Easy/ Low Budget Christmas Ideas

I am sure you could probably just do a google search and come up with a ton of great low budget ideas for gifts for Christmas, however whenever I try to do that I end up going from site to site and spending way too much time trying to put together something. So I thought i would add a few of what I have done this holiday season. Including a sewing flaw, that I again, never took a picture of the end result- I suppose it is because whenever I decide to do a blog post on a project, I decide about half way through, and only give myself 20 minutes before I need to walk out the door to wherever I am going. Trying to get the kids ready also can take away quite a bit of time-so long the days of grabbing your jacket and purse and walking out the door-those days are loonnng gone. I do not expect to see them again for years and years*sniff* I love my kids though, regardless of the incredible amount of dishes and laundry-no seriously, I have two kids and you would think I must have at least 4, we constantly have a diaper that leaks, and toddler that has an accident, haha " accident", or like today when the baby thought he would crawl over and stick his hand in his brothers full potty-gross right? I am still nauseous. Oh, don't go acting like it never happened to you! Anyone else? can I get a AMEN? haha, yeah no- you guys never had that happen to you, righhhttt ;-) you are all great housewives who empty that little potty right away, mmhmm. Alright enough of my spaghetti brain... have you read men are waffles,women are spaghetti? Awesome book-ahh, did it again :-).

I had a secret sister social to go to at church. We were a bit tight on money, esp after my husbands car swallowed another huge chunk of money. So I needed something nice to bring that cost-well, nothing. I knew at a salon I used to work at, my boss made her own foot scrub and I though- well I could do that. So I made a sugar scrub. I used baby oil, sugar, vitamin E ointment,vanilla, and Caribbean mist lotion (you know those people who bug you at the mall). I would however recommend you not use baby oil, unless you have something to cover the smell a little better- I wanted it to be vanilla scrub,but ended having about a teaspoon.That is why I used the lotion. Smelled a little like your grandmas perfume- but it was for a older lady so it was fine-but not quite what I had intended. I then put it in a mason jar, used a scrap piece of fabric and a blue satin ribbon, added a little note that said ingredients (just in case someone is allergic). I also did a regular chocolate cookie dough recipe one, but added white chocolate chips with the milk ones for a little more variety for your eyes. Her favorite colors are blue and yellow, so why not give her yellowish fabric and blue ribbon. I enjoy getting things in my favorite color, so I would assume others do to, so think to find out these kinds of things-really helps with finding or making gifts.

Sugar Scrub Recipes

Since I did not get a finished product picture,I thought Id show the presentation at least

My secret sister also happens to read a ton. So instead of buying her a bookmark, like I had intended- i made one out of scrap fabric, ribbon, and fusible interfacing.Again, no finished product picture-but I have a few pictures to demonstrate.

After interfacing put right sides together with ribbon in between.

My scrap fabric was cut too big, so I just sewed the seam allowance to the size I wanted.

Tip: Make sure your ribbons are nowhere near your side seams, in my rushing around, i ended up with one caught,and since I had no time, made it into a mini book mark- oops:-)!

You want to leave about a 3 inch opening, or leave the whole bottom open to pull it right side out, then iron the bottom with raw edges turned inside and stitch.(sorry no pictures)


make it- love it has so, so many projects you can do. Of course, if you do have little babies and you want something homemade,but you do not sew...my Etsy link is on the right hand side;-) I do custom orders.

Here is another one I have decided to do, a family movie night basket. You can find those little boxes of candy at the super market for a dollar a piece, or there are a few packs at the dollar store for 79cents. You can get everyone's favorite candy that way, open up a box of popcorn bags( I used some kettle corn, some extra butter), lay them around, If you got a few more bucks you can search through the Walmart 5 dollar movies for a decent family movie, or if you are doing a Pollyanna and you have a decent budget you can upgrade it with movie tickets or a more expensive movie. My aunt did something like this for our family one year-great idea. I gave pictures with mine, since it is for my Dad and stepmother.


I am part of a mom2mom group, which is very similar to MOPS (moms of preschoolers) and we were very blessed to have someone share easy gift ideas with us this past month,here are some links we were sent.
Gift Basket Ideas
Cleaning recipes (gift a basket of natural cleaning supplies)
Jar Recipes - soups, cocoa, cookies etc.