Lately I've been giving some Christmas gift ideas for those of you who just don't know what to get your friends.  Click here to see my last five tips.  Today I'll give five more.

Good luck shopping!

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Picture Frames
Picture frames are generally creative and inexpensive.  You can purchase a frame at Wal-Mart or Hobby Lobby or generally any craft store.  You can buy some blank picture frames that you can design on your own with mosaics, ribbons, magazine cut-outs, and buttons.  I'm not creative enough to make something like that, so I usually prefer to find a cute picture frame and put a picture of me and my friend inside of it.  Some picture frames have room for a lot of photos.  Check out this picture of some multi-picture frames in my bedroom.  I love it.  I got it at Hobby Lobby for around $12.  You can also purchase picture holders that are basically small stands with curled wire on top.  They hold a photo and look super cute.  Check out these card-style picture holders to your left.

Pajamas
Almost everyone loves a warm pair of pajamas.  I love pajamas.  I can never have enough.  Especially fuzzy pajama pants.  Christmas is still the middle of winter, so there will be plenty of time to get good use out of a new pair of warm pajamas.  They're useful, cute, and you can get them fairly inexpensive.  Check out these adorable flannel pajama bottoms from Old Navy at only $14.50.  If you go to department stores near you, you should be able to get pajamas on sale.  One of my favorite pairs I got from Rue 21 for only $5!  If you know ahead of time that you want to buy some pajamas for your friend, keep an eye out for a pair on sale every time you go shopping.

Movie
A great gift that you can buy for a friend is a movie.  If you and your friends have been planning a movie night for a long time but never seem to get around to having one, then a great incentive is to buy your friend a movie that you want to watch together.  With a brand new movie from you, how can your friend put off something like a movie night any longer?  Toy Story 3 just came out on DVD.  It's a great choice for a DVD.  You can also look at the sale rack at your local Hastings or Block Buster.

Beauty Items
If you're looking for girl gifts, a great gift to give is a little beauty set.  Go to Ulta or even to your local drug store and purchase a little purse for a few dollars.  Fill the purse with lip gloss, nail polish, eye shadows, mascara, blush, lipstick, eyeliner... whatever you think your friend will like.  Pick out her colors and useful things you know she'll wear.  A great thing about this gift is that you can be sure to pick out little beauty items that are already on sale for only a few dollars.  This is a gift that your friend will definitely use in the future, especially if you get what you already know she'll like.  Victoria Secret has really pretty eye shadow and lip gloss. 

Subscription to a Magazine
Magazine subscriptions are a long-lasting gift.  They usually last from six to eighteen months and range from $10-20.  There are many magazines out there that you may think your friend will love.  I once received a subscription to a Christian magazine called Relevant, which I greatly enjoyed.  My sister loves American Girl.  If your friend is a teenage girl, I recommend Susie Magazine, which is basically the new Brio.  It has some great articles for Christian girls.  Along with the magazine subscriptions comes an online subscription to a community, blog center, and video camera devotions from Susie herself!

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Will you be using any of these gifts for your friends this year? 

Be sure to check back on Monday to see the final installment of gift ideas for your friends.  Have a great day. 

So it's nearly the end of November and Thanksgiving is on its way, which means it's about time to start shopping for Christmas gifts.  Some of you may have already started.  I've purchased a few gifts here and there when I see something that catches my eye, but I haven't really started looking for gifts.  With some people, it's hard to know what to buy. 

Do you have trouble knowing what to get for your friends?  Maybe you have a low budget.  Maybe you're not very creative.  Maybe you just can't find anything that looks like something your friend would even like. 

I like thinking of creative gifts, and while some may be more creative than others, I thought I'd go ahead and give you some ideas.  I also have a low budget and friends who are naturally more creative than me when it comes to gift giving.  Sometimes I feel like my gifts can never be as neat and creative as theirs.  However, over the years, I've learned some tips to creative gift-giving, and I'd like to share them with you.

Good luck shopping!

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Homemade Calendar
This sounds much harder to make than it actually is.  An online company called Shutterfly has a place where you can upload your own photos, pick some adorable templates, and design your own calendar for as low as $17.99.  A homemade calendar is a good gift for your close friends, who you're willing to spend a little more money on than you would your casual friends.

What's great about homemade calendars is the fact that they'll work for anyone.  Everyone uses calendars.  Also, they'll look personal for your friends because they'll have photos you picked out all over the pages.  Great memories to remember each month!  If you're not a very creative person, these Shutterfly calendars are a great way to make it look like you used your nonexistent creative juices and a ton of hard work, when really, it can take only an hour or so to design the calendars. 

I've ordered calendars for my best friends every year, and they end up being some of the best gifts ever.  My friends always appreciate them!

Note: They have three different kinds of calendars.  There's the page-by-page wall calendar, the poster year-long calendar, and now there's a new month-by-month desktop calendar design, which is way cute, and a little less expensive.  Check'em out!


House Shoes
House shoes might seem quite simple compared to a self-designed calendar, but they really are great gifts for friends.  Who doesn't like house shoes?  They're comfortable, warm, and great winter gifts.  There are all sorts of designs: moccasins, slippers, flip flops... and a new style that's in this year is a house shoe boot!  If your best friend is a girl, you could get her fluffy pink house shoes.  If your best friend is a boy, you could get him a pair of cozy slippers.  It's a win-win situation.  Check out these plaid slippers for guys from Aeropostale.  They're about $20, but you could probably find them a bit cheaper at the store.  I love these striped boots for girls as well.  They're also $20.  Check them out here.


Homemade CD Mix
For those of you who are on a really low budget, it may be time to get creative.  One thing I try to always do for my friends is give them a homemade CD mix.  Burn a CD from your iTunes (the discs should only cost a few dollars at Best Buy or Staples).  On the CD, burn a mix of twenty of your favorite songs.  Include a mix of genres or focus on one genre.  Include songs that you don't think your friend has or that you think he or she might enjoy.  If a CD mix is all you're giving your friend for Christmas, perhaps burn two or three and be sure to include a homemade card!


Giant Stuffed Animal
A gift that looks creative and inexpensive would be a giant stuffed animal.  You can get plush stuffed animals from stores like Wal-Mart for around $10.  Get a fluffy white bear or puppy and make sure a big bow is tied around the neck.  Make sure to add in a card.  All girls love giant stuffed animals, whether they'll admit it or not.  If you can find an animal that fits with an inside joke of some sort (for example, my friend and I have a fun memory involving a raccoon, so one year, I gave her a stuffed raccoon), then even better.  Choose that stuffed animal for your friend.


Christmas Pack
This is another gift for those of us who have very little cash.  What you do is arrange a Christmas-style package.  Purchase a dollar coffee mug from Wal-Mart.  Fill it with candy canes, hot chocolate packets, fuzzy gloves perhaps, marshmallows, and maybe a pair of fuzzy socks.  Add in a little personalized card as well.  This gift is creative and thoughtful and it takes a bit of work and shopping, but it shouldn't go over ten dollars to make the whole thing, and if you're careful, you can keep it under five dollars.  And who doesn't like a Christmas pack?  If you need some extra room, add in some peppermints or chocolate candies.  Kisses fit in mugs the best and they look great with their shiny silver wrappers. 


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I hope these tips helped you out.  I'll be posting some more gift ideas next Saturday, so be sure to check them out.