Christmas is always the most expensive time of the year. This year, with a still stagnant economy, many people are either unemployed or scared to spend money in case they might be. That’s why you need to consider this list of top five cheap Christmas gifts for friends and family, that are all under $20. It’s surprising how little you can spend and still end up with a Christmas gift your loved one will adore. Plus, these cheap Christmas gifts don’t look cheap – really.
$5-$20 Gift Cards – I must admit, I am the biggest proponent of Christmas Gift Cards because they’re not only cheap, they’re the perfect Christmas gift. Think about it. You can buy a Christmas Gift Card for a friend or a family member at Target, Barnes and Noble, Best Buy, Starbucks and at most restaurants. With Christmas Gift Cards as low as $5, you can buy one for anyone, whether a casual friend or a loved family member. Plus, remember, if you order Christmas Gift Cards online, you also save the gas and parking you’d spend going to the mall, and save hours of your time (which, for some people means they have more time to make money). Buy a Christmas Gift Card for a friend – attach it to a pretty Christmas card and mail it. Or, hang it on the Christmas tree. With a Christmas Gift Card, it’s not only cheap it also allows the person you’re giving it to to buy whatever they want and that alone is a godsend for me.
$20 Worth of Hobby Supplies – So many people have hobbies nowadays and, when the economy is bad, a hobby is often the first place they cut costs. $20 in a hobby supply shop is not only a cheap Christmas Gift but will thrill your friend or loved one, possibly more than anything. Buy knitting supplies, painting supplies, woodworking supplies, scrapbook supplies, gardening supplies, cooking supplies – anything that you know your hobbyist loved one would adore. Wrap them up in a pretty bow or in some gorgeous Christmas paper and, voila, a wonderful cheap Christmas gift. In fact, you’ll probably be surprised at how much stuff $20 in a hobby supply shop can actually buy.
$0-20 Worth of Chocolate – If your friend or loved one is a chocolate lover, then $10-20 worth of chocolate is sure to please. But don’t waste your money on fancy boxes of chocolate or gourmet chocolate. Instead, buy regular bars of chocolate – Mars, Snickers, M&Ms, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – big bars, bags of small bars, mini bars – just get lots of variety. For $10-20, you can buy a fair amount of chocolate and once you’ve put it in a pretty gift bag or a cool tin, it can look quite expensive. In this case, quantity can still be quality and still be classified as one of the cheapest Christmas gifts.
Buy a Threadless T Shirt – For one of the best and cheapest Christmas gifts for just about anyone, Threadless.com has some of the coolest t shirts ever made. Seriously. Fashionable, hip, weird, bizarre – Threadless sells all of them and, with average prices around $18, they’re a cheap gift. Even better, Threadless also has a sale section with t shirts as low as $9, but these sale t shirts aren’t ugly – they’re really rad too! Plus, you can buy a gift certificate to Threadless, if you’re just not sure what t shirt your friend would like.
Buy Something on Etsy. com – If you haven’t heard of Etsy.com, it’s a website where anyone who makes anything can open an online shop. It also has some of the cheapest but most unique Christmas gifts on the internet. On Etsy you’ll find paintings, prints, postcards, sweaters, scarves, jewelry, books, magazines, Christmas ornaments, dolls, handmade toys, furniture, tea towels, quilts, t shirts, dresses, pants, bags – you name it, Etsy has it. Do a search in any of Etsy’s categories, making sure the search you choose lists the cheapest items first. With tens of thousands of items for less than $20, you’ll be blown away by the many unique things you can buy. All handmade and, with any purchase you make, you’re supporting the artist who made it.
These five things are some of the cheapest Christmas gifts you can buy for any friend or family member. Cheap in price but not in quality, any one of them is sure to thrill.
