IDEAS FOR FREE OR LOW-COST HOLIDAY GIFTS

For college friends, create a gift certificate offering your free services for:
- A manicure/pedicure
- Doing a week's worth of laundry

For parents:
- Have someone record a video tape of you recalling your favorite family holidays.

For young children:
- Create a dress-up kit from your outdated or vintage clothing to inspire imagination.

Make a small donation ($5) to a special charity on behalf of the receiver.

Make homemade items, such as:
- Create hand-made cards using photographs of friends or family, or design them on your computer.
- Put special photographs in a clear/acrylic frame that you can buy for a buck or two.
- Create a photo collage mounted on large poster board for dorm room decorating.
- Bake holiday cookies or mini loaves of bread.

Create your own seasoned cooking oil:
- Buy a large bottle of regular olive oil (under $10) and some ingredients like garlic, fresh rosemary and chili peppers. Either reuse old oil bottles or purchase a few unique (but cheap) bottles at a local discount store. Fill the bottles with oil and your choice of herbs. Make labels on your computer for the bottles.

Are you good with crafts?
Hand-painted mugs:
- Buy coffee mugs at a dollar store and "food-safe glaze" at a craft store. Paint your own design with the glaze and oven-dry the mugs according to directions.

Stained glass candle holders:
- Wash and remove labels from small baby food jars. Cut different colored tissue paper into small squares. Spray liquid starch onto outside of cleaned jar; then apply tissue squares to cover the jar. Let dry completely. Tie a ribbon around the neck of the jar and place a candle inside.

Are you artistic?
- Write a poem
- Paint a picture

Check out thefreesite.com for more great ideas.

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