Help!!!! I have 54 people to buy for this Christmas and no way to shorten the list!

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SaraP

Put on some lipstick, you look half dead!
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Hi Ya'll! I need your fantastic brain power for some ideas...

I have a really large group of people to buy for this Christmas and need ideas for gifts in the $10 to $20 range. Some of the group are couples and can be combined. They range from 60 to newborn =) I know it's early, but all the holiday gift sets coming out reminded me I need to get to work!

 
As long as there are no recovering alcohoics, or anyone who doesn't drink in general, you can often buy very nice wines or champagne in bulk for cheap! I love doiing that for couples or even single women who I don't know too well, but well enough to know if they will drink the bottle or not, you know? :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
I use findgift.com for this sometimes. While a lot of it is bad there's some good ideas or something will inspire an idea even if it's not directly something they suggested.

 
For anyone who booze isn't appropriate for I've made gift jars of brownie mix with the dry ingredients layered in a mason jar and a gift tag with the ingredients. I use a cocoa browanie recipe from Smittenkitchen.com and it's just add eggs and oil. People seem to like them, hell I save behind a few for me for baked goods emergencies.

 
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For non drinking people you could always pick up 2 coffee mugs and a box of tea or coffee, whatever their preference is.

You can do home made items such as coasters (for drinks), or coupons like "Good for one night of babysitting."

Costco (by me) sells AMC movie tickets and I think Regal.  it is $16.99 for 2 tickets and you could throw in some movie sized candy or those white/red popcorn sleeves to put them in.

One year my mother in law did a basket with 2 wine glasses, wine or cider in a nice basket all cellophane wrapped.

That's all I got for now! :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
Oh the coasters reminds me, one year we got those picture frame coasters and cut pieces of paper to fit in there and Z made art coasters for the whole family. They ended up only being $5 a pop but looked wonderful and the entire family loved them. You didn't even have to ue them as coasters some just displayed them like they were glass picture frames.

 
I'm sorry, I am still stuck on the idea of buying for 54 people!!!  I have two...my son and my secretary.  I usually add a couple of friends and/or neighbors, but those vary and are not obligatory.  

 
We are blessed with divorced parents all around, so that's why we have sooooo many. Basically 4 families combined into a super family lol! We love them all, well most of them ;) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

It's fun, but year after year I feel like I've run out of ideas. Not so much for the kids, they are a blast to shop for!

*It's actually more... I give a gift to our next door neighbors, because they are awesome! I also gift to my clients, because they too are awesome and without them I'd never be able to gift to the rest!

 
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Probably not the most fun ideas, but thinking back to my own past gift giving times...I wouldn't want wine or such, and I'm picky about food/allergies etc... but then again, you probably know your own family... 

I remember some of the most interesting and fun gifts were those in a theme.  One year my Mom decided to pick a theme, and everybody got something that was picked for them, but remained in the price points and themes she picked.  

-socks

-pajamas

-winter gear

-popcorn (like the fancy packaged good stuff)

-summer items (like things you'd enjoy during the summer/bbqs etc)

so on, etc.. 

My favorites were the socks and the pajama years.  So many cute and fun designs and pretty easy to fit personalities.  

 
I certainly don't envy you .... that's quite a team of peeps!!!!  Well done for getting in early.

I'm with Lovepink - coasters, coupons, boxes of specialty tea/coffee.  I also send donation vouchers - donate to causes in their name...especially good for those "hard to buy for" people.

Good luck!

 
@@bellalore the donation thing is a good idea!!, at least for the crazy cat lady (aka my husbands aunt). She's a doll and is always adopting the worst of the worst from her shelter. They have 5 now, all with major health problems, cat hiv, diabetes and such. I always buy her cat related gifts, so I really think she'd be excited if we donated to her local shelter! Thanks =)

 
I like to go the homemade route for most!

For people outside of my immediate family and close friends, I like to make homemade cocoa mix in a mason jar, with some homemade marshmallows and mugs (I get them from the dollar store for cheap!)  It's really good if you make peppermint marshmallows, too. :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> 

Or for families, you could do a family movie night gift - a movie, some snacks, maybe some cozy slipper socks or something like that.

For women/people who like being pampered, homemade sugar/salt body scrubs, lip scrubs, etc are always nice. Or you could make them a Birchbox-style goodie box. :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" />

 
DIY is your friend!

I usually do a mix of DIY and thoughtful gifts, my family is weird so I've given everything from art to toilet seats to dog training classes when I'm feeling passive aggressive.

Booze, usually goes over well. I like to infuse vodka with fresh ingredients. It's pretty simple. I get some midrange vodka (if the 750mL bottles come in glass, it's probably good enough) like Svedka. Don't bother with something fancy like Grey Goose, that's a waste. Put good tasting stuff in vodka, let sit for a while, shake a few times a day. I like to zest several limes and let the zest infuse for a few weeks. I juice the limes and freeze the juice for later. After a few weeks, the vodka will be a pale lime color from the zest, strain the peel out and sweeten with simple syrup if you'd like- I like to make mine with lime juice. This makes a dangerously good alcoholic limeade when you mix it with club soda- I can barely taste the vodka. 

