saving money with homemade gifts?

[tcufrog]

Is anyone making gifts this holiday season? Do you find that you save money by making them or not?

My kids have a ton of teachers even though they're only in elementary school. Usually I bake gifts for the extras teachers and buy something for their homeroom teachers. I'm make cookies or bake fruit bread using ingredients I already have. I've been able to find really cheaply on sale at Tuesday Morning, Homegoods or World Market either decorative plates or holiday baked goods boxes. I bought years ago clear gift basket cellophane and ribbon. Wrapping them is quick and easy. I'm far from crafty but the presentation always looks really nice.

This year though I've punted the job of making teacher gifts to my kids. DS9 has gotten into paracord crafts. The cord is really cheap on Amazon and comes in a ton of colors. He's making paracord key fobs for his extras teachers in the school colors (he can make them really fast) and he's going to try making a mug wrap for his homeroom teacher and aunt who is always making really nice gifts for our family. She's an awesome knitter and sews basic stuff. I found a good deal on two travel mugs for the wraps. They require buttons but I already have tons of them from previous projects. DS5 likes Perler beads. The name brand ones are expensive so I bought a box of them from IKEA for much less. It's huge and will last practically forever. He's making bookmarks for his teachers. All I need to get for them is some decorative ribbon to tie on the top.

The only gift I plan to make is one for the school receptionist. She's been really helpful to us this year so I plan to fill a blue mason jar I have (blue is one of the school colors) with individually wrapped mint Lifesavers (she gives mints to kids if their stomach is bothering them) and attach a tag that says "You're a Lifesaver" and include a Starbucks gift card if I can find a good deal on them.

 

[EveDallas]

Nope. I would find almost anywhere to cut costs if I had to. If it is a matter of honestly not having money, that's one thing - but I never tried to skimp on my son's teachers. Especially considering my son was special needs in school, his teachers were very important to me.

 

[starry_solo]

Sounds interesting but with all the allergies, I wouldn't make any homemade food for anyone .

 

[TwoMisfits]

I bake cookies for all of our adult friends (work and personal, almost all with full-time jobs). Most of them either can't bake well/don't have time to bake and I do make mean cookies that can't be had elsewhere (along with the traditional mixed dark/white/milk chocolate chip). It's a fun thing for me to do which does not break the bank (flour/butter/sugar/eggs are cheap this time of year) and which is way more appreciated by working adults. I only give about 2 dozen/person, but I tend to make 3-4 types so they have just enough to splurge without getting "stuck" with stale cookies.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

No. I give wawa gift cards.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Not really doing it to save money, but I'm making both of my daughters a set of coasters. I found some at Michaels, and I'm taking WDW park maps and Modge Podge'ing them, and putting felt feet on.

 

[tcufrog]

Between my two kids they have 7 teachers that aren't their homeroom teachers. I'm probably one of the few parents at the school who gives anything at all in December to the teachers who aren't homeroom teachers. At this time of the year I can't afford to buy gifts for all of them. I do donate generously though in the spring to my grade's Teacher Appreciation fund when I'm not so financially strapped. Each grade takes care of their grade's homeroom teachers and is assigned some of the school's staff and extra teachers to take care of as well.

 

[tasha99]

I make some homemade gifts for family--cookies to go to my adult kids with a check. Making my boyfriend a scarf (but that was way more than a typical one from the store since I'm using crazy expensive yarn.)
I like the homemade touch for family because it seems more personal.

I would not do that for teacher gifts. I was an slp in a school for a couple of years, and I'm sorry to say I tossed any homemade foods. I just felt like not knowing the family and their kitchen hygiene, etc, meant eating homemade foods was too risky. Its a rare case where packaged is better.

If money is an issue (or time), please remember teacher gifts, while sweet, aren't remotely required. A card made by the child rather than the parent, is about the most touching and thoughtful gift I can think of for a teacher anyway.

 

[tink1970]

While it didn't save me $$ per se, my mother's famous peanut butter balls (sort of like buckeyes but a little different due to rice krispies in the peanut butter mix) were asked for (read: demanded) at my daughter's K-8th grade school. The year mom got in a car accident bringing them down was amusing since they were so sad..."NO PEANUT BUTTER BALLS? Oh, sorry your mom is in the hospital..." Now DD is in public high school I don't make or bring any presents.

For my girlfriends, I've given baked treats featuring the citrus they have given me or salt/sugar scrubs (also made with their citrus) but I think this year we'll exchange hugs and call it a day

 

[Terapin]

Can you knit or crochet or sew? Lots of easy projects to whip up!

 

[Eastern]

I never gave gifts to all the teachers, and I really don't think it's expected. Sometimes we would give a small gift card for a special teacher. Once they hit middle school, gifting teachers is rare.

 

[Toy Story Fan]

A dried mixture of cinnamon sticks (4), whole cloves (1 tsp), anise star (4 or 5) and orange slices (dried in your oven or a dehydrator, 3 or 4). Put all this in a clear bag, and make it festive with instructions for simmering on the stove. Makes your house smell like Christmas! There are many recipes online. Very inexpensive when buying the items in the bulk dept.

