Ten Frugal Gift Ideas

In keeping with our Green Living focus here at Mothering.com we put out a call to our MotheringDotCommunity members to offer up their frugal gift giving ideas. Here are our ten favorites! 

Find more ideas from our new homemade gifts contest here!

Frugal Wrap by cyrusmama

"We went to our local newspaper office and asked if they had any of their roll ends left. They usually charge the general public for them, but not educators. We are homeschoolers so they gave it to us for free. It had paper at least six inches thick left on the roll. We are going to be decorating it with potato stamps and markers and wrapping our gifts with it this year. Also, instead of buying bows, I am using yarn and strips of fabric to decorate the packages with too"

Grandma's Raisin Bread by Mandy Gail

"Every year on Christmas eve, I make my grandmother's recpie for rasin bread - about 12 loaves &; give one to everyone in the family. My grandmother passed away over 15 years ago so this is such a special treat - plus its a fun tradition knowing that we will be baking with the family every christmas eve! Another idea: I have made cloth gift wrap bags with drawstrings - they can be used year after year and are such a time saver, no tape or waste. Plus the festive holiday prints look so pretty under the tree!"

Handmade Coloring Book by wilson

"I'm drawing a coloring book for my daughter. It is full of pictures of things we find on our nature walks, and little bits of information about them. I do have some fancy software for putting it all together and printing, but you certainly don't have to. To make a half page size book, you simply draw pictures on half a sheet of paper. Then trace over them with a permanent marker and erase the pencil marks. You can cut and rearrange them if you need to, then take it all to your local library or copy place to photocopy and print front and back. Stack and assemble with a stapler.  If you don't draw, you can go to etsy and search for coloring books. Printable versions are cheaper, and you can download and print them almost immediately, plus it supports handmade artists."

Homemade Spice by gardenmom

"For my friends and family who like to cook, I am making up jars of dried organic herbs from our garden such as parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage and even dried hot peppers. Even in cold climates you may still be able to do this now in time for the holidays, since many perennial herbs stay green year-round. I simply cut bouquets of herbs, wash them gently, and hang them to dry in a warm, dark place. When they are fully dry, I will crumble them up over a large container, pick out any sticks or stems, and fill up small spice jars. I have been and washing jars all year to re-purpose for this project. As a finishing touch I'll print decorative labels on the computer for each one."

Make a CD by A&A

"Make a CD of your child(ren) singing Christmas songs (or playing them on a piano or guitar, if they take music lessons.) This can be given to extended family and will become even more precious as the years go by! We did this one year and even included a picture of dd (wearing a Santa hat) that we included as a CD cover."

Brownie Pops by olliepop

"I'm making brownie pops for neighbors, teachers, and friends. One batch of brownies yields 44 pops. All you need are sticks, bags, and silver twist ties, white chocolate, and brownies, of course. Bake fudge brownies, roll into balls, insert sticks, dip into melted white chocolate, sprinkle with jimmies or sanding sugar. They are very rich so I usually don't give more than six. You can tie a bundle of pops together with a really pretty bow and gift card."