Some things infuse longer than others. Some spices may need only 12-36 hours, but something like apples would take at least a week or two. Some of the ones I've made include lime, pepper and coffee, but other good ones might be something like pumpkin spice, cinnamon, lemon, chai tea, sweet tea or berries.

Here's a good guide to get you started. The sooner you start this, the better. These get better with age. 

To package them, I usually use mason jars or reused swing top bottles (hey, it gives me a reason to buy fancy beer at the liquor store!) because I no longer shop at Hobby Lobby where I used to buy my bottles.

In a similar concept, vanilla extract is also the same, but you intentionally make it very strong as compared to an infused vodka. This needs a good 60 days to age, so again, best to start these early. Here's a basic guide.

Handmade fancy bath and body stuff is also pretty easy and inexpensive when done in bulk. Everyone can use a good lip balm. There are companies that make a premade base so all you have to do is melt it, add some flavor/color and then pour into tubes. Cute labels are easy to make or find online. There are also premade bases for body butters, lotions, shampoos, body wash and scrubs. All you have to do is add scent, color and additives if you want, then package up. 

Disclaimer for the following: I suck at math. 

For instance, a gallon of body butter base is about $36, $36 for 48 containers and lids, and $7-$10 for 4 ounces of fragrance oil to scent the gallon at safe usage rates. That works out to $82 on the high end of my estimates, which seems expensive, but you can make 32 4oz containers of body butter, which works out to be just over $2.50 a container. All you have to do is warm the base slightly to mix the fragrance in fully and then package and label. No animal testing, fancy and cheap. 

Lip balm is also cheap- $15 for 48 tubes and lids, $10 for 16 ounces of lip balm base (that should fill about 100 tubes), $8 for a tray to make the filling much easier and $5-$8 for the flavor oil. That works out to $.85 a tube, and you'll have enough base and flavor oil left over to do another batch of 48. The tray is reusable too. 

Then there's things like solid sugar scrubs

Soap Queen has a lot of good tutorials- that link is to the post she just made for some inspiration for this year. Here's another roundupand some more. There's stuff in there that works well for men, women and children.

Jewelry is also surprisingly easy. Nice gemstone necklaces can be made by either epoxying a flat cabochon into a setting, or setting a gemstone into a prong setting. That might sound scary, but look how easy it can be.

Setting- 6x4 oval

Gems that fit that setting

Sterling silver chains

Using my bad math, if you make 6 pendants, it's about $75 for supplies, so $12.50 per necklace. The way that website works is that if you buy more stuff, it discounts the entire order, so if you buy over 15 units it drops the price. I added 3 of some bead strand that was really cheap which actually dropped the total to under $58, meaning you can make each necklace for under $10. 

Small gifts I always throw in swaps are things like nail polish magnets. Super easy- paint on the flat side of those flat marbles used for floral arrangements. You do it in reverse order, so the clear glitter coat would go on first, then the opaque color on top of that. Once it's all dry, I use E-6000 to glue a magnet on the back. Here's a guide, all my pictures suck. If you want to use crackle polish, you'll also need to put a layer of top coat on the back first so that it will crackle. It may not be the most trendy thing in nail art now, but it looks pretty cool on the magnets. It's also a good way to use pretty polish that has a crappy formula- butterLONDON I'm looking at you.  :angry:

I'm starting on cute little felt animals right now, I may end up turning them into magnets or cat toys, but they're not too complicated to make and keep me occupied during downtime at work. I checked a few felt crafting books out from the library recently to get a start on learning patterns and such. 

 
@@hipsterhippo First off, thank you for taking the time to give me so much great info! Secondly, passive aggressive toilet seats and dog training! I think I love you!!

 
HSN has a TSV today for 5 watches for $50. I find passable watches to be good for young adults. A full on adult can be picky about watches but young adults usually use their phones and a watch is classier (fof lack of a better word) in terms of job interviews, first impressions etc. The faces are too big for me personally but I know they're more "fashionable". Just a thought I've been keeping an eye out for all in one swoop gifts for ya, where you can get lots of people in one purchase.

 
I find that chocolates, bath products, herbs and spices and also alcohol are quite nice products and almost everyone will like them :) /emoticons/[email protected] 2x" width="20" height="20" /> 

 
Also Tuesday Morning has $5 pashminas and Costco had gorgeous $10 throws (I grabbed the throws from Costco, a travel tumbler and a box of cocoa from the dollar store for a "warm wishes" theme for my UPS, USPS and pool man gifts spent $13, I love gift season!)

 

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