Happy Frugal Christmas!

MARKS & SPENCERS 1P BARGAINS AND 1P ON-LINE DELIVERY!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 22:15:00 +0000

Marks and Spencers are having a one day 1p sale this Friday 13th November. There are 14 or 15 items on offer but this is instore only. You can buy up to 5 items and can choose from mugs, ties, notebooks, money boxes, handkerchiefs, Christmas socks, card games, children’s puzzles, tea-towels, trolley coin key ring, knickers, key-rings, Yule logs and Christmas chocolates.
Check HERE for your nearest participating store (and get there early!).
If you can't get there - M & S are offering 1p on-line delivery charge (usually £3.50) which, if you make good use of bogofs and 3 for 2 offers on their site, can still get you quite a bit of pressie shopping for your money (and no crowds, no parking charges, expensive cups of coffee, sore feet etc., etc.!)
Happy Frugal Christmas shopping!

25% OFF AT DOROTHY PERKINS!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:17:00 +0000

Now, I'm not sugggesting for one minute that you blow your Christmas budget on stuff for yourself from Dorothy Perkins, but at the moment they are offering 25% off everything - so what about having a look for some Christmas pressies? Offer ends Sunday 15th November and, as they say it's off EVERYTHING, I assume that may mean any sale items too!
Just enter the code DPVIPD at the checkout.

62 DAYS TO CHRISTMAS!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:00:00 +0000

Yes, the horrible truth is that it is only 62 days to Christmas and, as the TV pundits have just told as, many people only have 2 more pay days before then. Of course, quite a few unlucky people don't have any paydays at all, which somehow puts it all into perspective for me. I am already tired of the TV ads for expensive perfumes or even more expensive gifts from wherever and soon we'll be treated to adverts for tables full of party food, telling the lie that we will somehow be inadequate if we don't invite the neighbours in for drinks and piles of finger food!
Listen carefully to this advertising and you will soon realise that it tries to convince us that everyone else is buying their kids an X-box or whatever the latest "must-have" toy is this year. Well, I think many people won't have the cash to do it - and I hope those people don't use their credit card instead. I believe our children will grow up into better and more resourceful adults if they understand that there are things that their parents just cannot afford, that money has to be earned and that if you lose your job, or aren't very well paid, then some of these things just cannot be bought.
I'm reluctant to admit that cynical advertising, capitalising on Christmas, almost makes me want to cancel the whole thing! Actually I'll be starting my Christmas shopping soon, probably if I see any sales on in the shops when I go away for a few days at half-term! I'll be looking out for a bargain or two in the charity shops as well - it's always good to trawl through a different collection of charity shops, somewhere new! However, I certainly won't be spending what I can't afford.
Happy Christmas Present Hunting!

10 GREAT NEW CHRISTMAS GIFTS TO KNIT AND CROCHET!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 20:51:00 +0000

These lovely Christmas gift patterns are certainly new to me - so I hope you like them. You can choose from Christmas throws and afghans, a lovely little dog's coat, a fairisle jumper, holly slippers, a Christmas stocking, a snowman family to crochet and crochet tree ornaments.
Get your free patterns HERE.

£1 STOCKING FILLERS FOR THE MEN IN YOUR LIFE!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 20:39:00 +0000

Yes, it's true, it can be done -I do it every year - buy stocking filler presents from Poundland! There's a sort of an art to buying from Poundland if you don't want to be buying complete tat and these are my tips:

Go with a list - most important. Know what you've already bought for the "stockings" so that you don't overspend.
Do not go on a Saturday!
Try to buy only branded goods if possible, particularly if it's smellies, cosmetics, sweets, etc., Obviously for stationary and "fun" type novelties, it's not so important.

So, what is there to choose from? Well, here's a few of my suggestions:
Rightguard deodourant.
DVDs - choose from Dragnet, The Michael Jackson Story, Blade, Batman: Return to the Batcave, The Professionals, Ghost Towns.
Packs of novelty socks: The Simpsons
Packs of boot socks, or thermal socks - probably not the best quality, but you never know!
Black leather trouser belt.
Packs of Kodak, Sony or Panasonic batteries.
4 Gang socket.
De-icer.
WD 40.
Superglue.
Twix, Mars, Toblerone or Bounty - all 4 for £1.
Nivea Sensitive for Men shower gel.
Festive Boxer shorts.
24 shot disposable camera with flas.
Mini remote.
USB mouse.
4 port USB hub.
Earphones.
Packs of blank CDs and DVDs.
You will find, of course, that some of these items will sell out quickly, or will not be available at your local Poundland (or perhaps any other!) but it's a matter of persevering with regular forays!
Happy Frugal gift buying!

