What do you get your friend or family member who has everything? You hear a lot of talk these days about people trying to cut down on the amount of clutter or “stuff’ in their lives. But how does that fit into Christmas gift-giving?
I love the idea of giving consumable gifts for Christmas. You know what I mean: things that can be used up by the recipient. Consumable gifts could be anything from gift cards to event tickets. My favorite consumable Christmas gift, though, is Christmas candy.
Christmas candies can be a ton of fun to make. Just turn the radio on to your local Christmas music station and plan to spend a day in the kitchen. By making your Christmas gifts you’re sure to save money, and you can be sure your loved one will love his gift. Who doesn’t enjoy a plate filled with his favorite treats?
Below are a few of my favorite Christmas candies to get you started on planning your day in the kitchen. If you can’t find a recipe you like in your own cookbook, don’t hesitate to look for one on the web. They are everywhere!
Broken Glass Candy: This candy is a cinch to make since it doesn’t have many ingredients. Think of it as a Christmas peanut brittle that doesn’t have peanuts. My recipe calls for the use of red food coloring, but don’t feel free to add whatever color you’d like. Then, when it comes time to break the candy up, you can cover the floor with an old sheet (it makes clean up easier) and let the kids go crazy.
Divinity: For an old-fashioned Christmas treat, you may want to include this recipe in your Christmas candy plans. Again, this treat doesn’t have a lot of ingredients. However, there is a little work involved since you have to beat your concoction for a full ten minutes during one phase. You may want to skip this goodie if you don’t have a stand mixer.
Peanut Butter Fudge: For the loved ones who enjoy sweets, but not chocolate, peanut butter fudge is heavenly. Once you’ve formed the fudge into its pan, don’t forget to top it with festive decorations. I’ve seen fudge sprinkled with walnuts or peanuts or drizzled with icing. Either way, it’s perfect!
Peppermint Patties: A little more labor intensive than my other suggestions, peppermint patties are a real treat. There are a couple of different points that require you to let the patties chill, so space in the refrigerator is a must for this dessert. You could, however, let them chill while you’re starting another recipe. Older kids could, then, help you later with dipping the patties into their chocolate covering.
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How many times in the past few weeks have you heard your children talking about Elmo Live? Or maybe in your house the new High School Musical playset is all the rage? No matter how frugal you’re determined to be, your kids will undoubtedly have a few things on their wish list that make staying within your budget harder.
While nothing can totally insulate you from the high price of some toys, there are several methods to help you find the toys you want for your children at prices that you can live with.
Check the sales ads regularly. You don’t have to get the Sunday paper each week. Instead, just pull up the websites for your favorite stores. Keep your shopping list close at hand and watch for good prices.
Save coupons. Chances are you’ve already been getting a plethora of coupons in your email inbox. Sign up for mailing lists (electronic ones) of your favorite stores. Don’t forget, though, to print these coupons out and carry them with you. If you forget to take them shopping with you, they won’t do you any good.
Combine coupons and sales. By layering the savings together you can potentially help yourself to some pretty powerful discounts. For instance, Kohl’s frequently offers 50% off the prices of certain types of toys. If I add my 15% off coupon into the mix, I end up saving almost 60%.
Use price comparison websites. These stores do a lot of your homework for you. In a few minutes, I can compare the price of the new Guitar Hero game at something like ten different retailers. However, be sure to verify the price when you go into the store. Things can change faster than the websites keep up, sometimes.
Check out bargain hunter websites. Different than price comparison websites, these sites don’t allow you to search for a specific item. They do, however, often list many different coupons and coupon codes. And, if you sign up for their email updates, you can be notified whenever their administrators find especially good deals.
Don’t be afraid to return something. Let’s say that you found just the toy you wanted for your little boy at Kohl’s last week. But then, last night, you saw that it was being discounted even further online at another store. Then, to top it off, that website is offering free shipping on internet purchases. By all means, buy the toy at the website and return the one you bought at Kohl’s. All the exchange will cost you is a little time in line at customer service. Just make sure you have the necessary receipts for these types of transactions.
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Christmas food gifts are good ideas for a couple of different reasons. They’re easily customizable; simply take care to include foods the intended recipient likes. They’re also affordable; the most valuable ingredient is your preparation time. Almost anyone on your Christmas list could benefit from a Christmas food gift basket.
The question becomes, then, what type of gift basket should you give your loved one. While you’ll have to determine all of the details of your gift baskets based upon what your loved one likes, you basically have three types of food gift baskets to choose from:
The component gift basket – You’ve seen these types of food gifts lots of times. Sometimes, they are jars with all of the dry ingredients you need to make cookies. My favorite component gift basket, though, includes some tool or utensil needed to make the food. For instance, pizza lovers might enjoy a pizza-themed gift basket. Start with a basic, metal pizza pan. In the center, you can pile a jar of pizza sauce, ingredients for toppings, (pepperoni is surprisingly non-perishable), and a recipe for a simple pizza crust. Tie everything together with some pretty ribbon and your gift is complete.
The assortment gift basket – These types of food gifts are easy to put together in bulk. I spend one day making all of my favorite Christmas treats. Then, I put a little of each treat into a pretty box (lined with wax paper). Be sure to customize the box to each recipient. If you know Uncle Charlie loves your peanut brittle, be sure to give him an extra helping of it. For convenience you can also put these assortments into those holiday-themed disposable food containers.
The luxury gift basket – These types of food gifts are more expensive to put together because you can’t make them yourself. Typically it is comprised of the foods you don’t normally get. Perhaps a bottle of wine and fancy chocolates. If you want to find something out of the ordinary for your food gift basket (I’m surprising my husband with an assortment of exotic hot sauces.) try looking in the food section of TJ Maxx or Marshall’s. They tend to have foods that I’ve never seen before
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