Has anyone here ever been in such a situation where you want to get gifts for your loved ones, but you just can't afford a whole lot... or anything at all?
I'm in that situation this year and it seriously sucks. There's 4 people I'm very close to and I want to get more than just a greeting card for, but I just don't know what to get that doesn't cost more than $20. I enjoy giving greeting cards with personal messages though, I find it very meaningful... but I just feel so weird doing that every year, but I don't want to get them NOTHING at all either.
And another part of me feels I'm probably putting too much emphasis on gifts as far as how the holiday season should be spent. So here I am going back and forth on what to do. I know I'm not the only person in the world in this sort of situation right now, but ya...
Just curious to hear if you've gone through this, or known someone who has, what did you/they do?
I've found that xmas baking is a good alternative if ya can't afford gifts. Even if I get people xmas gifts, I like to do that because it's somethin' that comes from me and I put work into it.
yeah I like to make things for people are you any good at knitting or crochet?
This year I made made a donation of 40euro to an Irish charity and will split it between my friends as Christmas gifts - they don't know how much I gave just that something was given in their name. Also I am having them around for dinner a week before Christmas to have that time together.
Maybe instead of giving them something you could do something for them. My Mom's birthday is Thursday and I have no money, all the money I make goes towards gas to get to and from school every day (hour commute each way). For example, I plan on cleaning out this section of our lawn before the snow comes so she can have a garden in the spring like she's wanted.
I was at Micheal's Craft store yesterday and they had nice big jarred candles that smelled great 3 for 10. I am also working on doing a few paintings to give as gifts. Artistic gifts or as said above, baking makes great gifts.
You can always do things like brownies or fudge and use a pretty container.
I work in health care, and last Christmas, one of my patients made me this really awesome batch of fudge and presented it in a cute little paper gingerbread house. I was so impressed I took pictures of it so I could show my mom! (See below.) The fudge was absolutely divine!!!
I'm terrible when it comes to knitting but baking, on the other hand, I'm def not bad there lol. Looks like I may bake some treats for people instead of going out and buying super materialistic things. I already have a good idea of what treats each person loves as well without needing to ask what they like, so baking is an excellent route to take. There's dollar stores here that sell cute boxes and such to place treats (or whatever gift you want to give someone), so this should be nice.
Thanks for the suggestions, everyone! Really appreciate it!
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