WEIGHTWATCHERS OFFER FOR YOUR PRE-CHRISTMAS DIET!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 13:14:00 +0000

If you plan to go on a diet before Christmas then this is for you. Weightwatchers are offering a voucher for free registration and one meeting which they say is worth up to £14.50.
Details HERE.
On the other hand you could just eat less (saving even more money) and go for more walks (free)!

FREE FASHION DOLL'S PATTERNS TO KNIT FOR CHRISTMAS

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:49:00 +0000

These knitting patterns are great to knit for a little girl with Barbie dolls. You can make a whole new wardrobe for very little outlay and use up your stash - there's even hiking socks for Barbie in this collection and some male and female fashion dolls' clothes of all kinds in this glamorous vintage collection.
Happy Frugal Knitting!

BRACE YOURSELVES- I'M GOING TO USE THE "C" WORD!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 12:48:00 +0000

Yes, Christmas! Well, what were you expecting?I know it's only August, but I'd really like to get in ahead of the supermarkets!! So, while they're all crowing about their "Back to School offers" (when the kids only broke up 3 weeks ago) I'm going to talk frugally about Christmas. At the moment the telly, the Internet, magazines, forums and newspapers are all full of advice on how to shop for food; we are being advised to plan our week's meal menus, check our store cupboards, make a list and then buy only those items needed when we visit the supermarket. I'm going to let you in on a secret - this advice can also be used and applied to your Christmas shopping.
Firstly - make a list - who MUST you buy for? I have a personal rule - I don't buy for more people than I did last year, (unless of course they have been born or married into my family since last year!). This keeps the upward spiral of gift giving in check a little.
Secondly - check your cupboards! If you bought anything last year that you shoved in the back of the wardrobe and found at Easter, or you were given any presents last year that you, your kids or your partner can't use, then think hard- who can you re-gift them to? (Making sure, of course, that it is not the person who gave it to you in the first place- or any of their close relatives!). Assign each re-gift to someone on your list.
Thirdly - make a shopping list of people left to buy for. Keep this list with you (I use one of the note pages in the back of my diary) and keep it up to date as you buy your gifts. Before you buy your first gift - decide on a budget. How many people do you have to buy for? How much can you afford (in total) for gifts - bearing in mind there are potentially several other costly Christmas items to buy (food, decorations, new outfits etc.). Divide this total gift figure by the number of people you have to buy for - and there you have your budget, per person. Of course I know you may want to spend more on your husband than you do on his nephew, for example, but now is when you make those adjustments to your budget.
Fourthly - start looking in the charity shops now- there are already plenty of "new" gifts to be had - this week I've seen a soft toy kit (£1.25 and unopened), a lovely Rowan knitting booklet (25p and looked new) and several gorgeous chunky bangles in wood and metal (all 75p each and looking like new). Just keep visiting your local charity shops once a week and you're bound to pick up some bargains. In this way some of the last minute stress is taken out of gift shopping and, when we get stressed and in a flat panic that at the last minute we won't get anything at all, we spend much, much more. Be warned- to fail to plan is to plan to fail - to give yourself a frugal Christmas!

LAST FEW CHRISTMAS MONEYSAVERS!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 17:55:00 +0000

Well, there are only a few "days of Christmas" left - so here's my round up of Christmas moneysaving:

as you take down your cards, put aside those that can be cut up into neat rectangles and hole-punched for next year's gift labels
as you pack away your decorations check any that are tatty or worn out - get round the shops quick to buy new ones reduced in the sales (but only if you can really afford it)
check out the sales for next year's gifts (again only if you are not in debt for this Christmas)
make a list of birthdays coming up and see if there are sale bargains to be had for gifts
buy crackers, paper Christmas cards etc while it's cheap - who knows how hard up we may be next Christmas? Today I've bought three 8metre rolls of Christmas wrapping paper for £1.94 and a box of 12 good crackers for £3.50- and a set of 3 photo albums in a slip cover (new and still shrink wrapped) from the charity shop, for 50p!
as you tidy up all your Christmas gifts - put aside those you know you will not use and either sell them on ebay, recycle them as gifts for next Christmas (but make a note of who gave them to you!) or send them to the charity shop.

