Gifts from the Heart that Are Light on the Pocketbook

As you rush around trying to find the right gift for all those special people in your life, you realize that everything is either too expensive or just not the perfect gift; one that comes from the heart.

Every year whether it is for the holidays or a birthday we always come up with one gift that is a gift straight from the heart. The gift that makes the receiver smile and gives them a boost of confidence and fond thoughts. These gifts will work for anyone in your family as well as friends. They both take very little cash but take a lot of thought and heart to put together and the reward given of tears of joy and fond memories are worth the time.

Fairytale story or personal biography: This was a favorite during last year's holidays but can be made for any special time of the year. It will work well for young children, teenagers, and grownups. Go to your local bookstore and find blank journals. You can get one at the journal section or sometimes find them in the bargain bin. You can find a beautiful journal for less than five dollars that will do for this project.

Once you have your journal all picked out, get on the computer (or write by hand) your favorite memories or stories about who your story is for. If this is for a child, draw a few illustrations as well. You don't have to be an artist to draw pictures. Whatever your interpretation of one of the stories or memories is wonderful. Even drawing stick people will do. After you have about five to ten stories/memories, begin to form a storyline. For example: Let's say your memories/stories are Uncle John sneaking you candy as a child, the story of Uncle John and the turkey that chased him, the outhouse falling over on Uncle John as a kid, Uncle John walking you down the aisle. Begin your story with "Once Upon a Time a whimsical child John was born." Then build in the story of when he was a kid with all the related stories.

Talk about how funny and how wonderful they make you feel about Uncle John but put them in a 'fairy tale or biography of John' form. Take the fairy tale and create a whole new world for John's fairytale and the most important point is to include your thoughts and feelings of John. Make him feel as if he is the center of attention in your book and convey the fond memories as well as how you feel about John. If you get to the point where it is current day, create the future of what you would love for John. Maybe he has always wanted to skydive but hasn't been able to think of doing it. Include this as the future part of his fairytale.

Close the book with a wonderful thought and wish for John. Once you have typed all this into the computer break it up into pages and if there are pictures make room for those as well. When you have your fairytale all put together print out separate pages with each piece of the story on it. Make sure to number each page before printing. Print a title page and then cut each part of your story to size to glue on each page of the journal. Use a glue stick to carefully put each page into the journal.

You may not use all the journal pages but one tip is to put four or five sentences on each page and the story will take up more pages. If there are any leftover pages at the end of your story write "and the story goes on" indicating that the left over pages are for John to write. Let the pages dry and you will see they will have a little of a rippling effect because of the glue but that gives it an old kind of look.

You can have your kids make these for siblings or for relatives with pictures and wonderful thoughts. Kids will enjoy creating their story for others.

This is a gift from the heart that will be cherished for years to come.

Memory jar: Memory jars are a lot of fun. Pick up at the local dollar store a jar with some kind of lid. They have beautiful colored glass jars as well as clear and either will do fine.

Begin to think about who the gift is for. Think of funny moments, words that come to mind when you think of them and memories that are fun. Do you have a personal saying with this person that just makes you smile? Do you have a private joke? Take a piece of paper and write them all down.

Take a piece of heavy cardstock and fold it in half. Fold it again and again until you have about sixteen strips on the cardstock. Cut out each of the boxes. You may need more than this for your memory jar so cut out as many cardstock sheets as you need. Once you have cut out the strips write each thought you wrote down on the piece of paper and all the fond memories.

The fun ones start with, "Remember when we..." or other ones that say something nice that they may not even know about themselves, like, "You are the kindest person I know."

Once you have as many strips of memories as you want, fold them in half and place them in the jar. It will look like a jar full of cookies but with strips of memories instead. This is a fun, inexpensive way to let someone know that you took the time to really think about them.

Gifts don't have to be pricey and a gift from the heart can mean so much more to someone who had no idea how you felt about them.