Thoughtful Gifts on a Budget

Wine glasses, clear glass plates, or ornaments with personalization may seem expensive, but in truth you can do it yourself for less than ten dollars for supplies, then whatever you want etched. The best thing is that most of the supplies will be reusable many times, so you can buy your initial supplies for around ten dollars (including glass etching cream and stencils), buy whatever you want to etch (you can find wine glasses at about $2 each online), and etch hundreds of glasses or clear glass ornaments for a truly customized, and truly thoughtful gift. Two wine glasses for a newly married couple with their new last initial or last name is a thoughtful and easy gift. You can find simple instructions, here.

Customized shirts

You can go to sites like Cafepress.com and create your own, unique design for stickers, t-shirts, key chains, mugs, and many other products and then purchase them at an affordable price for the loved ones in your life. Do they have a favorite phrase that they use all the time? No problem, put that phrase on a t-shirt, and you have a great, personal gift for the loved one in your life.

Gift Cards

Now normally you wouldn't think of gift cards as thoughtful gifts, but you can really customize your giftcards if you look in the right places. Does your loved one love movies? Instead of a Blockbuster gift card, why not get them a month of unlimited rentals from Netflix? Do they love wine? Don't buy them a bottle, get them a subscription to a wine of the month club.

Books
There are books on every subject imaginable, and the best thing is, most books don't cost much more than twenty dollars for a nice hardback. Do they love fiction? Find out who their favorite author is, look at their bookshelf, or bring them up in conversation. Find out if there are any books by them they don't have. Do they have a favorite hobby? Craft how-to books are a great purchase, and you may even get something out of the deal if they make something.

Coupon Books

Ahh, home made coupon books. These can be as thoughtful as you can imagine, and as expensive or inexpensive as you need them to be. For a spouse, things like coupons for back massages, a candle lit dinner, or a night away from the kids may be appropriate. You know your loved ones the most, what are small little acts of kindness that you could do to make their lives better?