Lastly, if this Christmas has been a financial nightmare, start thinking about next year - and save, save, save. Clear your debts as soon as possible, if you don't have one, start a savings account (ISA first) and put something (however small) into it every month.
Make this the year you achieve whatever it is that you want to - lose debt, lose weight, save for that bigger house, get the new job whatever it is - give it a go and, most important of all have a
Happy New Year! and keep up with more moneysaving, frugal ideas all year round at Happy Frugal Year.
See you all in Christmas 2009 (well, sometime in November anyway!)

THE HAM IS COOKED!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 16:19:00 +0000

Well, for those of you who may be interested in my salty ham-soaking, curing saga - it's all done! Check out the picture! Washed (and no it didn't smell off!), soaked in fresh water, boiled, then roasted in muscovado sugar and Guinness - yes, may seem strange, but mmmmm! - don't knock it 'till you've tried it! We have yet to slice and eat it - but we have cut off a small slice "to taste" - well, somebody had to check it was edible! It tastes like ham, is very, very good, but does not have that bright pinky red colour that ham or bacon has when it's pumped full of "curing chemicals"! So, we may just be trying this out again. I would sooner do it my way (or rather Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's) than eat more of those dreaded chemicals! Incidentally, half our cured pork joint has been frozen for later!
HAPPY FRUGAL CHRISTMAS!

Don't forget that now the festive season is nearly over, you can keep up with my frugal activities all year round at Happy Frugal Year! or sign up to my regular newsletter (starting in the new year) in the blue box down on the left.

WAIT! DON'T THROW THOSE SPROUT PEELINGS AWAY!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 20:25:00 +0000

Yes, that's right don't throw away all those Christmas sprout peelings - not even on the compost heap! They make delicious soup - even for those sprout haters! As you peel your sprouts, just pick off the worst, brownish, bits and throw the good outer leaves and any stalk that's good, into a bowl to keep. If you can't make the soup straight away, wash and drain the peelings and keep in a bowl in the fridge for a day or so until you are ready to use them. The only other ingredients you need are an onion, a stock cube, sugar and some butter or oil.
Yesterday I spent what seemed like hours, peeling sprouts for Sunday dinner and then even more to blanche and freeze for Christmas lunch. I would normally buy sprouts on Christmas eve and cook fresh on the day, but I was lucky enough to get some really good, cheap sprouts on Friday and so that they could be eaten on Christmas day, I had to freeze them.
So, I've just made my sprout soup this evening, and even though I didn't quite have the 300g of peelings that the recipe calls for, it's made 4 portions anyway - 2 for lunch tomorrow and 2 to freeze for a quick lunch with garlic bread sometime over the holiday.
Here's the recipe for sprout soup - give it a go!

CHEAP (OR FREE) CHRISTMAS FUN TO KEEP THE KIDS QUIET!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Fri, 19 Dec 2008 16:04:00 +0000

Here are some links to some Christmas sites that are full of ideas for things that kids can make and do at Christmas.
It may just buy you some free time to do all those last minute Christmas jobs!

Christmas decorations to make

Christmas games, recipes, printables, decorations to make and more!

Stories to read, colour or just listen to, onscreen games, cards to make, recipes, puzzles and much more!

Blue Peter archive makes - plenty of Christmas makes plus the most famous factsheet of all -Tracy Island!

Blue Peter Things to Do

Happy Frugal Peace and Quiet!

OVER 100 FRUGAL CHRISTMAS GIFTS TO MAKE NOW!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 19:27:00 +0000

