Here are some frugal gift ideas submitted by one of our readers:

I would like to make some suggestions for Christmas gifts:

• A year's subscription to a magazine - Go online and look up magazine subscriptions for $5.00. You will find a lot of magazines for a year from $3.00 and up. (Yes! Its's true.)
  
  
  
• One year, we went to the Dollar Store and bought Bibles for everyone... plus I made a small loaf of banana bread for everyone... simple gifts but they last a long time
  
  
  
• One year, when my daughter was a teenager, she wrote a poem for each person, printed them on pretty paper and then framed them. Everyone loved them! My family still have these hanging on their walls in their homes.
  
  
• One year, I bought teddy bears at the dollar store and dressed them up with lace and hats and booties.
  

if you live in a state that is always hot like i do (florida) and don't have time for baking, if your rental house has no insulation and you DREAD turning that oven on, I came up with an idea that is frugal but really nice.

Wal-Mart has baked goods 2/$6.00. Get four boxes ($12 for 48 yummies)

Then go to Walgreens for those little bags that are decorated with Christmas themes for 10 cents each (with a coupon. They are about the size of a brown bagged lunch bag.) By a few extra to have so you can shred and add to the bottom of the others.

Go to the dollar store and buy the cd's and/or movies that they sell for $1 each (granted they are old movies, but still a nice gesture). Put all of it together and voila!... Nice homey gifts from the person who doesn't like to bake or can't bake because they burn everything or its toooo hot!

Also, the dollar stores sell some pretty good reading books that you can add to the bag instead of the movies (for the people who like to read). I think I calculated for 8 people that this would cost under $30 total. You can also add a candle to each one too... Sometimes you can find them 3/$100 (or you can go to Wal-Mart and get a bag of tea lights for under $5 and it is a lot of candles). I just wanted to share this with everyone...

Hope this helps... :D

-Rose in Enterprise, Florida