Let's get started on Christmas...

[Beignet]

Right now I am thinking about getting the metal tins you see at the $ store and making 3-4 different varieties of cookies to send for gifts.

I just mailed my Aunt 2 lbs of fresh ground grits and the shipping alone was $8.00.

Something to consider. . . .

I'm also thinking about making our own granola and mailing it as gifts too. . . . .

If you have any awesome granola recipes let me know; we like ours but I'm always on the lookout for anything new and differet.

Beignet

[Mary Webber]

One thing I've really learned this past six months is how valuable the post office is for shipping at set, fixed and reasonable rates. It seemed as though UPS and Fedex were surcharges for fuel etc. every time I shipped. So, I've gone completely to postal shipping and it works well, especially anything I can send at meida mail rates.

With the upcoming holidays in mind, I've started making calendars for various people for the coming year, and I enjoy being able to totally individualize them, my favorites focus on gardening with ordering, planting, and care reminders. I've used Staples calendar photo print services in the past and those can be pretty cheap and turn out a decent product.

But now, I'm using heavy paper stock (bought on sale of course), lots of great very, very cheap scrapbooking stuff (serious bargains at the dollar stores), computer calendar templates and I'll probably have a comb binder put on them. These make wonderful presents for kids who like - and need - a place to keep track of their busy lives. Think sports...

[gt0163c]

Originally Posted by Mary Webber

One thing I've really learned this past six months is how valuable the post office is for shipping at set, fixed and reasonable rates. It seemed as though UPS and Fedex were surcharges for fuel etc. every time I shipped. So, I've gone completely to postal shipping and it works well, especially anything I can send at meida mail rates.

With the upcoming holidays in mind, I've started making calendars for various people for the coming year, and I enjoy being able to totally individualize them, my favorites focus on gardening with ordering, planting, and care reminders. I've used Staples calendar photo print services in the past and those can be pretty cheap and turn out a decent product.

These make wonderful presents for kids who like - and need - a place to keep track of their busy lives. Think sports...

My sister makes calendars with pictures of her kids for all of us each year. She had originally planned on doing it just the first Christmas after my first nephew was born. But we all loved them so much that she's done them every year since. She usually tries to put pictures of the kids that fit the season. So we get the previous year's Halloween pictures in October, first day of school pictures in August, beach pictures for the summer months, etc. For some months we all get the same pictures. For others, especially like July for me, which is the month of my birthday, she tries to get a picture of me and one or both of the boys. She also puts all of the family birthdays and other holidays on them. That's a great help to me, as a reminder that I need to send Mom's birthday present or whatever. For this year's calendars she used Snapfish and those turned out pretty well. Although it didn't allow her to personalize the calendars to the individuals. She did says it was quicker and not really a lot more expensive. But I hope she goes back to doing them herself this year. I hold onto the calendars and enjoy going back to see how much the boys have grown over the years.

As for using the USPS to mail things, I've found that for most things, espcially small, heavy things, the post office is the way to go, especially with their flat rate boxes. For larger packages, FedEx Ground is often cheaper. I haven't exactly figured out the break-even point yet, especially not with new fuel surcharges and such. I need to figure that out before Christmas. We do Christmas at my sister's place, which requires me to fly a couple of states away. In the past, I've packed two suitcases, one full of presents. But with the airlines charging for extra bags (or even one bag), I'm sure it's going to be cheaper to ship more stuff.

[jellybean]

I heard on the radio a couple days ago that Christmas things, such as ornaments are going up in price this year- not sure why, I missed that part. So they were urging everyone to get as much as they can now to save a bit of money.

Problem is all the good stuff isn't being sold yet!

[Mary Webber]

Well, Jellybean, I'm getting so cynical that I'm not sure there needs to be a any reason for prices to go up! I hadn't thought about the added expense of carrying present on holiday flights... good thing you mentioned it as it could be significant.

I wonder how early the big mail order companies will start to offer "free shipping". I think gift cards might really appeal this year as long as the recipients use them, and in this economy, that's certainly more likely.

[Megan]

I'm already trying to decide if I'm going to just mail all the family gifts to myself at my parents' house rather than try to carry the items on the plane. It's a 10 day trip - I can't do it with a carry on, and I booked the flight before the rules changed with regards to paying for an extra suitcase. So I SHOULD be able to ship one item through without extra cost. But somehow, I think that'll fall through. I'm all about fighting for my rights, but if it's between getting on that crowded Christmas flight or not paying the $25, I'll be $25 poorer (I bought the flight with miles, so paid only $10 in taxes for the flight anyway).

I know a few Christmas gifts are going to be ordered online anyway, so it makes sense to just have them shipped to my holiday destination. Then there's just the concern that they might not show up or that the wrong thing gets shipped.

[Mary Webber]

Gift idea for CATS! Someone sent me to the Ball canning jar website which is an excellent resource for canning how-to's, recipes and other good stuff. They show how to grown little jars of fresh green grass... a perfect gift for the cat-lover on your list!

[kav122]

Wow! You guys have a lot of tips

Some of these have already been said but:

1. I shop for Christmas in the beginning of January.
I actually got most of my gifts this year at Pier1. They had AWESOME ornaments for CENTS. Yes, CENTS.

2. I keep a running list of things (mostly guys in my circle of fam/friends) to buy for those "hard to buy for" people and then put that list in my planner. I see it often, so it is a good reminder.

3. I keep all of my presents in a tub with my Christmas stuff, so I remember where I put it.

4. I make cookies and use garage sale/thrift store tins to put them in. I also have some recipes that call for the dough to be refrigerated and then sliced off before cooking, so I roll them into a nice cylinder, wrap in waxed paper, tie the ends pretty with ribbon, and that is a gift

5. I knit dish rags. Everyone needs more dish rags. And these work way better than the store-bought ones.

6. I am doing a "cook book" for my family this year. I am collecting favorite family recipes, and making it into a cookbook complete with pictures of the dish and also family photos and funny things that happened over the years, etc. I figure the cost of printing and binding at kinkos won't be as much as if I went out and bought something "nice" for each person, and it will be more meaningful (I hope).

7. I am also saving dried basil to give in little jars.

8. Another good gift idea would be to buy a cheap (doesn't have to be big, either) bottle of vodka and a vanilla bean, and drop the bean in the vodka. Wait a year, and you have pure vanilla extract. You could separate it into little jars and give them to your favorite bakers (maybe with the cookie dough)!

[Bernadette]

I come from a family that tended to overdue it on Christmas giving. That was great when we were kids, but once we became adults, the gift giving (at least for some of my siblings) became a process of one-upping each other. Even when we swore only to spend $25 per gift or to give only homemade gifts, somebody would find a way to turn the process on its head.

We finally found a rule that worked and does us all a lot of good besides. Instead of giving material things we give handmade coupons good for one act of service. It might be a massage or a year of washing another person's car or five homecooked meals or a day of doing somebody else's housework.

Sometimes the recipient will opt to have the service done for a third party. For instance, your gift to somebody might be volunteering at their favorite charity. (This works great when you don't actually live near the person you're giving a gift to. You can still volunteer at a national charity or give money to the charity in their name.)

[Bernadette]

Some elegant homemade chocolate truffles, or other graceful, beautifully decorated chocolate treats of the kind you usually associate with luxury could be a possibility.

It would probably take some practice to do some of the prettier pieces shown in that article. But you could always start now and eat your failed experiments.