Even though we are only 9 days away from the big day, if you have an evening or two to spare (HaHa!) then you have time to make a frugal Christmas gift. My recipe for Christmas Chutney is quick to make - it's the peeling and coring of the apples that takes the most time! The chutney can be made right at the last minute, although of course it improves with keeping.
If you have a little more than a couple of evenings to make something, then have a go at knitting some cute little toys with yarn from your stash or perhaps a pair of these wrist warmers. I'm not very quick at crochet, but I know it can be a bit faster to make something crocheted than something knitted, so if crochet is your thing you should be able to create something from this collection of hand warmers, scarves and slippers in one or two hours!
Now, I know I just said knitting takes longer, but it all depends what the project is. I've seen loads of hand knitted hot water bottle covers in shops and on-line this year and some of them are very, very expensive. They don't take much yarn, and if you need a few evenings where you just want to sit in front of the telly and relax with your knitting, these cute hot water bottle covers could be just the thing to get clicking on.
If you really think you've got no time at all - then the simple ideas for these gifts in a jar could be what you need or even these slightly more elaborate recipe type gifts in a jar. Make a list of the ingredients and when you're next at the shops, pick up what you need. They really only need minutes to assemble. Perhaps the hardest thing is thinking up what to put in them!
Talking of being short of time, if you have double-sided tape and thin card then these printable stocking fillers are even quicker to make - and you won't even need to leave the house!
Of course- if you're all organised and have a couple of days to make some more gifts, you could make some of these mini Christmas cakes! They will need a day to cook, a day to marzipan and then a day to ice, but you do still have the time!
Happy Frugal Gift-making!

CURE YOUR OWN HAM FOR CHRISTMAS!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sun, 14 Dec 2008 20:40:00 +0000

I'm just in the process of curing our own ham for Christmas dinner. It's a 4 kilo (probably much bigger than we need) half leg of pork tunnel boned from our butcher. We have it steeping in a salt solution containing crushed, dried juniper berries, cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns. It must soak for around 3 -4 days per kilo, so you still have time to do a small piece now.
When it's finished soaking in brine we have to soak it in fresh water for 24 hours then boil it. We are then going to roast it with muscovado sugar and Guinness afterwards - we'll let you know how it turns out after Christmas!
For the recipe and much more all the year round frugality, visit
Happy Frugal Year!

REALLY GOOD, VERY FRUGAL TREE CHOCOLATES!

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 20:59:00 +0000

Last week on my Friday shopping trip, I was looking for tree chocolates. I don't buy very many, and I do like good chocolate so I usually buy Lindt Lindor chocolate truffle tree decorations. The trouble is, there are only 6 (3 bells, 3 baubles) in a packet - not really enough to put on my tree! So I usually buy 2 packets - getting pricey now, and now this year they are really expensive - £2.99 for one packet which has 120g of chocolate in total! I hesitated and then saw almost right next to them, a box of Lindt Lindor assorted truffles - these are just the same chocolate, are slightly smaller, round and wrapped like a sweet, but cost a more frugal £3.99 for a total chocolate weight of 337g! And there are 29 in my box, in gold, red, copper and black foil wrappers. Therefore the price per 100g, for a cost comparison, is:

Tree chocolates £2.49

Boxed chocolates £1.18

Now I'm going off to tie each one up with gold or silver curling ribbon and hang on my tree!

EASY CHRISTMAS DECORATION

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 21:05:00 +0000

A really easy Christmas decoration requiring no special equipment, glue or tools! Make it with whatever you have in your decorations box.My Christmas decoration was made with a plain everyday vase (given to me a previous Christmas, filled with pot pourri!), just filled with gold baubles, tinsel and tree beads. You can just pile them in, pretty much anyhow, but try to keep the bauble loops in towards the centre (especially if they are broken or chipped glass ones)and let the beads spill over like jewels spilling from a casket. This is useful for using small lengths of "tired" old tinsel as, when it's all piled in, it still looks good. I've seen collections of cheap Christmas baubles and beads in the charity shops recently, but it's easy to just use what you have and make up your own colour combinations. My other one in a different room is a glass terrarium filled with all silver and blue baubles and tinsel, along with white satin baubles and pearls sprinkled in. You can also use any shallow glass dish, or a glass cakestand to hold your baubles and tinsel - and the joy of this decoration is that if anyone knocks it or the beads slip out - all you have to do is pile it all back in!

MAKE YOUR OWN TOASTED SEED NIBBLES FOR CHRISTMAS

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 17:42:00 +0000

These seeds are tasty, look shop bought and are really frugal. They are great for parties, pre dinner drinks or just to nibble in front of the telly and - they’re good for you!

All you need is equal amounts of sesame, pumpkin and sunflower seeds mixed in a bowl (if you have any other favourite seeds then throw them into the mix as well). Use a large frying pan to gently dry fry the seeds on a low heat (you may have to do this in smallish batches, depending on the size of your pan) and keep turning them over with a spatula until you can see the pumpkin seeds have turned more brown than green. Take off the heat and sprinkle generously with soy sauce, stir well until all the seeds are evenly coated. Leave to cool, store in an airtight container and serve in small bowls, dotted around your room, or on the drinks table.

