Win £200. Festive Fivers Competition 2008: The best Xmas pressies for under £5

loringesque

Name of present? Get poetic
Do you make it or buy it? mixture of the two
Total Cost? approx £1 - £5 depending on how you present your ideas
Details (the more the better)

The idea is to write a personalised poem about the loved one(s) you are sending the gift to (nothing Shakespeare-esque, more along the lines of a greetings card verse!) e.g. when my sister turned 18 I wrote her a poem about all the stupid stuff we had got up together as kids and for my grandparents' 60th wedding anniversary, I find out loads of details about their lives together (e.g. how they met, where they got married etc). Then you simply type it up in a fancy font, add a tasteful border etc and print it out on a piece of nice paper. You can then present this in a variety of ways depending on your budget:
1. You can roll it up like a scroll and tie it with a piece of festive ribbon
2. You can frame it (you can pick up nice frames cheaply at supermarkets and bargain shops like WILKO and IKEA)
3. Or you can cut the poem into verses and present it in a small photo album with personal photos and pictures (I did this for my grandparents' poem that I mentioned earlier. I used some family photos in between verses but also printed off from the internet a picture of the church they got married in and the street where they first lived together). Again you can pick up decent photo albums cheaply from same places as frames. Years after my grandad died my grandma loved having the photo read to her and looked at the photos and pictures. She says it's like a walk down memory lane.

These are cheap and easy to produce but have a real personal touch and loved ones really appreciate the thought and effort that goes into them.

surfingcat

Name of present? gift from Freecycle:money:
Do you make it or buy it? get it free!
Total Cost? Absolutely nothing!
Details (the more the better)
Check out your local freecycle yahoo group. Make sure you check it daily (or get the daily digest emails) and if you are lucky you will pick up the perfect present for free. The best stuff tends to go very quickly. I recently picked up an ELC pink keyboard which cost £35 for free. It has been used but has cleaned up as a perfectly acceptable gift for my toddler. You can do your bit for the environment by saving someone else's rubbish going to landfill and get something free!
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer
http://www.freecycle.org/groups/unitedkingdom/

(sorry if this idea has already been posted )

catwomanga

Name of present? A Few Choice Words - fridge magnets card

Do you make it or buy it? Make it - personalised

Total Cost? £2.49 plus card and envelope (can be recycled)

Details (the more the better)

Print out words to play around with on the fridge.
(You only need to use your black ink cartridge.)

Some theme ideas:

Personalise family names, traits, hobbies
Languages or short words for children learning to read
Cockney Rhyming Slang
Make your own Rock Band name/!!!!!! Star name

Can be left as an A4 sheet for the recipient to cut up (easier to post)
or cut the pieces and arrange a few choice words on the front of a handmade card with a bag to hold the rest inside.

Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer
For single A4 sheet with free delivery and free software:
www.blank-promotional-keyrings.co.uk/magnetic_paper.htm

If you want to make more than one card and split the cost, then there are plenty of alternatives. I like this site: www.craftycomputerpaper.co.uk for the range, free graphics and creative ideas

ruthmd

Name of present? Personalised Photo Album
Do you make it or buy it? A bit of both
Total Cost? Under £5
Details (the more the better) Find a really cheap photo album (one where the pages turn like a normal book works much better than a flip one). Somewhere like the pound shop might have one and it doesn't matter whats on the outside as you'll be covering it in the next stage. Next buy some pretty paper, Paperchase sell hundreds of diffferent handmade papers which are really nice to use and cost less than £2, and cover the photo album (like you would with a school jotter) using pritt stick. I have also used pretty fabric before which makes the book look more professional but this needs stronger glue. Once the album is covered find photos that the person who's receiving the present would like and get them printed. You don't have to fill the album, even just a few to get them started and it makes the book very personal. I have made several of these albums for gifts and they were a great success as they are unique and personal, and doesn't cost very much!

sides26

Name of present: Scrumptious chocolate hampers

Do you buy it or make it? Buy it

Total cost: Various

Details: Thorntons have some great little bars/packs of chocolate that would make some lovely gifts for a wide range of people.

They have a 3 for 2 offer on some festive inspired chocolate treats so it would be easy enough to make a little hamper for children or adults that would seem like a feast!!!

For kids, there is a santa bar (£1.00), milk chocolate santa lolly (£0.69), milk chocolate reindeer lolly (£0.69), white chocolate snowman lolly (£0.69) and milk chocolate coins (£0.99). This should work out at £3.37 and to make sure you get the best of the offer you should get two of one item to mkae sure you have six items. There should still be enough to get something small for them to stand in, such as a small mug. Alternatively, if you have a small box lying around you could decorate this yourself for a more personal touch.

