I have been trying to think of "thrifty" presents for my immediate family. I am also planning to buy them modestly priced "new" items but I thought a thrifty gift would also be special, because they know I am into that kind of thing. Here is what I have come up with. I hope other people will also contribute their ideas.
For Mom, 2nd grade teacher and homemaker: A bundle of Hallmark magazines from 2007. I know she doesn't subscribe to this magazine but I think she would enjoy reading my old copies.
For Dad, retired math teacher: A set of geometry crossword puzzles with vocabulary words and problems that I have made for my classes (I am a math teacher, too). He loves to do crossword puzzles and I know he enjoys math.
For Brother #1, college student living on his own for the first time: A set of easy recipes, many from thriftyfun.com, that I have made successfully and that he can make in his apartment, or cook for my parents if he decides to ditch his slacker roommates and move back home. He seems to enjoy cooking and talks about how his roommates only eat "gross frozen food."
For Brother #2, aspiring auto-mechanic: A monogrammed mechanics clean-up kit. This will consist of a bottle of dishwashing detergent with his initials written on it with a sharpie, as well as shop rags also with his initials in sharpie. Of course, the shop rags would come from my husbands pile of old clean socks with holes. (I know, it's kind of a stretch, but he is hard to think of gifts for.)
For Hubby: Fresh AA batteries and a new brush head for his electric toothbrush that he hasn't used in a few months just because he's been to busy to charge the batteries and I keep forgetting to get him a brush head.
I hope other people will also contribute their ideas!
By Allison from northeast TN
This page contains the following solutions.
In our big family, we have our annual Thanksgiving on the "weekend before the holiday, so all our kids are not running between families on Thanksgiving Day. During our day we have a time when we draw names for Christmas grabs between the children and this picture just made itself.
