Usually when we give birthday presents outside of our own four kids we set a budget of $10 - $20 per gift, depending on how elastic our budget is for that week. This week it was $10.
Throughout the year I store up gift wrapping supplies. I have a drawer full of ribbon that I've salvaged from gifts I've received as well as garage sales and thrift stores.
I also collect tins and pretty containers or unique boxes. And under my bed I have two boxes that store gift bags of all sizes and shapes, tissue paper, bows and curling ribbon from gifts I've received.
Today's gift was for my daughters friend who is turning 13. (Vangie if your reading this just look away, girl!) Lately she's into nail polish so we picked four colors that we though she'd like, a bottle of remover, a cute little container of cotton remover pads, a chocolate bar and her favorite candy...sour patch kids.
I used a cute little green pail that someone had given to me, added some brown tissue paper because Camouflage is one of her favorite patterns, and put the gifts inside. We finished it off with a green ribbon and Ta Da!
An adorable birthday gift for $10.
That turned out so cute!! Lots of great ideas!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE it! I'm also really glad to know I'm not the only one who collects ribbon and boxes etc.!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fantastic, frugal gift!
ReplyDeleteI love the adorable pail and ribbon, too! :)
cute idea.
ReplyDeleteThat is too cute!! And I happen to like those sorts of gifts. Back 11 years ago when I married my ex one of my favorite gifts was a laundry basket full of little things we would need around the house.. can opener, dish towels, hammer, nails, aluminum foil, etc... It was so fun digging through and seeing what it was!! :)
ReplyDeleteWhile, I am here.. I was wondering if you could give me (and the readers) some advice... :)
ReplyDeleteI need some ideas on losing weight ona strict budget. And I dont eat much meat... :) I may have missed it but is there a post about frugal weight loss on here?
I'm with ya, we have about the same budget and we also save wrappings. Great idea, btw, for the young girl's gift!
ReplyDeleteThat is so cute and creative! We try to be as creative as we can with birthday gifts, too. They can wreck a budget if you are not careful! My son is 4 and he had two parties this summer. We went to the dollar store and I let him pick out 3 or 4 little gifts for his friends. Those gift were the hit of the party! The parents who had spent lots of money on gifts were so jealous!
ReplyDeleteThat is so cute!!! I have two boys, So I'm confident I won't be using the idea for one of the parties they ever go to....but still it's so cute :)
ReplyDeleteI love this idea! It is a great gift for any girl or woman! Hey! Even I would like getting a gift like this.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the wonderful idea!
Great post, Love the pic's. ! We live in a tiny little town . I am greatfull for our new dollar store to help get thru birthdays !
ReplyDeletevery cute! :)
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite things about this post is that you're really teaching your kids to be good gift givers. It's not how much you spend, but finding something that the recipient will really like (like choosing the nail polish set).
ReplyDeleteThat is so cute. We do similar stuff here too. I save up paper and tins I find on clearance and on sale...
ReplyDeleteGayle....I LOVE this idea! I am already thinking ahead to Christmas, and have begun making some crocheted or knitted dish rags. I am also taking clean, vintage sheets from Goodwill and making aprons. I have also found some really nice all cotton shower curtains that will be cut up for cotton dish cloths. LOTS of handmade this year, as there really is NO extra cash. Things are really tight here in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteThat's brilliant! I love it!!
ReplyDeleteAny ideas for 8 year old or 11 year old boys?? I just don't know what to get them and if its left up to my sons to pick for their friends it ends up some crazy expensive useless toy.
What clever ideas! My 11 yr. granddaughter starts middle school next week and that would make a neat way to put together a gift for her of "light" cosmetics, like finger nail polish, lip gloss, her own bottle of perfume, hand cream,etc. She's been trying her hand at cooking this summer and I gave her my 5 ingredients or less Fix-it-and-forget it crockpot cook book yesterday. Will be interesting to see what she tries to make this week.
ReplyDeleteFor 8 to 11 year old boys I'd hit the dollar store and make a bucket full of toy cars, or the little magic trick sets that they have there, and of course some candy. What kid doesn't love candy.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter put together a gift at the dollar store that was a bear and a box of gummy bears. Her friend loved it.
ReplyDeleteAlso tiny boxes of nerd candy with a dollar wraped around each box. (My daughter recieved 11 tiny nerd candy with a dollar wrapped around each and a ribbon. She turned 11.)
What a great idea and so personal. Love the container.
ReplyDeleteThanks for not just sharing a wonderful gift idea but also ways to organise storage for ribbons etc collected over time!
ReplyDeleteI really believe that gifts that have been put together like yours had for the recipient show such love, care and friendship.
Loved the post - thank you.
Beautiful gift! We have a similar box of ribbons, boxes, tie ons and a huge Rubbermaid tote of gift bags that we re-use at birthdays and Christmas.
ReplyDeleteIf you jumped into the "drug store game" you would have gotten that nail polish for free. :o) Consider the incentives if you try it.
Julie feeding 8 hungry mouths and a bit jealous of your Starbuck's deals at the liquidators.
I have at times given an asst. of nail polish. I like the idea of the polish remover and pads to go with it.
ReplyDeleteThe tin can with matching ribbon looked so nice! I'll have to keep my eye out for those from now on.
Thanks for answering about the gift giving. Would love to see any future gifts. By the way, I checked out your Christmas gift and it was just as cute. Great ideas!
M.