7 Jedi Level Thank You
Gifts For A Fiver Or Less
For those moments in life when you want to say thank you, but you don't want to spend too much doing so. That's right, you're thankful, but not thankful enough to spend more than that.
The suggestions here aren't rammed with cheap tacky tripe, they're good solid thank you gift ideas that still make you look good despite their frugal nature, because appearing to be a super nice person is what's important here, right? :P
1. Origami goodies. If you know them well enough, you know what all their favourite sweets are, so fill a box with £5 worth of their favourite low cost goodies. You can cut costs so that more is spent on sweets by papering a small cardboard box you already own with paper you know they'll love for that extra personal touch.
Or if wanting to be more impressive for no extra cost you could make an origami gift box. I made some simple origami gift boxes a while ago, from the pages of various charity shop books and comics I routinely pick up for such purposes including using them as gift wrapping.
This one below has been created from a page of the book Finn Family Moomintroll. Here is a simple origami box tutorial, and for the lid, simply repeat the process with a slightly bigger piece of paper.
2. Give Them The Moon AND The Stars. Buy a little gift tin of glow in the dark star and moon shapes, and add a thank you note saying something tongue in cheek along the lines of "I wanted to just say thank you, but I decided to give you the moon and the stars instead".
This gift tin of moon and stars from M&S is the best I've seen due to their classy star shaped encasing and the fact they contain moon shapes as well as stars, but if this has gone out of stock, you can buy them elsewhere and perhaps pop them into an origami box if their packaging is on the ugly side.
If these are out of stock and you can't find a pack that contains stars AND moon shapes, simply buy a pack of stars only and say something like "You're a star!".
3. Thanks For The Babysitting. Benefited some well needed hero level babysitting recently so you could get some 'me time' and feeling grateful?
Why not buy your recipient this cool gift boxed whale cookie cutter for just £2.95, wrap it up cute and add a note saying "Thank you, we had a whale of a time!". Or perhaps even better, bake them some whale shaped cookies as the gift to go with the note.
4. Candle In A Teacup. A pretty gift, that you should be able to conjure up without spending more than a fiver. Simply buy your tea cup and saucer from a local charity shop and melt down your existing candle reminents by following this candle in a teacup tutorial.
5. Grow Them A Gift. This idea requires forward planning, but it has the potential to be exceptionally low cost.
Donate any quirky unique receptacle you already own or go charity shop rummaging for something interesting to use as a planter; pick something small/medium sized rather than tiny ... your plant needs room to grow. Or even a standard plant pot you already own is fine if you tart it up a bit.
Fill your planter with good quality soil (most of us have half a compost bag hanging around from our last planting project), plant your seed of choice and wait for it to grow to a good enough size to be ready to give as a gift. Many plants grow pretty fast from seed especially when planted in the spring so this is ideal for summer gift giving.
I feel that herbs are always a nice gift, especially if your giftee loves cooking, so consider plants such as aromatic basil (fantastic for pizza), parsley or chillies.
6. Man Soap. Woman Soap. Everyone loves hand made soap bars, it's great for gifting to either gender, and once you've got a set of basic ingredients together it's easier and quicker to make than you think.
The great thing about soap making is the diversity possible for ingredients and the visual appeal of each bar itself - allowing you to create luxurious gift bundles for friends and family without breaking the bank. Visit The Soap Queen for lots of recipes and inspiration.
7. Grow A Plant I Said? ... or maybe ... knit a plant. If you don't like the idea of ardously growing a plant from seed, currently in fashion are little knitted or felt cactus plants in pots - they're really on trend and they'll never die!
Etsy handmade market place has lots available at a great price, such as this knitted cactus plant for £3.99, however I have to admit that the postage on top will take you a tad over budget. If you're handy at knitting (or sewing felt) you could make your own hand made version.
