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This is a similar question to MBHunter's great question about frugal Valentine's Day ideas. I hope someone here watches 30 Rock. For Christmas, Liz and Jack exchanged Christmas gifts, but they had to cost zero dollars. This trend picked up some steam with a few friends and there were zero dollar haikus and other fun things. This year my husband and I decided not to spend money on birthday or anniversary gifts since I am concentrating on paying of my debt. I made him a cute photo card for free with Smilebox for his birthday. Has anyone else made a creative zero dollars gift? I imagine that I can only get away with picture ecards for so long. |
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I'm one of those arts and craftsy type people who always has fabric and paper and paint and wood and stuff like that hanging around the house, so handmade gifts (twirly skirts for my daughter, dollhouse furniture made from Sculpey) are not unusual with me. If you're not a crafty person, some other ideas are: "Gift Certificates/Coupons" Ideas--When he redeems the coupon, you'll cook his favorite meal even though it's not your favorite and you really hate making it. Or you'll take out the garbage for a week, even though that's his job. He could do a "I'll watch a chick-flick movie with you, even though I despise chick-flicks" type card. These are also good for kids to give, since it shows thoughtfulness, but doesn't cost them anything. Cooking. A big batch of his favorite cookies wrapped up nicely with a cute photo card is usually not sneered at. We wanted to give an extra thank you to a dog sitter, but not pay her more than we already had, so I made a big batch of maple syrup candy for her. I don't think the batch lasted out the day :) Plants. If you've a green thumb, take a few cuttings of some of your plants, root them, and then put them in reused/repurposed containers as gifts. I had an English ivy a few years back that made its way into quite a few of my friends' homes, usually in one of those plastic pots left over from planting the yearly garden. Make a music mix. Granted, this isn't as cool as it was back before MP3 players did all the work for you. But if you take the time to pick out meaningful songs, maybe tell a story with them, it's still a fun gift idea. We also do a lot of "regifting" in our family. When we're given gifts that we really won't use/don't like, we save them--unused, of course--and give them to someone else later on. Though this type of gift doesn't work for the immediate family, since they know you already had it. That's all I can think of right now. Hope it helps. I'll add in any more that pop up :) I love it. A mix CD would be so awesome. Then finally I can stop quizzing him on what songs were played at our wedding.
(Feb 05 at 09:06)
Frugallawyer
What, he doesn't have the song list memorized? :) Glad you liked the idea.
(Feb 06 at 00:34)
nessili24
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I guess I'm not terribly creative as the only thing I could think of were the "service coupons" where you offer massages, pick up chores, etc. Or Get Out Of Jail free cards - he can redeem them when he's put his foot in it. :) I mostly try to do favors for people, whatever I can do to make their lives easier or run a little more smoothly. You could do a week of nice cards! A compliment per card per day for a week? Yeah I'm better with generating creative money (CC rewards, Swagbucks, stuff like that) than I am with just not spending at all and still giving something. Hahahha ... I have an awesome pair of Hulk Hands you could give him. Gift from me to you to him. ;) Extra attention is a good freebie!
(Feb 13 at 07:48)
mbhunter ♦♦
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How about camping at home? This does of course require that you have camping supplies. But if you have a yard, set up the tent, bring your grill/cookstove, candles, towels or a blanket for your dining area. Set up a romantic outdoor dinner, then cozy up in the tent afterwards for "roughing it" romantically and economically. No driving, no state park fees, and you won't need to worry about packing light, since you can just carry a few yards back into the house! It might take some forethought on the food. I often make an oatmeal mix for breakfast, or have a pancake mix pre-made, plus a cooler for eggs, milk, butter. You'll want to try and keep to the spirit of "no going in the house" so it's fun to try to think it all through and stick to not using your keys! Haven't done this one myself, but my yard would be perfect for this - private, big trees, and relatively quiet. We haven't gone camping in a while, but my wife is a fantastic campfire cook! Great idea.
(Feb 13 at 07:46)
mbhunter ♦♦
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