Inexpensive Children's Gifts

Hello Friends! Thanks for sticking with me - I know it's been a LONG time since my last post...

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I was recently inspired by some blogs I read about keeping costs down when purchasing birthday gifts. My 6 year old son had been invited to 2 parties and one of the birthday celebrations was for twin girls. Previously, I would try to spend between $10-15 per person. However, as my children get older they are getting invited to more and more parties, and well, it could get very expensive. So, I was on a mission. I needed to find 3 "girl gifts" for as little money as possible. The larger goal was 1.) it couldn't look cheap and 2.) it had to be something that I would like my own daughter to receive. So, I scanned the aisles of a local store looking everywhere for something that would catch my eye. And finally...I found it! Discounted from Easter, I found three cute little purses on clearance for $2.49! I decided that I wanted to include something inside the purse as well, and found chap-stick for $3.00 (total). I also added some bubblegum, bringing the grand total of each gift to only $4.49! All the little girls seemed to love the purses and I was able to reach my goal of purchasing an inexpensive gift - multiplied by 3!

Do you have any inexpensive gift ideas? Please share them!

This year, I decided to do something a little different for Mother's Day. The kids and I picked up 4 clay pots at Wal-mart and spray painted them white. After the paint dried, my husband and I, along with our 3 kids put our thumb prints on each pot making the shape of a caterpillar. I then took a Sharpie marker and wrote "Happy Mother's Day" along the top and 2011 on the back. I drew a little face and legs on the caterpillar thumb prints. Now, I used ink thinking that you would see a better print than using paint, but if I did it again I would use paint. I feel like the ink just doesn't show up as well as paint would have. On the back I had each child put another thumb print which I made into either a face, spider, or butterfly. We then planted a pretty pink geranium in each pot and gave them to two Great-Grandmothers and two Grandmothers (who are also great). Overall it was a fun project for all!

(Sorry for the bad picture - you can barely see the thumb prints! By the way, that big, round thumb print is mine!)