No Cost Christmas Gift Ideas

When you have no money to buy Christmas presents everyone says, bake cookies, make homemade ornaments or give photos. Forget all that. Here's what you can do to survive the holidays when you have no money for Christmas and don't want to let others help you.

Join a Stuff Swap. Believe it or not there are other people in the world that don't have any money. If you connect with these people you can swap stuff to give as gifts. One such website called Listia is a stuff swap site where no money exchanges hands. You get credits for joining, then you bid on other people's stuff with those credits. The winner gets something and the person swapping their stuff gets more credits. You'll find everything from toys to clothes and electronics.

Host a Stuff Swap. Call everyone you know and invite them to your house. Tell them to bring everything that is in good condition that can be regifted. If you'd like your guests can wrap the items but it's best to just spread them out on a table. Let your guests dicker and trade items and don't forget to get in on the swapping yourself. Use the items you got in the swap as gifts. The more you impress on your friends that these items are for gifts the better the items on the table will be.

Make a Cookbook. If there's someone in your life that loves cooking, make them a cookbook. There are websites online like Desktop Cookbook that will allow you to design and print your own cookbook. You can go hog wild and pull the downloadable files into Photoshop to fancy it up.

Books on Tape. This is fantastic for small children. Dig an old cassette tape out of the drawer, (you know you have hits from the '80s you recorded off the radio somewhere!) pull out one of your kid's favorite books and record yourself reading it. Go all out and make up voices for different characters. Find songs you can play, from your computer, in the background or audio noises that coincide with an action "scene". Use markers to decorate the cassette tape.

Build a Playhouse. This is the only craft idea I'm going to give you. Ask everyone you know for cardboard boxes. When you have a whole ton of them use them to build a playhouse. Cut holes for windows and use old sheets or pillowcases as curtains. Use crayons or markers to make "art" inside. Decorate the outside of the playhouse with crayons, stickers and glitter. Make 2 or 3 of them and connect them together to build an entire cardboard universe. Your playhouse is only as ugly or as decorative as you make it. Set it up in the corner of the living room before the kids get up in the morning and cover it with a sheet. I guarantee you they'll be in there all day.

Cardboard playhouse building instructions can be found here: http://www.make-baby-stuff.com/cardboard-playhouse-plans.html

Give a Sampler. Have you ever noticed that there are free samples of perfumes and makeup at the mall? What about hair products at the salon? Collect a bunch of them and make gift baskets out of them. If you have been wise you will have been saving those butter cookie tins you get every year. Use those tins or decorated shoe boxes to make your sampler gift baskets.

Burn Music Cds. If you happen to have a teen in the house that owns an iPod or has an iTunes account with music in the library then burn some music onto cd. The catch is not to give the cd to the teen that already downloaded the music. Instead give the cd to someone who likes the same music but doesn't have an mp3 player or iPod. This also goes for audio books or podcasts. Anything that is legally downloaded into iTunes can be burned on to a cd.

Christmas on a Theme. Tell everyone you will be giving a gift to and everyone who will be giving you a gift that you are celebrating this Christmas on a theme. Then set your theme to something that either can't be bought or can be bought for so little that you won't feel guilty that you didn't buy anything. For example, your theme could be coloring books and puzzles or hats and gloves or dollar store treasures.

Don't let money hold you back when it comes to Christmas. Chances are you know that you're not going to have any extra money long before Christmas arrives. The earlier you plan the more creative you can be.