Scaling back Christmas revisited

Thanks for the feedback in response to my Scaling back and cutting costs at Christmas post. Here's what some of you said:

From Sib:
"I used to make things myself … I started out with handmade calendars some years ago, then made people CDs for Christmas (mostly with poetry I read, edited and then put together in individual variations that I hoped were to the taste of the recipient) but those didn’t seem to work too well … I don’t know if I gave them to the wrong people or poetry just sinks inevitably, or I am just really not good at this, but I don’t think people liked them. … so this year I am a bit stuck for ideas. I think I might go back to calendars, but those are not exactly cheap, so it’s not a good way of saving money. I don’t know yet!"

From Peter:
"I’m not scaling back this year, because my economizing and scaling back all dates back to the winter of 1999 when my ex’s and my debt issues hit the wall. We got serious about economizing and living within our means, and getting rid of $30,000 of credit card debt–and I continued living that way ever since.

My ex, being one for absolute solutions, declared that we should just stop giving gifts entirely. I wasn’t so quick to cut off my family from gifts, but it was pretty clear that something in the giving had to give. So I went for some guy-baked treats. So now I give everyone in my family a batchelor-recipie goodies (peanut butter chocolate-chip rice krispie treats) and a home-made music CD. It costs maybe a couple of bucks per person, but it gives the illusion of being a “personal gift from the heart,” rather than just cheap. A win-win solution!

Now things have loosened up a bit, and I could afford to buy something useless from a mall, but it’s a tradition now, and time spent creating (if you can call stirring a pot of molten marshmallows “creating”) is more pleasant than the same time wandering through crowded stores with a deer-in-the-headlights expression, wondering what the heck to buy for family that I see less and less frequently as the years pass."

From Sherman:
"I've always found that homemade, personal gifts are the best, no matter the occasion. A friend from college almost every year has sent a gift package with handmade ornaments. THAT's lovely, to my heart."

From Allison:
"I’m hand-making a bunch of my gifts for this year, too. Like you, I just settle in for an hour or so (in front of the TV in my case) and work on stuff. I made up a list of the gifts I need to make and I’ve just been systematically going through it. I enjoy doing crafts anyway, and it will definitely save me money, as I’ve already bought the craft materials, anyway. I will add some tea, coffee or chocolate to the hand-crafted items and voila! Gifts will be done."

From Jeff K:
"Personally, I don’t think gifts need to be given to anyone outside of the immediate family, but it would be a waste not to take advantage of all of the marketing and pick up fancy Christmas gadgets and items, so we usually drop a few thousand around Christmas on ourselves and wrap the stuff up just to play along."

From Julie:
"Between them, my two kids have 41 classmates, plus four teachers (not to mention neighbourhood friends and family friends). Last month I decided that, instead of giving anyone more plastic cr*p, I would do something different.

So I’m packaging up the dry ingredients for shortbread along with instructions and popping them inside little drawstring bags that I have inexpertly sewn from cheap fabric. This way, the everyone get a unique gift, an activity to do, a yummy treat, and a bag to keep treasures in. It’s taking time, but like you I’m doing it in batches in the evenings. I think the cost is $0.50 (US) per piece. Could be even cheaper if you have a fabric and ribbon/yarn stash."

From Vixy:
"I am, frankly, feeling panic whenever I think of Christmas. There is so little money… but there is also so little time. Everything that I know how to do takes time and emotional energy that I don’t seem to have. And yet I need to do something, and the longer I don’t decide what to do, the less time there will be. (Yes yes, I know all the arguments about feeling obligated, but there it is; I have a large and close-knit family, and I can’t bring myself to just not do *anything*.) If I keep up like this I’ll wind up just running my credit card up beyond what I ought… :/"

Comments

[earthgirl]

With teachers, Brownie troupe leaders, bus drivers, etc, the list of "it would be nice to give this person a little something" gifts grows with each child. This is why I love the dollar store!
I get christmas mugs or baskets or such and then hit the grocery store- hot chocolate packages, microwave popcorn, cases of pop given as individual cans, candy and the like put together with ribbon or ornaments (also from the dollar store) and a handmade card by my daughters makes a nice package and has always gotten a great reaction from the recipient. I tend to customize the "theme" of the package to the person. They end up being not that expensive per person, and can be done en-mass :)

Also, I've done dollar store picture frames with photos of the gift receiver and my girls or some meaningful picture of the year for the person.

I also go to the bulk food store and get chocolate wafers. Melt a cup of them in a double boiler and add a cup of rice krispies. Spoon them into candy cups (like cupcake paper but smaller- also available in the bulk food store) and it makes a ton of chocolates. Do the same with the cup of wafers and a cup of peanutbutter. Merichino cherries dipped in the melted chocolate and dropped in the candy cup are great! Other things for dipping (and placed on a sheet of tin foil to set) are mini pretzels, Nilla Wafer cookies, mini Oreo cookies, marshmallows on toothpicks (for a holder!), candy canes, etc etc etc. I usually buy 5 pounds of wafers. This makes TONS of chocolates so they end cost turns out to be no that much. It only takes about one evening to make all of the 5 pounds. Do these gifts go over well? Let's just say that the business associates I give these boxes of candies to not only look forward to it every year, but we actually noticed a marked improvement in our service! :)

(gee, I should not ramble so much! Sorry I took up so much of your blog space!)

[Julie]

I've posted <a href="http://jwordsmith.wordpress.com/2008/12/05/frugal-friday-gift-bags" rel="nofollow">a tutorial about how I made my cookie-ingredient-stuffed gift bags, in case anyone's feeling inspired.