Cheap Gifts They Will Actually Like

Cheap can feel like an ugly word, but Christmas dollars only stretch so far. When you have a lot of people to buy for, you have to watch your pennies. Unfortunately, that can mean spending hours or even days prowling your local mall trying to find cheap, quality gifts that your friends and family will love. Or, you can just check out my list of cheap Christmas gifts and save yourself hours of shopping.

Favorite Food

Anything can make a great gift if it's wrapped nicely. My brother is absolutely in love with a certain pizza place that was around the corner from us growing up. And when he moved away to college, he missed it terribly. So, for the past few years at Christmas, I've been shipping him a couple of his favorite pizzas from that pizzeria. If you're friend or family has a favorite, hard to get, food consider ordering it online or running to the store across town to get it.

A Netflix Membership

Your loved ones will love this cheap and useful Christmas gift. Netflix is a movie rental company that sends you movies that you want. You create a list (from the tens of thousands of movies they have available) and they send you the movies one, two, or three at a time and automatically send you the next ones on your list once you return the ones you have. They offer a great gift plan and you can buy your friends and family members one month of membership for as little as $4.99 per month!

Prepaid Long Distance Phone Cards

For those friends and family that live far away, this makes a great gift. It says "call me, I love you" and will let your loved ones know you care. And, they come cheap too. For ten dollars, you can get around 1000 local minutes that can be used anywhere in North America. Check out www.phonecardsmile.com for some sweet deals.

Your Recipes

My mother is a fantastic cook. Everyone crowds to her house during the holiday's, waiting for our favorite dishes to be cooked. And every once in a while, not every Christmas, she gives me or one of my sisters one of her recipes so that we can make those goodies for our families. If you're a good cook, give out one of your most popular recipes, written out on nice cardstock, to your friends and family.

Your Favorite Inspirational Book

If you know some friends that need some wisdom (or follow Oprah's Book of the Month Club), why not give them your favorite inspirational book for Christmas? If you don't know many readers, opt for the small books of quotations that you can find at the check out counter at you're local Barnes & Noble or Borders bookstore. These cheap gifts will run you under $10.