Ten Frugal Christmas Gifts

*Edited to remove The Boyfriend's gift, because the sneaky bugger found my blog!*

What would you say if I told you I'd already started making Christmas presents? What about if I said I'm making all my gifts this year? Is it cheap or thoughtful?

I broached the subject of making each other Christmas gifts to my family earlier this month. It went down quite well except my dad's worried that he's not very crafty. In contrast, although he's agreed to it, my boyfriend does think it's a bit of a cheap thing to do. I realise it's a bit different but hopefully if this year's a success we will all stop using money to quantify how much we mean to each other!

In the past I've spent probably £300-400 each year on Christmas presents, which was far more than I could afford. This year I'm aiming to spend less than £150, leaving me more breathing room at the start of 2012!

Here are ten gifts that I will be making this year:

Sweater bag: £0 – Great for mums, aunties and grandmas. I already have a jumper and bag lining so this should me nothing but time. You could probably find a jumper in a second hand shop quite cheaply however.

Mulled wine sachets: £1 each – As well as making myself one, these will be a nice little gift to send to friends.

Tissue holder: £1 – My mum carries tissues with her at all times so this is a good one for her.

Modified USB: £4 – I think these chewing gum USBs are brilliant!

Handmade envelopes: £0.30 – My sister makes cards so I've been making loads of these envelopes from beautiful magazine pages that were discarded in rooms where I chambermaid. The 30p price is for a nice bit of ribbon to tie them together!

Framed drawing: £2 – I'm not bad at pencil sketches so I'm going to give my sister a framed drawing of her and her boyfriend.

Herb garden: £7 – Perfect for someone who likes cooking. I'm currently growing rosemary, thyme, parsley, basil and coriander for potting.

Cookies in a Jar: £4 – These seem to be quite popular in America. You basically layer the dry cookie ingredients into a jar and provide instructions as to the quantity of eggs and butter to add before cooking. I also want to find some Christmas shape cookie cutters. Perfect for children!

Chocolate Hazelnut Balls: £3 – Lovely crunchy and nutty chocolates. Be warned that I found the recipe needed more Nutella as the balls didn't stick together properly when I made a trial batch!

I'll probably have some recipe trials to show before Christmas (both the successes and my current bout of culinary failures!!)

What do you think about making your own Christmas presents? Traditional or tacky?