What's your homemade gift idea that can save you dollars?

This past year I turned to home made gifts and to be honest, the recipients were so touched and grateful because home made gifts are very personal.
I know how to crochet so I made a few blankets in several people's favorite colors. It made me smile on those cold winter nights that we had to know that my family had warm personalized blankets that I made :)
I have also made a few custom scrap books. In the era of technology in which we live in, photo albums are almost obsolete . But this way they have an actual book full of memories, photo, concert and movie ticket stubs.. memories to look back on and smile. For some older realities, I had older photos retouched and framed. This is not exactly home made but was inexpensive and created a family heirloom.
For a few short on time, I made home made cookies and breads from old family recipes that I knew would bring them back to their child hood.
There are many more ideas, but I have learned that these types of gifts are most meaningful and really reach for their hearts and are good for the soul.

I make purses and matching cosmetic bags out of leftover fabric. I've shown pictures of the purses I've made to my neighbors and now they are bringing me their leftover fabric. I decorate them with old and used buttons that I've collected. I have made a purse for all the women in my family for Christmas or birthday presents. The cost to make a purse is $0, unless I buy a zipper; then the cost is $1.24. Now they are offering to pay me to make more. I have not turned this into a business but am contemplating the idea.

For decorating holidays, get a tin can, like a coffee can, and wrap it in yarn, ribbon, or maybe even beads. Get some rocks and a branch that branches off a couple of times, and decorate the branches with items such as ribbon, pictures, Easter Eggs, clovers, Christmas cards, flowers, or even a collaboration of everything together! Put the branch in the can, keep it in place with rocks. Viola! A beautiful gift for any occasion, and pretty cheep, with the materials usually found outside or in most households. :)

Baking some muffins and decorating with a festive color(Ex.If its a Child/girl pretty hot pink icing are blue /boy with sprinkles, or 50th wedding anniversary Gold sprinkles with 50 muffins) Make brownies put it in a pretty bowl (from dollar tree) with a pretty ribbon.

I have a 9 year old daughter and try to save on birthday gifts for parties she is invited to. I buy a pack of 2 painting canvases when our hobby store has them half price for about $3.00. Then use paint and brushes (or spray paint) that I already have around the house to put a base coat on the canvas. I add the child's name in the center of the canvas with paint or a permanent marker and then let my child decorate with squiggles or big circles around the name. Add a ribbon to the top corners for hanging and any other embellishments you already have. Example: an old feather boa that used to be used for dress-up play can be hot glued around the edges for frilly fun. This makes a great wall decoration or door hanger for kids.

give the gift of life... give a planter with a herb or veggie assortment or both have fun with it... it will be a great gift every time they harvest. cause everybody needs more good stuff in there life... eating veggies is sooo much more fun when you get to pick them your self from your own back yard

Soy Candles made in jelly jars are very affordable & easy to make! The wax, which is made in the USA is available at Michaels or any other craft store (use your 40% coupon!) or is even cheaper online at many candle supply houses as are wicks, scents and dyes. Even check out ebay for a couple of pounds of wax. Jars can be purchased at Walmart or garage sales! Soy wax is good for the environment, burns clean and cleans up with soap and water. You need no special equipment as the wax flakes can be melted in a microwave. Decorate the jars with ribbon or a special tag or make a fancier label using scrapbook paper. In total you can make a pretty 8 ounce soy candle for about $2.00 each! They make wonderful gifts for the family and even for teachers too!

dollies i would go to walmart buy some yarn and knit some dollies and place mats may be a sweater or two depending the occasions pot holders for newly weds mittens for anniversaries and brithdays for babies or a baby booties it all depends on the person and there needs and what would fit them on there occassion

One thing we do to save on all gifts is to save the color comics from the Sunday paper.

We wrap every gift we give in the comic paper & construct gift bags using a craft we learned from home schooling our child.

http://www.craftideas.info/html/gift_bags.html

In addition, we also use comics as matting for photo collages in restored frames that we collect from resale shops, garage sales, etc. The frames are cleaned sanded as needed and repainted with ColorPlace paint from Walmart.

I am the keeper of our family's history: events, pictures, vacations, holidays, family gatherings, etc. I work part time at Kohls and am able to make purchases of items on "clearance" along with my extra employee discount and various coupons. So I buy a lot of picture frames, scrapbooks, etc. at a nominal price.

I have a digital camera and I have hundreds and hundreds of pictures of family members. I download them to my computer, and when CVS, Walgreen's have photo offers (25 for free, 10 cents a print, etc.) I upload my pictures and have them printed. I present family members with picture frames, collages, photo books of precious memories.

This past Mother's Day for example: My mother is in a nursing home with Alzheimers. She keeps forgetting her grandchildren and greatgrandchildren's names and who they belong to. I made a small pocketsized photo albumn of my family (including my husband, children and grandchildren) and my sister's family (including her children, husband and grandchild. Underneath each photo of an individual I wrote their name in black marker.

Well, when I gave her the photo albumn and went through it with her, she was in tears. Now she can remember everyone and look at them when she wants.

Total cost to me? $4.99 for the albumn. The pictures were free to have printed. To me, this is a more memorable gift for family members and is very cost effective.

I've made use of the "homemade gift" on numerous occasions. My favorite is the "gift in a jar." Pair your gift with a hand-written note card and you'll be a big hit! I especially like these two:

1) Cookies in a jar - Rather than baking cookies (which are also a great homemade gift), take the dry ingredients required and layer them decoratively in clear jar, flour, chocolate chips, white sugar, brown sugar, etc. Decorate the top with some fabric; tie the recipe card to the jar with ribbon and voila!

2) Bath salts in a jar - Mix Epsom salt with food coloring and essential oil until the color is evenly distributed. Spread the mixture out on wax or parchment paper for a couple of hours to dry completely. Once dry, fill a clear jar and add a scoop. Decorate the top of the jar with fabric, ribbon or raffia.

I've found that most people enjoy and appreciate these even more than store-bought gifts because they know that you've spent the most precious of all commodities on them...your time.