Oprah's "How to Have the Thriftiest Holiday Ever" Ideas

I was watching Oprah today and her show was about having a thrifty Christmas. She and her guests shared tips and creative ideas on how to spend less for the Holidays. Here are some of their suggestions.

Free songs for 48 hours - Starting today, December 18, 2008 for 48 hours you can visit Oprah's website (oprah.com) and download eight Holiday songs from various artists for free. This Holiday Hits 2008 download includes Faith Hills "Joy to the World", Tony Bennett's "I'll be home for Christmas", Il Divo's "Oh Holy Night", Josh Groban's "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", Brian McKnight's "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", Amy Grant's "O Come All Ye Faithful", Harry Conick Jr's "It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas", and Aretha Franklin's "Silent Night". You can download all of these songs or you can pick and choose which ones you want. You will right click on each song link and save it to your computer. After it downloads you will have some of Oprah's festive songs to enjoy through the Holidays, and it didn't cost you anything!

Oprah also shared her favorite Thrifty gifts with viewers.

Gratitude Boxes: Oprah said one of her favorite gifts was given to her for her 50th Birthday. It was a gratitude box. Her friends had written her "heartfelt notes" and placed them in a silver box. So for Christmas this year, make and give someone a gratitude box. Debi Lilly, from A Perfect Event, shared her ideas for creating a gratitude box. She suggested taking old shoe boxes and wrapping them in Holiday or festive paper. You can then add ribbons, glitter, stickers, and other accessories to dress the box up a bit more. In the box you will include notes or letters to the someone special. Tell what you like about them, what they mean to you, etc.

Treasure Boxes: If you have old keepsakes and very meaningful items, you can purchase treasure boxes or treasure chests. You'll put those special mementos into the chest and give it as a gift to whomever. As an example, you could give your adult children a treasure chest of their childhood toys and books that you kept all these years.

Hot Chocolate Cones: I know you've seen these in stores where you can buy them, but they are actually easy and inexpensive to make yourself. On Oprah, one of her viewers from Houston shared her "recipe" for these. She said use a plastic piping bag and add a layer of cocoa, then marshmallows, and top that with chocolate chips. Kellie also suggests tying the bag with holiday ribbon.

Garden Gift Baskets: Tamara from Minnesota shared her garden gift baskets with Oprah fans. She takes ingredients that she grows in her own garden and then makes salsas, sauces, and other edibles to give as gifts.

Lastly, Oprah suggested purchasing one of the book club readings. In particular, she pointed out The Story of Edgar Sawtelle by David Wroblewski. She said it was a book that included everything a book should and that it was incredible. Oprah also suggested it be inscribed to a person on your gift list and their dog (since that's what the book is about).

Other ideas can be found in Oprah's magazine this month.