Top Ten Gift Ideas for $5 or Less

1.Photos are a cheap yet personal and heartfelt gift. You can print the picture yourself in an enlarged size pretty cheaply (just the price of a piece of photo paper about 20 cents). Purchase a pretty frame from a dollar store like Dollar Tree. Whether it's a family picture, landscape/nature or architecture, you'll have a beautiful gift for less than two dollars.

2.Put together some homemade jar mixes. Take a mason jar for only 50 cents (12 for $6) and fill with layers of ingredients for cookies, cocoas (with marshmallows), cakes, soups or breads. Different colored and textured layers (like flour, oats, brown sugar and raisins) creative an attractive gift. Tie on a pretty piece of cloth for a lid along with a tag that has recipe instructions. You can also make homemade bath salts with inexpensive Epsom salts for about $2 (enough for a two or three gift bottles) and a few drops of vanilla or some rose petals and pour in a decorative bottle from a discount or dollar store. You can also add a few drops of food color to half of the salts mixture and layer the two for a more eye catching look.

3.Christmas ornaments come in a wide range of prices. You can easily find varieties for a couple of dollars at discount stores like Kmart and Big Lots. Look for designs that are special and specific to the recipient. If they own a cat or dog, seek out an ornament that looks like their pet. If the person on your list has a tree theme (like birds or angels) or theme color, try to find one that will fit in with their collection. You can even buy a larger ornament, with room for personalization, at a dollar store. Just buy a paint pen (Staples or Joann's) for around $1.50 and give the gift a personal touch by writing the recipient's name, the year, etc.

4. Create a movie night treat. From the dollar store, purchase a small to medium-size bowl along with two boxes of microwave popcorn (with 3 packages per box) (or a bag of popped cheese or butter popcorn) and throw in a couple of the movie-sized boxes of candy (mike & ike or junior mints). You've got a cute and tasty creation for only $5.

5. For the coffee, cocoa or tea lover on your list, make a filled mug gift. Buy a $1 mug, which can be found at many stores including Old Time Pottery. Next, fill with free samples that can easily be had online (I've received several) or with a variety of dollar store packets.

6. Believe it or not, you can find a decent bottle of wine for $5 or less. Affectionately known as "two-buck", "three-buck", and "four-buck chuck", the Charles Shaw label is sold at Trader Joe's. You wouldn't buy this for a wine connoisseur but it's incredibly popular, especially the Shiraz. TJ's also sells a popular Portuguese Vinho Verde for about $4. That leaves $1 for a gift bag!

7. One year, my mother-in-law and her friends designed their own handmade cookbook (using an inexpensive picture album) with a collection of all their favorite recipes. She wrote a message that said she hoped I would create as many wonderful memories with the recipes as her and her friends had.

8. For a little excitement, how about lottery tickets? My husband would buy his aunt a few scratch-off tickets and/or regular lottery tickets and put them in a $1 greeting card. For just a five dollar bill, who knows how much they could win?

9. Puzzles are a fun activity that the whole family can take part in. You can find a large variety of very cheap puzzles at discount and dollar stores. They also have checkers, chess, and a few others. You can throw two puzzles and three games together for many enjoyable game nights for only $5!

10. You'll think I'm joking but the entire family on my husband's side would receive a large package of toilet paper. This was everyone's favorite gift from my husband's grandmother. Each couple/family would get their own supply which of course everyone uses and has to buy anyway. The TP gift started out as a joke but now that his grandmother is in a nursing home, it's the one present everybody misses.