For adults, if you didn't want to get them any of the above gifts, there are more mature ideas. There are four chocolate 'baubles', each different flavours (champage, xmas pudding, milk chocolate and praline) and just £0.65 each. So to get six of them, whether you get four of one and two of another or whatever you want, would be just 2.60. They look very attractive so would need something to sit in to present them as they deserve! But with £2.40 to spare, this wouldn't be a problem. You should be able to find a suitable gift box at a number of shops.


Nikki

Manya_2

Name of the present: Greting cards/Pictures
Do you make it or buy it: Make
Total cost: Priceless
Details:

If you always do what you’ve always done you will always get what you’ve always got!
Time has come for BEING CREATIVE.
Make your own Greeting Card/Picture just gluing some plain paper onto a beautiful picture from magazine – the edges of the picture will turn into colourful frame.Compose a poem using given last words in the lines and write your poem on the plain paper. Below are some examples but, of course, you can choose your own rhymes or make the poem longer.

……….cost ..........toy ..........you ...........me ..........champagne
………snow ….mummy .....healthy ........round ........... sparkling
..........frost ..........boy ..........few ............eve ..................again
..... .. show ......yummy .....wealthy ..…sound ............cuddling

Have FUN!!!!!

surfingcat

Name of present? Personalised Fridge Notepad:p
Do you make it or buy it? Make it
Total Cost? 40p
Details (the more the better)
Buy a small cheap notepad (I bought 10 for £1.29 in Poundstretcher). Redesign/personalise the front cover by sticking things on it. Stick a magnet on the back. You can even buy strips of magnet that has sticky back on (crafts shops or ebay) for about £2 for 1m - you could make 10 notebooks with that much. (probably best to check you have enough maganet to hold it before you give it to someone - hence the small notebooks)

I am going to make some with rudolph faces (using brown paper and a nice glittery red nose) including sticking out card antlers, some covered in some shiny wrapping paper with a green paper christmas tree stuck on and decorated and some I am going to let the children go crazy with the glitter glue on. I am also doing some with photos and messages/captions. Yes everyone is getting one from me this year! You can get some interesting paper for free cut from bits from magazines or catolgues you could cover one with strips of different patterns cut from clothes pictures.
PERSONAL - SMALL - CHEAP - USEFUL - RECYCLABLE -PREFECT!!! :A
Where possible please add a link if it's an online offer
Magnetic Strip on Ebay
http://shop.ebay.co.uk/items/__magnetic+strip_W0QQ_dmdZ2

RHDragonlady

This is my first post, so sorry if idea has already been used- love all your ideas and will definately be using some- I have done this as presents for the last few years.


Name of present? Homemade christmas biscuits/cakes
Do you make it or buy it? make it
Total Cost? 5 pounds or less depending on ingredients (I always use VALUE items)
Details (the more the better) I collect various fruit and veg punnets throughout the year ( from mushrooms, tomatoes, grapes etc) then cover them in tissue paper. this can be bought cheaper if you buy larger quantities from craft shops, rather than the small packets you get near the wrapping paper.

I also got some nice festive napkins (bought in sales) to line the punnets.

All you need to do then is arrange your cakes/biscuits in a clear sandwich bag and tie with ribbon.

you could choose anything to put in bags but here are some ideas I have used-

Mini xmas puds- make a mixture of crushed digestive biscuits,raisens, melted chocolate and golden syrup, roll into balls- once set use rolled out white icing as your topping and decorate with holly leaves and berries( I used icing pens to do this) can be a bit messy to make(especially when kids are helping) but they look and taste great:)

Posh rice crispie/cornflake cakes- make your mixture as normal and then place a cookie cutter on some non stick paper, squash your mixture into the mould and then carefully lift off. once set roll the edges of the cakes in icing sugar

Christmas cookies- use whichever recipe your good at gingerbread, shortcake etc and then cut out with xmas shaped cutters. I let my daughter decorate the snowmen with icing scarves and hats. and we made some green icing and decorated the Xmas trees with coloured sugar baubles and icing pens.

Homemade fudge- easy to do as can be made in large trays and then cut into smaller pieces

Advent chocolates- I kept the plastic moulds from the kid advent calenders.

Chocolate chip cookies.

These make great pressies - I have also used as end of year pressie for teachers and started a tradition of getting the kids to give a small bag of biscuits to our neighbours on xmas morning.

choccyface2006

Name of present? Sweet Treats
Do you make it or buy it? Both
Total Cost? £5
Details (the more the better) I bought a basic jar with airtight lid from Matalan, £2 and Window colour glass art paints, 99p From Home bargains.

