Cheaper, Better, Faster (13 page)

Food—with your own label

Personalize your food gift with your own label: Millie's Chutney or Minerva's Cookies sounds very special.

Food—with
your own label and more

Personalize food gifts with your own decorated label, for example, “Marilyn's Chutney” or “Cathy's Cookies.” Attach your recipe and other
instructions to the gift with ribbon, raffia, or tasseled cord. Add a spoon or spreader for chutneys or flavored butters.

Gadgets
and widgets—from hardware and home improvement stores

Check out hardware and home-improvement stores for all kinds of gadgets and widgets. For the home chef try an 18-inch length of 1
7
⁄
8
-inch wooden dowel for a professional-style rolling pin, a large unglazed terra-cotta tile for a pizza and baking stone, and a new 1
½
-inch paintbrush for a pastry brush. A collection of screws, cup hooks, small tools, and so on all packed in a small toolbox is perfect for the homeowner. Stroll the aisles and you'll get all kinds of great ideas, including unusual wrapping materials such as wire and painter's tape. Let your mind wander. You'll be quite a hit.

Gift for a college
student—product refunds

When you have everything you need to qualify for a product refund or rebate, fill out the coupon with the name and address of your favorite college student. The refund check will arrive in the student's mailbox, made payable to him or her. Who doesn't love a little surprise now and again?

Gift for a college
student or single—laundry time

Make or purchase an oversize laundry bag with the recipient's name on the front. Fill with detergent, fabric softener, bleach, and a roll of quarters. Add a couple of magazines for the laundry-room wait. Great for a college student or single.

Gift for a
garden or plant lover—watering can

Make a beautiful watering can for a plant or garden lover on your gift list. Either buy a new watering can or give an old one a face-lift. You'll need some self-adhesive-backed shelf paper or covering and a pair of scissors. Cut the covering into a strip to wrap around
the handle, another for the spout, then larger pieces for the can itself. Peel away the backing and carefully wrap the can completely. The end result: a watering can that's pretty enough to be used as a vase.

Gift for
the homebound—birdbath

Brighten the life of a person who's confined to home. Set a low, shallow pedestal birdbath near a window. Plant a ring of flowers around the base, and change it seasonally. In winter, a wreath of holly with red berries would be like a living Christmas card. Give the new bird-watcher a wild-bird guide, notebook, and pen for recording sightings.

Gift for the homebound—DVDs

When a friend or family member is recuperating from an extensive illness, more flowers and balloons may not truly reflect your concern. Instead, rent several DVDs to cheer the patient. Just don't forget to return them in a day or two.

Gift for a hostess—herb bouquet or special herb
salad dressing

A bunch of herbs tied together with a ribbon makes a welcome gift for any hostess. Or fill a slender bottle with cider vinegar and your favorite herbs. In a few weeks you'll have a flavored vinegar to enhance anyone's salad dressings or marinades.

Gift for a
kid—beginner stamp collector kits

The United States Postal Service offers beginner stamp-collector kits for children. They are very inexpensive and geared for the young philatelist. Visit your local post office or go to
www.USPS.com
and click on “Shop” for more information.

Gift for a kid—take your
pick!

• •
  Give books, books on tape, and downloadable books, which are always welcome gifts for kids of all ages. Ask a librarian or an elementary school teacher for recommendations.
  
• •
  Give a unique book-of-the-month. Either write and design the book yourself or buy an inexpensive one that reflects the appropriate holiday or season or child's interest.
  
• •
  Cover a shoe box with pretty wrapping paper inside and out for a young girl who loves to play dress-up. Fill it with inexpensive makeup and costume jewelry.
  
• •
  Find an old suitcase and fill it with secondhand dress-up clothes such as shawls, dresses, hats of all kinds, veils, pocketbooks, and high heels.
  
• •
  Make a homemade balance beam with proper supports for an aspiring gymnast. Make sure you start with sturdy material and sand and finish the surface so it is very smooth.
  
• •
  Give a small child an appliance box with doors and windows cut out and decorated to look like a house, castle, office, or school. This idea is in accordance with the rule that says the bigger and more expensive the toy, the more likely the child will want to play with the box it came in.
  
• •
  Start a child on a life of savings with a piggy bank and starter money.
  
• •
  Make a simplified map of the town in which the child lives. Highlight the location of significant landmarks: child's school, place of worship, parents' workplaces, the zoo, and library.
  
• •
  Buy or make a bird feeder with a supply of birdseed.
  
• •
  Piggyback on a proven hit with coupons. Kids love to create little books with “coupons” in them for their siblings, good for things like one night's dish washing or a kiss and hug. Parents can give reverse coupons to their kids also—good for exemptions from making their beds, setting the table, and so on.
  
• •
  Purchase a ticket to a favorite sporting event
  or for a ride on a real train (accompanied by an adult, of course).
  
• •
  Give an embroidery piece, thread, needles, and hoop, and a certificate for lessons from the giver.
  
• •
  Buy a magazine subscription.
  
• •
  Make a one-of-a-kind puzzle. Mount an enlarged photo of yourself or some family occasion onto a piece of foam board (available at stationery or art supply store). Cover the photo with a piece of tracing paper and lightly draw a jigsaw pattern, making as many or few pieces as would be appropriate for the age of the recipient. Using a utility knife, carefully cut through the tissue paper, photo, and board along the puzzle lines. Separate the pieces and place in a gift box.
  
• •
  Make a preschooler puzzle. Lay a strip of masking tape on a table, sticky side up. Press about 10 Popsicle sticks (or wooden tongue depressors) side by side, evenly across the tape. Draw a picture and write the child's name on the sticks. Then remove the tape and shuffle the sticks to make a great puzzle.
  
