Inexpensive Christmas Gifts

I struggle every year with gift giving because I want to make something homemade without it seeming cheap. I think I found a good balance this year and apologize in advance if anyone related to me is reading this. You may want to stop reading if you want to be surprised.

I found several recipes for sugar scrubs and was pleasantly surprised by the results after testing the recipes.

1 1/2 C sugar
1/4 C olive oil
several tsp vanilla

The vanilla is a strong enough scent that it didn't have trouble masking the smell of the olive oil. If I need to make anymore, I'll use coconut oil in place of the olive oil. My hands were left super soft and did not feel greasy. I cleaned up the kitchen after using the scrub and even after a few hand washings, my hands were still soft.

2 1/2 C sugar
1 C olive oil
4 Tbsp lemon juice

This one worked just as well on my hands, but the olive oil smell was very hard to mask with lemon juice. If I make this again, 1/2 C of olive oil should be enough.

I put the sugar scrubs in canning jars and will decorate them so they look fancy.

Another thing I am trying this year is making my own soaps. I am picky about soap ingredients and looked everywhere for a reasonably priced sodium laurel sulfate free melt and pour soap. Bramble Berry had what I wanted. I ordered their sampler pack that includes hemp, clear, white, aloe, honey, shea, and goatsmilk. I plan to buy a couple of essential oils to mix in with the soaps. I am super excited and hope that the soap bars are well received.

I also ordered lip balm melt and pour from Bramble Berry. The ingredients are simple and a small amount of base makes several tubes of lip balm.

All grandparents and great grandparents will be receiving 4x6 photo albums of my favorite pictures from this year.

The gifts will go to 11 people and will cost about $50. I enjoy making and giving (and receiving) homemade gifts and the cost fits our budget.