Christmas Countdown – Budget friendly gift ideas! (Part 1 Christmas Ornaments)

The winter holidays are supposed to be a time to celebrate family, but somehow this sometimes gets lost in the panicked rush of holiday parties, and shopping. It can also be a stressful time, especially if you’ve got a tight budget, or a big family to buy presents for.

The great thing is that a thoughtful gift made with love can be far more treasured than one that costs a lot of money (unless all your little brother really wants is a new PS3). My mom still has boxes of artwork we made when we were kids. Every year she puts up the paper star lantern I made one year as a Christmas gift. I made my Christmas gifts for my parents every year until I was almost done University – which was an unusually long time (but that’s another story).

So no need to stress! Here are some budget friendly (and easy) gift ideas for kids and adults.

Part 1 - Christmas Ornaments

Photo ornaments:

Personalize your friends or family's photos. This would be great for a baby gift -> commemorating baby's first Christmas. Or even a sibling or friend -> a photo of the two of you getting into trouble as kids. Here's a tutorial from Craft Stylish. If you don't have any felt you could always use cardboard and scrapbooking supplies to decorate a photograph and skip the sewing.



Felt or fleece stuffed ornaments:

Here's the basic idea: cut two identical shapes out of fleece or felt, stuff it with cotton, and sew it up! You can use cookie cutters or stencils to trace shapes onto your felt.

Here's a tutorial from Bored and Crafty. She made a larger letter as a wall hanging for a baby's room. You can always make the letter as big or small as you want. I think this is super cute!



Here's a tutorial on making a felt gingerbread man from the Canadian Living Magazine.



Japanese (Temari) inspired ornaments:

Temari is the art of Japanese Thread Balls. They look really lovely and complicated but you can make something similar in a not-so-difficult way. Here's a tutorial from Pam's Blog. I think these would add a lot of color to your tree and they look more complicated than they are. All you need is a styrofoam ball and some colored thread.



Later this week I'll post up Part 2 on Yummy Budget Friendly Gifts and check out part 3 on Gifts for Pampering.