Last week’s post, 10 FREE (but Thoughtful) Christmas Gift Ideas was so successful that I have dreamed up 10 MORE Free Christmas Gift Ideas.
Seriously, the possibilities are ENDLESS when thinking outside the (gift) box.
10 FREE Christmas Gift Ideas
1. Create a Family Favorites Recipe Booklet
If your family has a lot of favorite recipes that have been passed down from previous generations, make a recipe booklet. If you have recipe cards with the family member’s hand writing, make copies. I treasure my recipe cards that were hand written by my great grandmother.
2. Errand Services
For the people on your list that might rely on public transportation or have unreliable transportation, consider offering to run their errands or chauffeur them for their errands for an afternoon or two.
3. Laundry Service or Use of Your Laundry Room
Offer to do laundry or the use of your laundry room to the person on your list that has to rely on a laundromat.
4. Handyman Services
Are you a handy person? Offer your services by the hour or an afternoon to help with easy fixes & repairs.
5. Cleaning Services
If you are a…neat freak…neat person who loves to clean, offer home cleaning services. Gift them with a certain number of weeks of home cleaning. Some other cleaning ideas: window washing or car washing.
6. Oil Change
Do you know how to change the oil in a car? Offer oil change services.
7. Yard Work
Give an afternoon (or two) of yard work. Some ideas to include:
- lawn mowing
- clean gutters
- weed flower beds
8. Online lessons
This idea came to me when my retired neighbor called me and asked if I could come over and help her with a Craigslist posting. We live in a tech age and a lot of seniors could use some lessons to keep up.
9. Garden Harvest
Are you a gardener? Do you have a freezer or pantry full of this past summer’s garden harvest? What a delicious gift of food!
10. Re-gift!
Yes, I said it. And I got the idea from my daughters’ Girl Scout troop Christmas party. Each girl was to bring an old, but usable toy or a handmade item. My girls were in no mood to go through their stuff to decide what they could part with and at the last minute I needed to think fast.
As I was poking around my house for ideas, I found a bunch of unused, but new items for the girls to pick from. I found several boxes of brand new Crayola crayons and markers (bought cheap in September), two unopened boxes of Christmas stationary, unopened packages of Post-it’s, new Christmas hand towels, scented hand wash, and scented candles. All of this stuff has been sitting in a closet for months or years, completely forgotten about.
My point: Scour your house for new & unused items.
What FREE, but Thoughtful Christmas gift ideas do you have? Please leave them in the comments.
Check out the first 10 ideas here:
Photo credit: Lightstock
Very solid ideas – all of these. I’ll be sharing this!!! I’ve been looking for ideas just like this!.Thanks.
Toni @ Debt Free Divas recently posted…Financially Savvy Saturdays #69
If you have a DSLR and good photography skills, the gift of a family or newborn portrait session is so valuable and really priceless — my favorite frugal gift out there!
Rebecca @ Stapler Confessions recently posted…An Easy and Inexpensive Heirloom Christmas Craft
Rebecca – I LOVE that idea!
Online lessons are a great idea – or offer to list 10 items on eBay for someone. My mom has so much trouble with working eBay, she’s always asking for a hand.
Mel @ brokeGIRLrich recently posted…Financially Savvy Saturdays #69
Thanks for stopping by, Mel, and taking the time to comment.
I’m a huge believer in regifting. Some say it’s tacky, I say it’s resourceful. If I get something that I know I will never use and I know I have someone in my life who would LOVE to receive my useless item, it’s theirs. Same with gift cards to stores I don’t have any need to visit, they are almost always regifted to someone who will use them if I can help it.
K @ One More BROKE TWENTY-SOMETHING recently posted…Paying down student loans with Gradible!
K – I love the idea of regifting. And who’s going to know unless you say something 😉
Thanks for stopping by and taking the time to comment.
These are all great ideas, but I love #1 the best! Isn’t it great when we can give a free (or very inexpensive) gift, but it is something that will be treasured by the recipient? Thanks for another great list of ideas.
Heather @ My Overflowing Cup recently posted…22 Things I Love About You
You’re welcome, Heather! Have a Merry Christmas!
Agree! We had our gift exchange at work, and I was blessed to get two regifted items as my present in the exchange. One a $25 gift certificate for a restaraunt (yay, lunch date) and a small tequila set the colleague had received. She wouln’t have used it, nor would I but my cooking loving husband would!
robbie @ use resources wisely recently posted…Fun Patch Police
I LOVE to receive restaurant gift certificates and I can’t believe someone would regift them, but you definitely benefited from it. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. Have a merry Christmas, Robbie!
Making photo album of old photos for family members. If you have a copier with a scanner, pull out those boxes of old photos, scan & download to your computer. You can create your own album to print off or just save them to a thumb drive and give the thumb drive to them as a gift. I did this for my siblings. You know all of those pics we take at family get-togethers but no one ever sees them? I’m also doing this for my married daughter with all of her childhood pics. She lives out of state. She very crafty/artsy, so I’m just sending her the scanned copies and she can create her own albumn. Plus I still have the originals!
This is a great idea and reminds me of a gift that my husband received from his brother a few years ago for a big birthday. My brother in law made copies of treasured family photos, like my in-laws wedding pics, high school pics, and others. It was wonderful. Thanks for reading and taking the time to comment. Have a Merry Christmas, Patty!