My youngest daughter (9) and I decorated the jar writing "Dad's Sweets" and drawing littles coloured sweets on the lid.

Then we bought sweets (mostly Asda basic sweets) and filled it up. You could perhaps use a pic 'n' mix or chocolates We wrapped it in cellaphane and ribbon for an extra special finish. You could make and customise this for anyone and put different things inside with a lovely personal jar to keep forever!









Sarah x

Emily_Hall08

I hope this idea hasn't already been thought of or posted, but this is something I've decided to make my younger sister for this Christmas
I hope it gives somebody a little inspiration.


Name of present? Personalised games of pairs
Do you make it or buy it? Make it!
Total Cost? £1.50 average (£1 for printing photos, and another 50p for buying some brightly coloured christmas wrapping paper)

Details

I have begun making a personalised game of pairs for my sister. I have printed two sheets of photos (of family members, friends, pets and other random people or places that are personal to us) which I am cutting up and sticking onto bits of cardboard, cut to the same size as the photos.

You could stick the photos on using pritt stick, double sided sticky tape or whatever you have to hand. I am using cardboard left over from cereal packets and other food packaging, so this is all free. If you haven't got any, I'm sure that friends, neighbours or some kind stranger on freecycle would be happy to supply some, so no extra cost is added to this gift!

For the other side of the game pieces I am sticking some christmas wrapping paper so that any images or text that is already on the cardboard doesn't show, and so that all of the pieces look the same! This is free for me since I have some leftover, but you may need to spend here if you haven't got any.

As an optional finishing touch you may decide to laminate the pieces, or cover them in sticky back plastic (you should be able to pick up a roll for about £1, if not once again try freecycle!), but this isn't necessary.

Once the game is made, I suggest wrapping a shoe box and lid separately in
the same christmas wrapping paper, and writing their name and 'pairs' (e.g. 'Tom's Christmas Pairs') on the top. You might like to write the instructions for the game on a piece of paper and pop that inside along with the game pieces. Instead of using a shoe box you could use any small box or container you have to hand and decorate accordingly. Use any bits you have to make it look how you'd like it to, maybe wrap some spare tinsel around the box, add glitter, or make some snowflakes from white paper and scissors (everyone knows how to do this!)

You can vary the difficulty of this game for different ages by altering the number or photos and the complexity and size of the images. I think it will be a nice surprise for a present, and the game will be even more enjoyed through the excitement of what personal photo the next card will bring!


And here's another variation on this:


Name of present? Personalised photo dominoes
Do you make it or buy it? Make it!
Total Cost? £1.50 average (£1 for printing photos, and another 50p for buying some brightly coloured christmas wrapping paper)

Details

To make this game, I'll be printing a couple of sheets of photos (of family members, friends, pets and other random people or places that are personal to us) which I will put into pairs and cut up in twos so that each dominoe has two different images. Then I'll stick these onto bits of cardboard, cut to the same size as the sets of photos. I'll be using 6 different photos and printing each one lots of times so that the game flows.

You could stick the photos on using pritt stick, double sided sticky tape or whatever you have to hand. I am using cardboard left over from cereal packets and other food packaging, so this is all free. If you haven't got any, I'm sure that friends, neighbours or some kind stranger on freecycle would be happy to supply some, so no extra cost is added to this gift!

For the other side of the game pieces I am sticking some christmas wrapping paper so that any images or text that is already on the cardboard doesn't show, and so that all of the pieces look the same from the back! This is free for me since I have some leftover, but you may need to spend here if you haven't got any.

As an optional finishing touch you may decide to laminate the pieces, or cover them in sticky back plastic (you should be able to pick up a roll for about £1, if not once again try freecycle!), but this isn't necessary.

Once the game is made, I suggest wrapping a shoe box and lid separately in
the same christmas wrapping paper, and writing their name and 'dominoes' (e.g. 'Molly's Christmas Dominoes') on the top. You might like to write the instructions for the game on a piece of paper and pop that inside along with the game pieces. Instead of using a shoe box you could use any small box or container you have to hand and decorate accordingly. Use any bits you have to make it look how you'd like it to, maybe wrap some spare tinsel around the box, add glitter, or make some snowflakes from white paper and scissors (everyone knows how to do this!)

I think it will be a nice surprise for a present, and the game will be so much fun to play as they'll recognise all the photos




That's all, sorry if my descriptions were too long!:o
Also, I'll be posting photos as soon as they are finished if anybody is interested in seeing (or copying!) them.