by Kim Carson

Created on: December 17, 2009

Everyone wants to give the people in their lives what they want and need at Christmastime.  We can think of many wonderful gifts that would delight those who are so important to us, but sometimes we can’t justify the expense due to limited resources. Or, the money just isn’t there.  As we shop, we can become quite deflated over the choices of what we want to get compared with what we can afford.  It’s almost enough to take the spirit of joy out of Christmas. 

Commercialization doesn’t help.  Despite challenging current economic conditions, advertisers don’t cut us any slack promoting as much spendy merchandise as will fit on a page.

The answer:  Use your heart.  And your imagination.  And these creative, resourceful tips:

This affordable Christmas gift idea comes directly from the quote, “It’s the thought that counts,” and was a project my daughter (artistic Libra) and I (inventive Aquarius) did a few years ago when money was tight.  It ended up being a really fun, engaging process for us, and the giving part was just as meaningful when Christmas morning arrived because of the thought that went into it.  Seeing all the wonderful gifts we would have loved to have given people was as touching as the real thing.  In truth, the joy from the store bought presents doesn’t last very long anyway…we know this, we‘re just very persuaded by all the pressure to purchase.  This project involves old fashioned “cut and paste” using real scissors and glue - just like in the old days!

Get a good collection of magazines, mail-order catalogs, and newspapers.  Local ads are filled with gift ideas and mail order catalogs are piled everywhere.  Variety is important and should be fairly specific to the loved ones in your gift-giving group.  You may even need to purchase a couple of magazines to add to the collection, but the investment is still pretty nominal.

Spend an evening or weekend afternoon perusing the magazines together and just cut out anything and everything for everyone in your circle that you would ever want to give them:  expensive jewelry, furniture, cars, clothing, a new house (we actually included a real estate guide in our cut-out collection - it was a blast picking out mansions); some of the gifts can be simple ones that you would normally purchase for them:  kitchenware, socks, perfume, tools,

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