No Money Gifts. Ideas for Presents that Cost No Money. Ideas for Gifts.

If you are short of money to spend on a present here are some money saving ideas that you can use or adapt to suit the occasion.

Gifts ... that cost nothing or next to nothing.

Unless you count the time and effort that you put into them.

A 'My Time Gift Coupon/voucher.'

1. Give the gift of your time.

If you are time rich but short of cash you might consider this gift idea....

you can give someone a gift card (like a gift voucher) stating inside that -

( you pick a skill you are good at and how much time you can spare)

For example...

My gift to you is that ....

I promise to spend two hours gardening for you.

or -

This gift to you is that -

I promise to wash the car five times for you.

You can buy a blank card or make up a card design on the computer. However if you are good at crafts a hand made card will make the gift more personal.

If you are not artistic there is a link further down the page for sending greetings cards for free.

Why not put together (spare) photographs to make a book of memories for someone ...like an old style photo album

Look through your old photographs and where you have duplicates that you can spare put them together into a photo memory book for a  gift. To do this well will take time but should not cost much money. You can include little 'snippets' such as poems or accounts of your memories of the events in the photos. This is a good idea for older family members who may say they do not want the usualthings we give as gifts.

If you do not have enough photographs to produce a personal photo book; make a collage of photos. If need be fill the gaps with pictures of something that suits the person- this could be flowers that you have drawn, photos of flowers, little poems or messages.

If you are producing book or collage this for a member of your family it could be a photo record of family events, of children or grandchildren. You may be able to put together a collection of pictures of the person's childhood. It might be a good idea to try to incorporate a theme or colour scheme to link the items together.

  Biscuits are easy to bake and the ingredients may already be in the kitchen cupboard.

Find an easy to follow biscuit or cookie recipe and bake a batch for presents.

Wrap them up in a festive way - or put them into a pretty tin... if you have some ribbon in the house add a festive decorative bow.  Add a gift tag that can be made from a cut down greetings card or a coloured piece of card slotted onto a ribbon or string.

 Why not Write?

Write a poem or print out a poem; or piece of that prose writing you know the person the gift is for will like; and one that is available for you to use.

Use an attractive font or hand write it in a neat script.

Use an attractive paper or backing paper for the words.

Decorate it in some way if you think it requires it.

Put it in a frame, either one you no longer use or buy one cheaply from a charity shop.

The right words could be a 'priceless gift'.

Write a note in a pretty card maybe enclose a nice photo and tell them why you love or care for them; tell them what it is that make them special to you. Do n't be afraid to recall happy memories if you want to.

People will understand and the words and feeling expressed in the message you send may be treasured long after a gift would have been discarded or forgotten.

If times are difficult and money is not available for gifts try to remember that those who know you and care for you, your friends and family will understand and you are more important to them than any present you might want to give them. try to write a note or card, send a photo. also you can tell them in words or in a card what makes them special to you, partners, mothers and fathers will treasure your words as much if not more than any gift. When my then boyfriend, was studying he was short of money and one Christmas and could not buy gifts, that did not change the way I felt about him, because I could understand the reason why he could not buy gifts for me. I still remember the necklace he made for me from melon seeds and at the time I admired the patience that went into drying and threading the melon seeds to make a necklace from them.

This is an idea for a gift that costs nothing except a little bit of time and thought. It can be a romantic gift or a gift for a parent or grandparent or even for a friend.

• Find a really nice shaped jar, it does not matter if you cannot use the top. if you have not got a suitable jar a small glass or vase will do.
• Make a top for it, you can do this from paper or from a fabric scrap. You need to cut a circle that is bigger then the jar top, if you need something to draw around try a saucer or a tea plate for size. Cut out the circle. ( You can cut two different colored circles if you wish, one a bit bigger than the other so that it will show beneath the edge of the top one.)

Put the fabric/paper circles away to use later when, you have completed the next bit.

• Now make sure your jar is clean, shiny and dry.
• Start to write notes for the person whenever you can think of something they might like to read.

Ideas for the notes could be -

• Quotes that will make them smile.
• Reasons why they are special to you.
• Memories - happy memories you shared.
• Small pictures/photos they will like, maybe with a note written onto the piece of paper the picture is on. or some pictures and some notes.
• Heart shaped cut outs on different shades of pink and red paper with love you and romantic notes on.
• Flower shaped notes - cut them out in different sizes and then use a plain circle of paper glued in the middle to write notes or quotes or messages on.
• Lines from songs that you know they like. Cut a long narrow strip of paper write the line from the song or book on it and then roll it up in a coil when you have finished writing on it.

Keeping adding to your collection and put them into the jar as you do so.

When you have enough of these 'notes' put the circles of fabric over the top of the jar and fasten them, by tying them in place around the neck of the jar with a piece of string or ribbon.

It might be nice to make a label for the jar and to decorate it in some way.

More Free Jar - gift ideas

If you can find the time and pieces to do this - you could decorate the outside of the jar if you wanted to.

If you can afford a few packets of seeds wrap them in pretty paper and pop them in a gift jar made in the way described above.

Decorate a jar, fill it with notes and scatter sweets in the jar too.

A bracelet made from buttons is easy to make.

To make a bracelet from buttons -

You will need a supply of buttons with medium sized holes to thread the elastic through ( you could use large beads if the hole through the middle has a large enough gap for the elastic thread to go through).

You will also need a supply of rounded narrow elastic but it needs to be strong enough to be worn around the wrist. A needle with a large enough eye to thread the elastic through but that will pass through the holes in the buttons or beads.

Thread the beads or buttons onto the elastic, select the colors and shapes that look nice together.

When you have enough buttons threaded so that the elastic bracelet will fit over the hand and around the wrist of the person you are making it for, knot the elastic together securely.

If you have some spare fabric a reusable 'eco-friendly' shopping bag is an easy to make gift.

The basic shape is just to pieces of fabric cut slightly larger than you want the finished shopping bag. Two strips of fabric for handles. You neaten the top edges of the bag and join the three remaining sides ( stitch along seams twice to make them sturdy). Stitch on handles firmly. Decorate as and if you wish with whatever embellishments you have available or leave plain.

An apron is not hard to make if you use an old apron as your pattern template.

Either of these could be made from the fabric of a garment that is no longer used, such as a denim skirt for the bag, or corduroy, canvas or linen or you could use floral curtain fabric.

There are lots of places to find free clip art on-line and these can be used in different ways to make cards, calendars and to decorate gift boxes,

Make a storage box for a gift for someone by covering a box with brown parcel paper and then glue on suitable clip art images. Some ideas that might work well are by using flower pictures, or vintage clip art images. You can find clip art here on HubPages, just make sure you are using images that are available to use freely and not copyrighted images. This gift idea can make a nice present as it can be customized to suit the person who the gift is for. You could even print out family photos and make a photo-storage box for a friend or one of your family.

 click on any of the below links to go to a page with gifts you can save money on by putting them together yourself....