Well, Christmas is stealthily approaching. I have noticed some shiny stuff in my local Reject Shop that would normally be in my budget, however this year I am broke...Like really broke. Like 'using newspaper to wipe my ass' and 'eating tuna and crackers and stealing vegetables from my neighbours garden' broke. I considered visiting fiverr.com to donate sperm to raise some $, but that idea is fraught with hazards of the logistical, ethical and legal variety.

So, I have decided that I am going to 'make' my Christmas presents, starting with the obligatory Christmas card that I am obliged to send people.

What do others think of home made cards and presents? Would you be insulted if anyone aside from a 4 year old made and gave you a gift? What is something that you been given that has proved to be a great gift and obviously home made or cost phuckall?

The difference between being a cheapskate and being a crafty legend is personalisation.
Once gave a girlfriends brother 12 empty king brown bottles. They were sterilised and had a label which was made from a drawing his daughter had made and glued to bottle with clag. Absolute winner and got six bottles back full.
As for cards, get funny photo of your dog wearing novelty antlers. Make template card in word and write a personalised greeting on each card and save as pdf that if required can be easily printed. Send pdf to friends/family with covering email that you are having a "green" christmas and you have saved yourself printing and mailing costs.
The key is personalised. Generic will end you up with the cheapskate label.
Oh and baking stuff never fails.

Thankyou for the replies. I don't have a dog/cat, however my neighbour has some mini-horses, calves and a couple of Llamas at the minute so maybe I could arrange a photoshoot. A friend suggested making Christmas cakes sans alcohol (fark good liqueur is expensive) but I still have to do the maths.

Thankyou for the ideas so far and keep 'em coming.

Last year I received books and CD's

I've never sent an xmas card in my life, and people still talk to me.

Maybe save them money from them and get those who really deserve it a custom present from fiverr?

Otherwise I'd recommend a letter. Good old fashioned 3 page snail mail, cost under a dollar, and getting increasingly valuable in this email world.

Go to Vistaprint.com, you can get personalized mugs,calenders,stationary and other stuff. A lot of it is free you only pay postage.

If your friends and family know your financial situation surely they won't be offended by cheap / homemade gifts?

You can also do the 'voucher' system - ie give someone a voucher for you to mow their lawn, or clean their pool, or babysit while they enjoy an adults night out, or whatever other talents you have to offer.

Ted the Kiwi said...
SNIP
Post some of your efforts!

Well....My neighbour wasn't around and I didn't want to go near the mini-horses, Calfs or Llamas without them being present. So, I rode to a spot where I know there are some cows etc. I came across this fella.

Stupid question: Can Bulls without horns still kick arse (or rather my arse)?

For some reason his beady little eyes and the way he twitched made me uneasy to enter the paddock. There were a couple of Cows in the paddock with him as well.

My uneasiness stopped me from climbing the fence to place the Reindeer Antlers on his sizable head and get some photos. Photo doesn't really do justice to how big he is, I'm guestimating 500+kgs.

Photoshop I will. Thanks FormulaNova, I felt like a bit of a wuss for not at least attempting to get in there and get a photo. I kept thinking that he may have been as gentle as a Lamb

For the ladies, you can buy cheap glass bottles and aromatherapy oils in $2 shops, a bag of rock salt and food colouring in the grocery store and make bath salts. Or instead of buying the bottles you can rinse out pasta sauce bottles and tie a ribbon around the lid.

Buy a bottle of pitted olives, drain, chop up a chilli, garlic and rosemary then put it all back in the bottle, fill with olive oil and let sit for a few days.

Herry said...
For the ladies, you can buy cheap glass bottles and aromatherapy oils in $2 shops, a bag of rock salt and food colouring in the grocery store and make bath salts. Or instead of buying the bottles you can rinse out pasta sauce bottles and tie a ribbon around the lid.

Buy a bottle of pitted olives, drain, chop up a chilli, garlic and rosemary then put it all back in the bottle, fill with olive oil and let sit for a few days.

Great idea Herry re: the Olives. Cheers for that. I have found some bottles at the Salvos, the smallish ones with the lids that have a rubber seal and a metal clasp/tensioning system. I haven't yet found a big bottle of green Olives but I will look around. Fresh Garlic is easy to source, as are fresh Chillis and fresh Rosemary. Decent Olive Oil is not cheap, but then neither are the all the ingredients to make multiple Christmas Cakes.

I am not going to bother with cards, I am going to write some letters as Kiteboy Dave suggested.

Thankyou for all your suggestions