These are very moreish, so I don't make them until just before they're needed - as they can very quickly disappear before the guests arrive!

Enjoy!

FREE CHRISTMAS STOCKING FILLERS - frugal gifts to make 8

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 23:21:00 +0000

Just print out these great little toys and parcel them up with some double-sided tape and you’ve got your stocking filler! All you need is some thickish matt paper to print them on. Choose from pirates, monsters, cute animals and people – or download them all! These are all PDF documents so you will need Acrobat reader (free here) if you don’t already have it.

These little gifts are not only frugally free, they may just buy you some peace and quiet as you snooze after your Christmas lunch!

CHEAP QUICK MEALS FOR OVER CHRISTMAS AND NEW YEAR

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 16:26:00 +0000

Once the big day is over and everyone is thoroughly sick of cold turkey, hot turkey, turkey curry, turkey stew, turkey sandwiches, and you’re tired of cooking, what you need is meals in minutes from the freezer and this is how you do it.
Start in November by picking up reduced garlic bread and garlic flatbreads from the cold cabinet in your supermarket. They are cheap, (I paid 37p recently for a tasty garlic flatbread to serve 2 people) they freeze well and cook from frozen in around 10-15 minutes. While you’re looking at the reduced counter, pick up small tubs of pasta sauce, fresh pasta and tubs of fresh soup. All these will freeze well and will cook from frozen or defrost in your microwave.
If you really want to make the effort, you can serve the pasta in sauce with any salad that you may have – or fry an onion and throw into the sauce with any left over chopped veg or cold, sliced sausage, heat through thoroughly, then serve with garlic bread.
Soup is, well, soup, but look out for flavours that can be put together in case you have to serve more people e.g. mix a carrot soup with a vegetable soup, or a tomato soup with a minestrone. To soften up any stale, left over rolls or bread to accompany the soup (if you’re sick of garlic bread) just buzz it through the microwave for 10-15 seconds (depending on the power of your microwave).
Garlic flat breads and naan breads also make a good stand in for pizzas and can be taken straight from the freezer to use – just lay on a tray, spread with some of your pasta sauce (or plain old ketchup if that’s all you have) sprinkle on a pinch of dried thyme and slice on tomatoes, any olives left over from your Christmas buffet and slices of all those different bits of leftover cheeses from your Christmas cheeseboard! Cook at 200º for around 10- 15 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling. Serve with salad.
Enjoy!

FRUGAL GIFTS TO MAKE FOR CHILDREN

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 16:22:00 +0000

For all those lucky frugal crafters with little people to make Christmas presents for, here in the links below are a lovely selection of toys, dolls and teddy bears to delight them. They make great gifts and will also sell well at Christmas fairs!
Happy Frugal Knitting!
Bow Tie Bunny
Stripey Clown
Mr Bean style teddy bear
Amy Doll
Knitted Father Christmas
Tiny Knitted Dolls with clothes and accessories
Audrey Hepburn doll
Marilyn Monroe doll
Knitted Toy monkey
Jean Greenhowe's Toybox Snowman
Pentagon woolly ball
Clever Pointy Ball in Sock wool
Cute bunny with pouch for Sweeties!

FREE CHRISTMAS CROSS STITCH PATTERNS for Frugal Christmas Gifts 6

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:08:00 +0000

For those of you who are great with a needle these free cross stitch patterns can be used for all sorts of projects like pictures, pin cushions, Christmas cards, bookmarks, hanging decorations, Christmas stockings etc.
Choose from the many pretty designs in the links below.

Christmas Bells, Holly leaves, Christmas ornament, Merry Christmas greeting, Noel design and Christmas Angels.

Two Santas

Computer Santa, penguin, angels, candy canes, Christmas Sampler.

Angels, wreaths, gingerbread men, snow scenes, stockings, bells, tree and a Victorian Noel sampler

Cross stitch Santa Bookmark

Just loads of angels!

40 Christmas designs, too many to name!

Cute Angels, Merry Christmas, Joy, Noel

Snowman with slogan

Candles, robin, carol singer, candy sticks, Rudolph, Holly

Poinsettia

Lanterns, hedgehogs, snowmen, shortbread, trees, florals, holly & ivy and so much more!

