Everyone is good at something. If you're good at baking for example, you can make a family or friend a cake for their birthday or whatever special occasion it is. If baking is not your thing, but you're Handy with tools, you can make some a small gift box which the recipient can use to keep small valuables. For those who can sew, you can make someone a sweater, pair of pants, etc. Question is, would this really save you money if you have to buy the materials you'll need to make the gift then spend a lot of time making them?
Yes, it can. Some hobbyists like craftspeople know where to find sales on things if they do not already have it handy and paid for. Or, they may know of other hobbyists in their area with whom they could work out a barter or deep discount arrangement.
I hadn't thought about exchanging your stuff for something else. If you do something as a hobby, I suppose you'll have a collection of items you've been making and whether or not you can exchange them for something else, you could always sell [what you've made] and from those proceeds you can buy a gift from a store if you have to. So yeah, I now get it. You definitely can save money.
I get homemade gifts from my nieces and my step-grandson and I absolutely LOVE receiving them, the front of my fridge is cover in in pictures they have done for me over the years and I'm about to put a pinboard up in my room to accommodate more of them. I can't wait until are a little older and can start making little ornaments for me to put on my shelves. It is such a shame that so man people consider receiving homemade gifts from adults frugal or stingy.
I usually make the gifts myself when I'm trying to show that I really care. For example, a few years back, I made a blogger.com blog for a friend of mine. Was it costly? No, blogger is free. But he needed that blog and had no idea how to create one, so I delivered the perfect gift. If you save or spend more by making the gifts yourself depends on what you make. Little things, like cakes, are cheaper to make than to buy. Other things, like furniture, are a lot more expensive, even if you know how to build them yourself
I think home made gifts from children are great. If you are an adult and have a talent for something then using the talent to make gifts is a good idea as long as the gift is appropriate. If you can sew your own clothes they may make a great gift for some but a lousy gift for others if your style is not the same as theirs. Baking is a good gift for someone who enjoys it or does not bake but terrible for someone on a diet. When it comes to a home made gift, decide first on the appropriate gift and then second on your ability to make that gift. Sometime the craft type gifts scream cheap rather than caring so you must be careful.
I would also like to give a cake as a gift for someone, yes I do but I would have to buy it because I can't create one myself. I wanna learn though. What I do instead is origami with letters and cards. One that is really worth to display or to treasure. Also another thing I give is my own amateur recordings, not to promote myself but to share them the music that really makes me feel good, hoping that they would also feel somehow good.
I recently went to an event where I wanted to give out little souvenirs to kids and other people I met from the foreign country my husband and I had come from. This was becoming pricey so I found a recipe where you can bake pins or magnets, paint them, and then give them as gifts. Everyone loved them. But I was slightly horrified when I had left overs in our basement apartment (states side) and the moisture in the room began to re-hydrate them! Its like I said to everyone, 'Here's a cookie, now pin it on your chest!' I am so embarrassed. I think home-ade gifts are awesome, but it is best to test out durability and longevity first. My 'cookie pins' lasted about a week before getting soggy and gross. This is not a good gift. However, I think the coating I put on them to protect them could have been stronger and this would have kept out the moisture.
Yes, I think as long as cooking is concerned, it will save you money in buying gifts, because that's what my mom used to do, she would give baked macaroni to her friends every Christmas that was taken from our "stock", so it saves money and effort in trying to buy another gift.
Good question. This will depend on the gift you are making. I always go to a craft store near my home that offers great discounts for bulk items. I enjoy making crafts and it can save me money when I already have the supplies in stock. There are so many economical ways you can make items without getting the expensive tools. I use substitutes for supplies I can't afford and the final result still looks awesome.
There is nothing I am really good at, aside from baking, but with that being said I never make gifts. I don't know, maybe because I bake a lot and give it to friends and family just because so that makes me feel like if I give them baked goods as a gift it just isn't as special.
I love to give homemade gifts! Everyone loves opening their presents and seeing a big batch of chocolate chip cookies! You just can't go wrong with that! I have done that several times. I might be too broke to go buy a gift but I usually always have the ingredients for cookies in my cupboard. No one ever looks at a fresh baked batch of cookies as a cop-out because they know it comes from the heart. I also enjoy making gift baskets either in actual baskets or mason jars, etc. They are so easy to personalize. For example, for my niece, I would give her one of those blue (fave color) insulated cups with a few goodies inside it like a gift card, earrings, and nail polish. Its easy to set a budget for a gift basket and then buy within that budget. I wouldn't necessarily say that I am "saving" money but if I was going to spend that money on them anyway, I might as well add a personal touch!
I used to do this but most of the time what I have been able to come up with were digital goods so I didn't end up spending a lot of money on the gifts but I did spend a lot of time. I think saving money is not the best reason to do this because like you have mentioned most of the items you could come up with ultimately will still cost something, and with the amount of time you'll have to spend you're probably better off just buying something ready made. Personally I think it's better to just do this if you really want to give something personalized instead of just wanting to save money.
I have always wanted to start making my own jewelry. But I have never really been sure about how to go about it. It's not a passion, I wouldn't say. But it is something that I think would be fun to do, because why not? I would love to incorporate crystals and other types of minerals into them, and then give them away as gifts or even sell them. I feel like my family and friends would really appreciate them. I don't mind getting made gifts if they have a valid use.
I think the thing with making your own gifts is the feeling of being more personable because of the amount of time and effort you have given to make it. I give out self-made gifts to my friends at times and it gives both me and the receiver a better feeling of gratitude and closeness so I think it's not a bad idea to make your own gifts. Just give a lot of heart into creating it and the result will show.
I find that whilst a lot of people pretend that they are touched by receiving created gifts, they are really just behaving that way to the gift giver's face, because it would be rude not to. And then when the gift giver leaves, they will call me and tell me hoe ugly the gift that they have just received is lol. So I always make sure I give my created gifts to those who will be able to receive the sentiments.
Sometime in the Christmas past, we were making yam cake as gifts to some relatives and neighbors. The main ingredient of yam was harvested from our plant. We shred the yam ourselves and bake it in small trays. It was delicious unlike the yam cake that are sold in bakeshops. Recipients were so glad and the following year they were asking for more. But we stopped that because as per our computation, it is cheaper to buy an equivalent gift. Baking yam cake is very tedious and needed lots of time.
LOL! That's the thing. We also have to make sure that when we are giving self-made gifts we have truly given our best to make them as pleasing to the eyes of the receiver as possible, especially if we're giving away craft items. When it comes to food, I'm also very particular on the taste and presentation. I make sure that it pleases my palate first before I decide to give one away.
Hahaha. People can be so two-faced, of which I am also guilty of. But we are raised to pretend like everything is just dandy a lot of the time, which makes for two-fecedness lol. On the other hand, it is why a lot of people stay in abusive relationships, though there are many more factors to that. But getting back on track, I agree. At least make sure that what you are making is presentable lol. I am the same with food too If I make food that tastes bad, I will usually advise other not to have any. If they choose to, they do so at their own peril lol.
Was the yam dried? Or did you boil it first and then shredded it? I would love the recipe if you don't mind sharing. I'm trying to go gluten and mais free and one of the things that I can do is use Yam. But I don't know too many Yam recipes other than just baking or boiling them and eating it. This cake sounds delicious!
