Handmade Holiday Gift Exchanges | Family Economics

By Cathe

Whether through work, clubs, schools or with family, gift exchanges are certain to occur over the holidays. With dollar limits set, the success of a good exchange is in the quality and charm of gifts. And a successful gift exchange means a traditional and ongoing gift exchange that everyone will want to continue year after year. In the spirit of saving money, this type of gift exchange won’t add to the high cost of holiday spending.

This year, consider heading up a handmade holiday gift exchange with a special group. Open up the parameters of the exchange a bit to include most anything made by the giver including food gifts, crafted gifts, supplies gathered and packaged for making handmade items (a great way to use some of your craft supplies!), or handmade gifts that can be purchased.

Set a low dollar limit ($5 or $10 is a good amount), to force participants to be even more creative and savvy. If you want to really push the envelope, allow no money to be spent so that everything must be made from found or owned items.

You can even set limits on wrapping paper - only household items such as newspaper, foil, paper towels, etc. can be used. More unique wrapping ideas can be found in this blog post.

Give all the participants a list of the gift exchange rules.

You might be surprised how creative your friends can be when they are given a good set of rules and boundaries.  Be sure to allow plenty of time for everyone to create and make their gifts prior to the exchange event.

Visit the do-it-yourself page of my blog for lots of easy and inexpensive handmade project ideas.