Happy Frugal Stitching!

MAKE YOUR OWN 3D SNOWFLAKE DECORATION

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Mon, 17 Nov 2008 19:21:00 +0000

Make this lovely, professional looking snowflake decoration from 6 A4 sheets of plain old white printer paper. It measures about 54 cm across the widest part and costs very little. All you need is paper, scissors, stapler, sticky tape and a length of thread or parcel ribbon to hang it up with. Of course you can make it out of any sort of paper you like, for example, paper backed foil sheets in gold or silver, but – it is a snowflake – so plain white is just fine! It looks complicated but that's the great thing about it - it's really not!

Click HERE for simple clear instructions, photos and a how-to video and get frugal crafting!

FRUGAL CHRISTMAS GIFTS TO MAKE 5

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 20:14:00 +0000

Whoops! I think I’ve gone knitty mad! I really, really want some wrist warmers, so I can drive and be warm – I’ve found so many, I don’t know which to knit (that’s if I ever get any time to actually do any knitting!) At the moment I’m like those people with flashy kitchens who get their cooking rocks off by watching Jamie on TV but never do any cooking! I just drool over knitting patterns and gorgeous yarns!

Anyway here they are, some free patterns for whatever you may call them – wristwarmers, gauntlets, fingerless gloves, armbands - whatever!

Get knitting!

Small wristwarmers with a tiny twisted cable.

Really long gauntlets with a large cable.

Longer, lacy rib wristwarmers

Short fluffy,leaf patterned hand/wrist warmers

Frilly, beaded wristwarmers

Slither- long, long, buttoned up arm warmers!

Leopard print wristwarmers!

Fairisle pattern wristwarmers- worked from a chart.

Wristwarmer pattern generator- enter your wrist size, gauge and needle size and generate your own pattern!

Easy, ribbed wristwarmers beginners’ project

Braid cable wristwarmers

FRUGAL GIFTS TO MAKE 4

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 20:16:00 +0000

Beer mug gift for the men

Buy a pint beer mug from the supermarket and fill with wrapped chocolates – something like Roses, Celebrations or Quality Street, then wrap in cellophane and trim with ribbon. For example, Argos are selling a pack of 4 Guinness glasses for £7.49 – useful if you need to make four gifts, then buy your sweets in bulk in a huge tin (they’re often on offer this time of the year as well) and you can save even more. Cellophane wrap can be expensive, so try to plan and use it for as many gifts as you can.

Gift in a mug – for anyone!

This can be a very personalised gift, or a sweetie gift. Buy a largish mug, suitable for your recipient and fill with wrapped chocolate truffles – if you can make chocolates, so much the better. Or you can go retro and fill the mug with old-fashioned sweets from an on-line shop such as www.aquarterof.co.uk.

If sweets are not appropriate, fill the mug with small gifts like lip balm, nail polish, eye shadows etc for ladies, tiny notepads, rubbers and pens for kids or travel size shower gels, shampoos etc for the men. It can be a bit of a challenge to find small enough stuff, but it can stick up out of the mug and still be wrapped in the cellophane.

Happy frugal hunting!

FRUGAL CHRISTMAS GIFTS TO MAKE 3

noreply@blogger.com (Sally) — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 15:44:00 +0000

I think the idea of a "Gift in a Jar" may have originated in America, but it certainly seems to have gained in popularity now. These gifts can be tailored to suit the recipient exactly - your only difficulty may be getting the right size jars! Remember to start saving them for next Christmas! They are great for kids to help with and could make a lovely teacher gift.
I think the secret is, as always, in the presentation, you need clean, shiny jars, beautiful ribbons, or fabric scraps and good, professional looking labels. Some of the free ideas in a jar I've found in the links below, even provide you with printable recipe labels! Go for it!

M & M Cookies in a jar.
Almost every kind of jar gift you can think of (mostly food).
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies in a jar.
Chocolate Brownies in a jar

Some non-food ideas! These are for the crafty people in your life and as the component pieces are all small, you only need tiny jars!
Easy to make flower bead and ribbon necklace - just put the components in a small jar with a copy of the instructions!
Funky chunky bead bracelet.
Crochet wire bead necklace.

You can make endless variations to the crafty jars and once you get started - your own ideas will probably come thick and fast.
Happy Frugal Christmas!