In today’s economic climate, we are all looking for ways to reduce expenses while trying to improve revenue. Well, since most people send 30 gifts per year and each of those gifts costs an average of $35, that means we’re spending over $1,000 a year just in this area of our budget. Imagine the difference it would make if you could send half of those gifts for free. This would leave you with more money to spend on the other half or to save yourself a whopping $500 each year. Now that’s a savings worth striving for. Below I have listed 10 birthday gift ideas that won’t cost you a hundred. (I didn’t include postage in the example above, as some of the ‘Gift Ideas That Cost Nothing’ may incur postage if the recipient lives too far for personal delivery)
1. Find a good online eCard website and send them a really nice online card. Inside enter the following message ‘For your gift this year, I have subscribed you to a Prank a Month service throughout the year. Don’t forget to check your emails on the 1st of every month!’ Set a recurring reminder on your computer to let you know that you need to email your joke. When you get the reminder, check all the emailed jokes you have received in the last month to find a suitable one and send it. This not only costs you nothing, but also gives you the gift of laughter, which is priceless in my opinion.
2. If they live locally, why not host a birthday gathering for them and a bunch of friends at your place? You can set it up as a total surprise without them knowing and then just invite them over for the night using some excuse like ‘I really need you to help me tune my TV’ or ‘I’ve got this weird wet spot in the bathroom I’d like your opinion on’ ok so how are you going to do it for free easy all you have to do is get organized from the start first you draw a list of snacks (max 20 items) then invite 20 friends and assign them a snack to each bring.Along with this, the odd friends bring beer and the even friends bring wine.Choose some of the extremely eager friends to show up early to help you decorate and now you have thrown a great birthday party that will be highly appreciated and not not once have you had to rummage through your wallet or purse.
3. Save all those unwanted Christmas gifts you receive. Put them in a strong cardboard box and store them in a safe place. Once Christmas is over, take them out and assign each one to your birthday list for the year. You will be surprised how many can be recycled. NOTE – Make sure you don’t end up giving someone else the gift you got for Christmas!
4. When you’re out shopping and see something you want to buy but you only need one and they’re doing a 2 for the price of a sale, do a quick mental scan of your birthday list and see if anyone’s there. there to whom you could give the second item. Not only do you get what you want, but a friend or family member also gets a great gift that costs you nothing.
5. If you have a friend who loves takeout, save a bunch of deals you get in the mail, clip all the deals in the local papers, print out any deals you can find online too. Make sure they don’t expire before the target birthday! Try to get around 50 to 100. Make sure you have an extra large birthday card, write your message inside, and pack with all the coupons and stamp. When they open, all the coupons will spill out creating a big surprise… and I bet they will use some of the coupons.
6. Big sources of giveaways are the hundreds of thousands of online contests you can enter online. Even if you don’t like the article, I bet nobody else will. They are free to enter and don’t take that long and even your return on entries is 0.5%, you only need to enter a couple hundred to get a ‘Birthday Gift That Costs Nothing’
7. Sign up online for free samples; you will be surprised what you can achieve. You could go for all the makeup and pampering products. Maybe I’ll get 10-15. Decorate a small cardboard box like a shoebox and put all your free samples inside. Label the box something like ‘Chloe’s Pamper Box’ and voila, you have a great ‘Birthday Gift That Costs Nothing’. It also works well with lots of food samples you can get from malls and manufacturers online, these make a great mini food basket.
8. Look through your collection of books that you have read but never seem to have opened. Alternatively, search your DVD collection for those that show no signs of having been watched before. They’re just cluttering up the house, make great gifts, and again, they cost you nothing to pass on. Works well with CD’s to!
9. Go through all your digital photos on your computer to find images that contain the birthday boy or girl. Print them out and cut them into different shapes. Gather some rust-colored dried leaves from the backyard and build a collage of the framed pictures with the dried leaves. Using different colored pens, add a witty or loving caption to each of the images, and you’ve got yourself a great homemade gift (always worth extra points) that costs you nothing.
10. For loved ones, there is nothing better than a really meaningful and heartfelt poem. It can take a bit of time to put together, and if you’re struggling to come up with ideas, you can always search the internet for some inspiration. You can put your poem directly inside her birthday card or you can try a collage like in #9, but maybe use rose petals instead of dried leaves (you’d need to press dry them first and you’ll see they will). Go brown and filthy!)
Well that’s it; Even if you don’t like any of the 10 ‘Birthday Gift Ideas That Cost You Nothing’ I’ve suggested, I hope I’ve given you a few ideas of your own to help keep expenses a bit down this year.