In Tight Economic Times, Families Turn to Homemade Gifts

The feeling of waking up on Christmas morning and exchanging and opening gifts with loved ones is a much-loved tradition in households across the United States. This year many families are looking for more creative, less costly ways to give to their family and friends. You won't have to enroll in one of your local pottery programs to create a artistic gift. There are many simple projects that can be made with objects around the house or for just a few dollars.

Thinking of painting a personalized pot for a loved one? You don't have to own pottery wheel clay to do so. For a few dollars you can purchase a pot from your local nursery and then paint it with a Christmas message or a favorite Christmas-themed quote or song lyric. One young woman in Phoenix recently made a pot for family members with a line from their favorite Christmas carol and spent only a few dollars per pot.

If you are not interested in pottery and related sculpting compounds, homemade ornaments are a great way to minimize costs around the holiday season. Look in your backyard. Pinecones dipped in green, red, white and blue paint will make a great addition to the Christmas tree. Designing and creating these gifts is especially popular with the younger members of your family. You can ever dip them in glitter for extra holiday sparkle of glue a picture on the front of the pinecone for a more personal option.

Most families have particular sweet treats that they like to enjoy during the holiday season. Holiday cookies kits are another easy way to reduce costs and still give generously. All you will need is the dry goods required to make the cookies, glass jars and a recipe card to attach on top of the final gift. With holiday baking in mind, other families have complied traditional family recipes and made them into a neat family cookbook. All you need is some holiday-themed paper, recipes and a printer to get started.

For many older relatives, a gift of a memory jar offers three hundred and sixty-five days of happy memories. To create a memory jar you will need to start asking friends and family for happy memories of your loved one a few months ahead of time. Then when you have complied enough memories for the jar simply write them out on business card-sized pieces of paper and put them in a box with the simple instructions to open one memory every day.