Festive Fivers Competition: The best Xmas pressies for under £5

leckershell

• Name of present? Photo keyring/coaster/bottle opener
  
• Do you make it or buy it? Both
• Total Cost? Try ebay seller image2000plus for blank keyrings/coasters/bottle openers. 10 heart shaped keyrings for example, £2.78, 10 bottle opener keyrings £4.37. Marginal cost for paper.
  
• Details (the more the better) Print off photos/pictures/wordart/logos/patterns of your choice. Mount in keyring. Voila

ebay username image2000plus - http://myworld.ebay.co.uk/image2000plus
or just type "blank keyring" into ebay search.

leckershell

• Name of present? Novelty bank note/s
  
• Do you make it or buy it? Both/Either
• Total Cost? Ebay - approx £2 per individual bank note or £3 for the software to make them yourself. Optional cost for photo frame, marginal cost for paper.
  
• Details (the more the better) Either buy an already available note off ebay (hundreds available) or buy the software and create your own. Make or buy fiver, tenner, twenty and fifty notes with any design of your choice, and frame them Original idea for collectors - I had a set of Tom and Jerry notes, and I got my dad a set of notes with the simpsons wearing portsmouth football kit
  

type "novelty bank note" into ebay search.

leckershell

• Name of present? Used Phonecard
  
• Do you make it or buy it? Buy
• Total Cost? Ebay - cheap as you like
  
• Details (the more the better) Good for collectors, see if someones favourite pop group/filmstar/cartoon has been put onto a phonecard. I bought a Tom and Jerry phonecard for 60p ages ago. Very original idea that collectors probably hadn't thought of. I also had a phonecard from a holiday in France with Atomic Kitten on which I sold on ebay to a collector

Wolfiewoo

• Name of present? Gifts from your own kitchen...
• Do you make it or buy it? make them
• Total Cost? £0 and up

Delicious gifts from your own kitchen or adorable crafts...Gifts in a jar, breads, fudge, confections, gourmet popcorn, fruit cakes, vinegars, flavoured oils, decorated jars, tins and many more suggestions. Brilliant ideas for inexpensive presents.

check out http://www.giftsfromyourkitchen.com/index.html

I've already made some chilli oil, apricot chutney and some jam for my relatives and it all cost me next to nothing. As it's an American site, all you need to remember when following the recipes is that 1 cup= 237ml or 226g:T

hillsa71

Name of present? Marzipan Fruits
Do you make it or buy it? Make
Total Cost? £1.09 (if you use the whole packet on 1 gift!)
Details (the more the better) You can pay over £5 for a small box of shop bought marzipan fruits! It's cheaper and so much more personal to make them yourself! Just buy a 250g packet of golden marzipan from the supermarket. All you need in addition is a few drops of food colouring and 3 or 4 cloves for stalks. You can make 2 -3 gifts out of 1 packet of marzipan and you can be as crazy and creative as you like! Simple things like apples and pears are easy but for a challenge try things like pineapple, bunches of grapes or kiwis! You can even go as far as making little boxes to present them! xx

Ps. I hope this entry will still be accepted, the email with the link in it only came through today! :A

choccyface2006

Name of present? Choccy/sweet mug
Do you make it or buy it? Both
Total Cost? Between £3 and £5, maybe less with a cheaper mug, maybe nearer £5 if you included slippersox/keyring other small non food gift.
Details (the more the better) I bought these mugs for £2 from Woolworths although its very easy to buy mugs for less than this. I went for a girly mug for my daughter and her friends but you could find mugs more suitable for boys too and I avoided Christmas themed mugs because I wanted the mug to be a useful gift all year round.

For the first set of mugs I spend about £1 filling them. The other mugs I have filled with more grown up chocolates for my elder daughters friends and spent about £1.75 BUT I did buy chocolates in multiples (4 packs) to make 4 mugs so although I only spend a small amount, it might cost slightly more to buy the items singly. If you were to make just one mug you could buy a small selection pack and use the contents to get a cheapish mix of chocolate.

The chocolate lollies were 99p for four, also from Woolworths.
I bought twin horlicks hot choc sachets 29p - Instore
5 pack of regular size Mars bars from Co-op £1 (Ohh, one left over for me!)
Terry's chocloate orange bars £1.15 for four - Morrisons
Daim bars - FREEE (on BOGOF with Terrys orange bars) - Morrisons
Toblerone bar - 97p for four - Instore
Love hearts sweets 39p for four rolls - Home bargains
Chocolate coins 69p - Morrisons for A BAG (I just put two big ones in each mug)
Fruit shebert sweets 69p - Morrisons

I bought some christmas foil shapes for 10p last year in the sale so I sprinkled some in the mugs and around the cellaphane that I wrapped them in, I also tied them with curling ribbon and made a handmade tag for each one, the cost of these items is very little.

A great, cheap, thousghtful present for almost anyone including teachers, carers, friends, children or adults.

Sarah x

choccyface2006

• Name of present? Memories cd
• Do you make it or buy it? Make it
• Total Cost? £0.30 (cost of cd only)
• Details (the more the better) Last year I spent alot of time collecting all the old photos of my family (about 500) I scanned everyone into the computer and put them in chronlogical order the best I could. I started with photos of each set of grandparents, then our parents wedding, my siblings and I as babies, children, adults and photos of us now. I asked my uncle to scan some old slides for me so we could have digital copies of photos that we only had as slides. I set the photos to music and put them onto CD for each of my sisters, brother and parents. On Christmas day I put it on, we laughed and cried watching them. I discovered photos that some members of the family had never seen before. It wasn't a five minute job but worth all my hours toiling over it to see the looks on their faces!

Sarah x

Toonie

Name of present? Beaded creations
Do you make it or buy it? Make with bought materials.
Total Cost? As much as you want to spend, but generally under £2.
Details (the more the better) Make dangles by placing beads on eye pins or head pins and attach to a keyring blank, a length of cotton cord for a bookmark (just measure a standard paperback and attach a dangle at either end), a lariat for a phone charm or anything else that looks lovely with beads. You can tailor to the individual and buy birthstones or semi precious beads which may mean something to them, such as a charm bracelet with carnelian or moss agate beads for an expectant mother. I made a keyring for my sister-in-law with one of her birthstones, which cost me 90p.

valeriri

Name of present? Homemade Blacberry Jam
Make it or buy it? Make it
Total Cost? under £1
Details (the more the better)? This could be an idea for Christmas 2008 as you need to pick up blackberries in August/September. This country is full of blackberry bushes. Jam is so easy to make, you won't believe it. You can reuse glass jars you got when you bought that curry sauce or those pickle onions. Never throw a glass jar. Add a final touch with a personalised label and you are laughing!:rotfl:

bumblebod

Personalised Bottle of Wine
Buy it (then get creative)
Total Cost depends how thrifty you are, and how fussy the recipient is likely to be!
Details- Buy a cheap bottle of wine and soak off the label. On your computer, design and print your own personalised label. You can insert a name (e.g. Chateaux Smith) add a photo if you like, and a cheeky description (...Full bodied and fruity/ refreshingly bubbly...) Stick the labels on with a glue stick. I like to make labels for front and back to add authenticity. You can give someone a unique gift for as little as £3....or try the same idea with jams/ oils/ bubble bath for teetotallers.