 

[Happyinwonerland]

I would not bake gifts for people. Odds are they will be thrown out and you have wasted your time/money/resources. I personally won't eat things made by other people unless I hve spent a lot of time in their home. I'm a bit OCD like that.

My favorite inexpensive gift is to go to the dollar tree and find festive mugs /straw cups/ cute containers and fill them with individually wrapped candies (usually bought on sale/with coupons) This is what I typically make to give to DH's officemates. Inexpensive and less likely to be thrown out.

 

[dminnie]

I make a lot of gifts for family, but never did for teachers. Now I work in the school and I'm glad I did it the way I did. I usually gave them postage stamps, especially if I found some related to what they learned that year. Or, I'd get a $10 gift card for the, along with a nice note. They appreciate more useful things, even books for their classroom. Most teachers have about a million mugs, so they don't need any more. A little craft from the kid is nice. Working in the school, I can say a lot of homemade treats don't get eaten. Teachers are exposed all day long to all the kiddos germs and you just never know if someone uses sanitary food prep practices. It's also surprising how many staff have allergies to certain foods, or don't like chocolate, or eat gluten free, etc....and they don't always share that information with families.

 

[TwoMisfits]

I would not bake gifts for people. Odds are they will be thrown out and you have wasted your time/money/resources. I personally won't eat things made by other people unless I hve spent a lot of time in their home. I'm a bit OCD like that.

My favorite inexpensive gift is to go to the dollar tree and find festive mugs /straw cups/ cute containers and fill them with individually wrapped candies (usually bought on sale/with coupons) This is what I typically make to give to DH's officemates. Inexpensive and less likely to be thrown out.

Op, you know your friends or people you want to gift. Everyone's different. If I were to get the gift above, I would donate the mugs, b/c I only like oversized dishwasher and microwave safe mugs (b/c I only use the large setting on my Keurig which doesn't fit with regular sized mugs, and I don't like to handwash anything I don't have to). In fact, I ended up goodwilling an entire set of mugs my spouse got one year from a friend b/c it was just gonna be clutter in my house and I don't have room for any more clutter. If your friends like homemade, make it for them. If they don't, use the type of ideas above...

 

[cruisingtwins]

I think a small gift card or just a handmade card with an appreciation note is better. We are swimming in stuff we don't need anymore. We have celiac disease so would not eat anything homemade.

 

[Sagginit]

I don't do actual homemade gifts but I do make my own gift baskets/bags at times. I pick up generic gift items during the year that can then go with food/drinks bought closer to Xmas. For ex I have nice ceramic travel mugs, wine themed coasters, a corkciscle, cocktail recipe books, cheap baskets bought after Easter etc. even then those items are fillers or things for white elephant gift exchanges. I think unless you are really expert level at a craft (like could sell on etsy) many people don't have a real use for homemade trinkets.

I have food allergies and my husband doesn't like sweets so most baked items we are gifted during the holiday season get tossed so based on that I don't give food unless it's store bought so it can be verified what's inside or passed on by the gift recipient.

 

[leebee]

The staff where I work must be pretty casual, because everyone is always pleased to get homemade treats for the holidays. Sometimes on the last day of school before the holidays, we have a staff luncheon and everyone brings their homemade goodie gifts to share. Don't know of anyone who's gotten sick from them! What I don't like is the "cheapie" stuff from the dollar store. While I appreciate the thought, I have far too many cheap holiday mugs, best teacher mugs, etc., and the hard candies just get tossed into a drawer (or eventually just tossed). Everyone's different, I guess.

OP, I think having your kids make their teacher gifts is a great idea! Another good idea is a card or note from you and your child, along with a small gift card. Think coffee shops, ice cream stands, bagel shop, Subway, gas station, etc.

 

[scrapquitler]

I quilt, and I do a lot of homemade gifts, but I would by no means say it's less expensive than buying. Even just the price of materials is more than I typically would pay when I purchase a gift, and that's not even beginning to count my time.

 

[Jen and Ashwin]

I quilt, and I do a lot of homemade gifts, but I would by no means say it's less expensive than buying. Even just the price of materials is more than I typically would pay when I purchase a gift, and that's not even beginning to count my time.

I also quilt. A few years ago I got ambitious and made each family (brother, sister, mom, dad, aunt, grandparents) their own quilt. That was my most expensive gifting year ever. Both in cost and in time.

This year we are tight on funds, so I decided to make gifts that I knew were easy, affordable and practical. I made a passport cover and travel laundry bag for each person. I know they will get used. The materials cost about $50 for 6 people. I also bought another small gift to go with each (Blu-ray, book, etc.) to make it seem a little more substantial. That was about $30 total. So for about $80 I got gifts for my immediate family this year.

But the amount of time I spent was substantial, so I look forward to next year when I can just purchase stuff for people.