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The holiday season is rapidly approaching, and many family budgets are already stretched beyond the limits just keeping up with living expenses.  Office holiday parties, teachers, bus drivers, babysitters and neighbors – they’re all people you may like to show your appreciation for during the holidays by exchanging gifts but it can become extremely expensive to give to an extended list of friends and associates. This year, instead of maxing out more credit cards to buy gifts for everyone on your list, you might consider putting together gifts you can make yourself – for under $12 each.

1. Coffee Mug Treats

Simple to make and extremely versatile, you can put together a coffee mug of treats for a large number of people on your extended gift list! Purchase holiday or themed coffee mugs from the dollar store, yard sales, or in bulk for multiple gift making – and then fill them with candy or goodies of your choice.

You can make chocolate covered pretzels and strawberries and fill coffee mugs lined with plastic wrap for a classy treat anyone would love to receive.

2. Recipe Album

If you are constantly praised for being a good cook or baker, and asked often for your recipes, this may be a great idea for a gift you can make. Write or print your favorite recipes on 3×5 cards and slide them into the pages of a 3×5 photo album. Include blank cards for gift recipients to add their own recipes to the album, too.

3. Stationary Sets

Sure, you can purchase already-made stationary sets fairly inexpensively, but where’s the fun in that? Find notecards, pens, envelopes and sealers in designs you like or that match the gift recipients personality and wrap them all up together with a piece of raffia or ribbon.

4. Gardening Kits

For the people in your life who love to plant things, you can create cute gardening kits. Gardening tools, knee pads and seeds can be placed inside a watering can or planters box for a fun and useful gift. The Christmas Tree Shop and dollar stores sell these items inexpensively.

5. Snack Lovers

During the holidays, you’ll start noticing gift baskets and packages of snacks available in all the stores. Often, you pay a premium for these gift-packaged items that you can put together yourself far less expensively. Try getting cutting boards from your dollar store, and adding a small box of crackers, summer sausage and a package of cheese, followed by wrapping with plastic wrap and a ribbon to make your own.

6. Pasta Lovers

Purchase an inexpensive colander and fill it with various sizes of jars you’ve filled with different types of pasta. You can include homemade or store bought sauces, Parmesan cheese, pasta ladles and finish by decorating with ribbon or raffia.

7. Cookie Kits

Take the dry ingredients for your favorite cookie recipe and measure them into a mason jar. Add a note card with the recipe tied around the jar with country or holiday style ribbon. You can decorate the lid with fabric pieces and more ribbon if you want to dress it up a bit. The gift recipient can simply dump the contents of the jar into a mixing bowl and add the wet ingredients and bake!

8. Video Cards

If you have friends or family who don’t live near by, you can create a video “card”. Record your family or make a compilation of short video clips from recordings you’ve made already, and send the video cassette or DVD to your friends and family.

9. Card Games

For the younger crowd, or even for adult game-lovers, you could put together a deck of cards and book of card games to play. If you can’t find inexpensive books of card game instructions, you can always make your own by printing out game instructions found online.

10. Home baked Breads and Jams

Use mini-loaf pans and make 3 mini-loafs from each loaf recipe of homebaked bread. Once the bread has cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and a ribbon, and give with a small jar of jam. Don’t forget to include the recipe for the bread in case the recipient wants to make more!

11. Handmade Candles

If making a number of gifts, you can buy the materials to make candles from the local craft store (wics, scents, and candle wax) and create a variety of candles to give away as gifts. You can either purchase candle molds; or use pretty teacups and saucers you’ve collected from thrift stores, yard sales, or flea markets.

12. Handmade Soap

Making soap is fairly simple and can be done in bulk to make a number of inexpensive gifts. Soap making supplies are available at most craft stores – and you can select a variety of soap molds, scents, and colors to create fun gifts that serve a purpose.