• •
  Surprise a budding artist with an artist's box, starting with a clear storage box (12 quarts is a good size). Write the child's name on it and fill it with plain white paper, construction paper, crayons, colored pencils, glue, tape, a ruler, plastic stencils, and a pencil sharpener.
  
• •
  If parents approve, help a child adopt a kitten or puppy from the local animal shelter. Include the necessary equipment, such as a food dish, litter box and litter, toy, and a collar.
  
• •
  Begin a collection of Christmas tree ornaments for a child. Then add to it every year.
  

Gift for a mom—a
dinner each month

Offer a piping hot and ready-to-eat casserole to an
overworked mom once a month. Ask her to specify her busiest evening.

Gift for a new mom
—beauty makeover and babysitting

Make an appointment for a beauty makeover for a new mother (haircut, facial, and manicure) at a local beauty college. Volunteer to take care of the baby.

Gift for a new neighbor—welcome map

When newcomers arrive in your neighborhood, welcome them with a useful gift: a neighborhood map. Include such hot spots as the dry cleaner, schools, churches, grocery stores, and so on. It's helpful to see the location of places in relation to the others.

Gift for a parent—overnight child care

Offer to keep children overnight once a month or once a quarter to give parents a break. Arrange to pick them up midafternoon so their parents can prepare for the evening together.

Gift for
a senior—take your pick!

• •
  Give date-a-month coupons to elderly parents. A man setting aside time to spend with his mother or an adult daughter taking her dad out once a month is a lovely gesture. Some months your evening together might include a movie, other times just dinner and time to talk and listen.
  
• •
  Donate your services as chauffeur to an otherwise homebound senior or offer to do their food or gift shopping.
  
• •
  Take Grandma or Grandpa on a “movie date” at their house. Rent a movie or take one out of the library. Take along drinks and popcorn. Great gift for a teen to give.
  
• •
  Give a book on CD to a senior citizen whose eyes are failing. Wrap with a small headset and CD
  player. Lend them your CDs and drive them to the library for more.
  
• •
  Present a pretty box with a variety of different-occasion greeting cards, a pen, and a roll of stamps for someone who is housebound.
  
• •
  Make a photo album for grandparents, filled with pictures of baby's typical day—morning bath, breakfast, taking a walk, playing, greeting Daddy, being rocked to sleep. Update photos throughout the year as baby grows and the days are more eventful. A movie with baby as the star is also a terrific gift.
  

Gift for a teacher—photo and story

Help your child create a “teacher feature” for a Christmas or end-of-the-year gift. Paste a drawing or a photo of the teacher on a large sheet of paper, then have the child write a lively newspaper-type action story about the teacher, complete with photo caption.

Gift for a teenager—take your
pick!

• •
  Create Night-on-the-Town certificates for fast food, a movie, and ice cream or coffee.
  
• •
  Make an appointment for a beauty makeover at a local beauty college. Prices are typically inexpensive and all work done by students is highly supervised. Stick with temporary work such as a hairstyle, manicure, pedicure, and facial and stay away from a haircut, perm, and hair color.
  
• •
  Give a calligraphy pen and instruction book.
  
• •
  Put together an address book with names, phone numbers, addresses, birthdays, and anniversary dates of family and friends.
  
• •
  Get parental permission first, then give a pretty drawstring pouch to the soon-to-be-teen filled with lip gloss, clear nail polish, bubble bath liquid, dusting powder, and light scent.
  

Gift for a woman—emergency workplace kit

Give a working woman's emergency kit: a small Swiss Army knife, a good lint roller (a pet-hair remover from a pet store is the best bargain), an assortment of safety pins, needles, thread, Kiwi Shine Wipes (instant shoe shines), double-stick tape to fix hems in a hurry, small scissors, a glue stick (better than clear nail polish for arresting a hosiery run), antistatic spray, several pencil erasers (the tiny eraser end from a pencil makes a dandy temporary replacement for the back piece of a pierced earring). Put everything in a small, compact container such as a pretty box or fabric bag.

Gift for the whole family—take your pick!

• •
  Subscription to the family's hometown newspaper
  
• •
  Two decks of cards and a book of card games
  
• •
  The hottest new board game on the market
  
• •
  A 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle
  
• •
  Croquet set
  
• •
  Badminton set
  
• •
  Gift certificate to a local pizza parlor
  
• •
  Subscription to a magazine that reflects the family's interests—travel or skiing—or to
  National Geographic
  ,
  Smithsonian
  ,
  Air
  and Space.
  
• •
  Food dehydrator
  
• •
  Ice cream maker
  
• •
  Binoculars
  
• •
  Charitable donation made in the name of the family
  
• •
  DVD movie
  
• •
  Computer game
  
• •
  Bird feeder and supply of birdseed
  

Gift for you and
your spouse—“everything” gift

Buy an “everything” present for the two of you that covers the year's worth of gifts (birthday, anniversary, Christmas, and so on). Not only does this free your time, but you're not purchasing items you neither need nor want just to be buying a gift. And the fringe benefit? The money you'll then have available at
Christmastime and throughout the year can be used to help those less fortunate, pay down debt, or save for retirement, just to name a few opportunities.

Gift list—save with business card records

Avoid returning unwanted gifts (or pretending you like them) from your spouse or immediate family members by keeping an ongoing record of the things you would like, along with the specific details. Through the year as you see items of particular interest, pick up the store's business card and write the details on the back of it: red cardigan sweater, brass buttons, wool blend, size 8, $49.98. These cards serve as a practical gift list to make gift giving a positive experience for both the giver and receiver.