Do any of you use any arts and crafts ideas to save money for Christmas gifts?
I have made cranberry muffins, chocolate chip cookies, pumpkin pies, banana bread, and granola for Christmas gifts for relatives in the U.S. One year, I gave some families small boxes of organic clementines--they liked them. I have not given any crafty home-made items because I equate doo-dads, figurines, ornaments, etc. with clutter (and waste).
However, I have learned to knit in the past year, so I am making scarves and hats for relatives and friends--and some of the kids will get books along with their hats.
Re: what ladelfina said, I also find that my richer relatives are not so appreciative of home-made (baked) gifts. Fortunately, I have just a few of them, so I just don't give them gifts anymore. They are rich so they won't miss them although it did seem disrespectful at first. I just send them a Christmas card.
For my family members abroad, I just send them $'s. This year, I am visiting Manila for Christmas, and $'s will be my gift to them. It's a lot less hassle than thinking and thinking and buying something that's not the right color, size, or not even the right thing.
It bugs me, too, when I get no thanks. It should be enough to have done my part--to reach out and think of relatives and give them tokens of my thinking of them--but I know who thanks me and who doesn't, although I am getting used to not getting thanks. However, I still want to know that the stuff came through for those few gifts that I mail out, so I wait a week or so and ask them if they got a package from me.
