top. Most everyone loves popcorn and watching movies, therefore you have just put together a fantastic gift!

Homemade Rootbeer Gift Ideas

Homemade rootbeer is an excellent gift to give to family and friends. Rootbeer making is fun and easy to make. Making wine and rootbeer go hand in hand because you use the same equipment, which is the fermentor. I suggest picking up the hobby of making homemade rootbeer because not everyone enjoys drinking wine, or alchohal for that matter. Many people do enjoy the taste of good ol’fashion rootbeer. Rootbeer only takes a couple of days to make and is ready to drink in 3 to 6 months, but 1 year is recommended. The rootbeer extracts usually costs about $6.00 and the 16oz. brown plastic bottles cost about $20 for 24 bottles. The cost of making rootbeer as a gift is only $1.08 per bottle. If you are making home made rootbeer to enjoy yourself, the cost is only $0.25 per bottle because the brown plastic bottles are reusable. You can also personalize your gift by creating your own rootbeer labels. One of my favorite gifts to give is popcorn baskets that include home made rootbeer. Come up with something catchy and clever and your family and friends will love it!

Wine Gift Ideas

Do you enjoy drinking wine but dislike how expensive buying wine can be? If you answered yes to both, then making homemade wine is the hobby for you. Winemaking can be fun and easy. Why spend $10 and up per bottle of wine when you could make wine for a fraction of the price.

All the beginner needs to start making wine is a basic winemaking kit, which you can buy online or a local winemaking supply store. Usually the basic wine kit includes a primary fermenter, carboy, hydrometer, stopper and fermentation lock, siphon-hose, sterilizer, and step by step instructions. The kits usually run around $55 to $75. Once you have the essential winemaking equipment, the next step is to decide if you want to purchase a wine kit that contains concentrated juice and additional ingredients, or if you want to purchase grapes or other fruits and process it yourself. I recommend buying a wine kit to start with to get a feel for the many steps it involves. Wine kits run from $50 to $120. You may think that is a lot of money, but if you do the math it ends up costing $1.66 to $4.00 per bottle because each 6 gallon batch usually makes 30 bottles. A wine kit also is ready to drink in three to six months and you don’t have to worry about crushing the grapes or fruit yourself.

Many people enjoy wine. You can personalize wine labels to create a beautiful, unique gift. Come up with a clever name for your at home winery, personalize a label and people will love receiving it for a gift. You could also go a step further and create a wine basket. In an ice bucket, include a bottle or two of your home made wine, crackers, cheese, fruits and nuts. You could also include wine glasses, bottle stopper, personalized picture costars or a cheese board.

So I suggest you get busy making your first batch of wine. The key ingredient in making home made wine is your passion for the hobby. Not only will you love having a collection of your favorite wines, but now you have gifts on hand to give to your family and friends. You will be amazed at how much money you will save.

Save Money on Gifts

Having to buy a Birthday gift, Baby Shower gift, Wedding present or Christmas gift every month can drain your bank account. Many people do not have time nowadays to get crafty, so it’s easier to buy a gift from a retail store. My advice to you is to find a hobby that you think you would enjoy doing when you do have spare time and that hobby will in turn save you A LOT of money. Do you enjoy drinking wine? Then start making wine at home. Most batches make 30 bottles of wine. Give away a few as gifts and you have plenty left over to throw a wine party at home. If you and your friends do not like to drink then make home made root beer. Home made root beer is delicious and can be a big hit. Read my articles to read more about these hobbies. If you really have no time to pick up a hobby then personalize a gift. Personalized or home made gifts that come from the heart are the best gifts to give someone. Almost any retail store nowadays will personalize anything and everything for you. Personalization can be done through printing, engraving, embossing, monograms and embroidery. You can also personalize items by buying online.