And birthdays!!!
Am I the only sensible one who has a birthday in the summer?

I'm am sooo skint this month and have been since August. had a small cheap holiday forgetting my car insurance, tax, service and MOT were due in the first week of Sept. Then had my cam belt and water tank go in my car at the start of Oct and now my brakes and discs have just gone and I have no money for presents.

To top it, it's my brothers birthday this week, my other brothers the day after boxing day, my sisters the first week of Jan and my gf's 5 days before Christmas and I can;t even afford to buy bread for myself!

My family are all on a budget so it's not too bad but I'm stuck for useful ideas and inspiration to be unique. don't want to get lumbered with buying book tokens as per normal as a birthday and christmas present as that kinda sucks out the excitement.
Gf i've had some ideas of things she's hinted with which won't break the bank (or credit card in my case).

Does anyone have any good ideas for for two sets of unique presents I can get quite cheap for all in my family? Done the old 'hot water bottle teddies', books, tokens, cd's dvd's etc... which all prob end up on landfill anyway. Looking for inspiration.
Gf's sorted with a lump of coal (she just moved house to a new place with real fire so it's more the amusement factor (plus she'll then get quite a few presents on top...))

Usually love Christmas but this year the fun's being sucked out as for once I can't 'actually' afford 'cheap' things and I've never been able to draw or make things...

Thinking empty shoe boxes and claim's that they are filled with 'love and christmas cheer'...


*edit.. having read through more of the QOTW this week, I've had a couple good ideas... Quite like the look of the family portrait idea as the last time us kids had a photo taken for my mum was at my cousins wedding a good few years back and it's only a tiny digital pic. Also love the idea of converting my dads old films to dvd for my mum as he passed away over 10 years ago and they're currently in a suitcase in our study - would be heart wrenching but nice :) if not for my mum but the rest of us too... just need to find an old projector now!
(Something funny, Mon 30 Nov 2009, 23:14, 5 replies)

photo frames from poundland
use superglue and clear varnish to stick family photos around the frames, personalising each one for its intended recipient.
either that, or boxes of maltesers.
everyone loves maltesers.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Mon 30 Nov 2009, 23:48, closed)

fantastic idea....
thank you :-)

And everyone loves maltesers. Can remember one of the best presents I got was at school and was a box of maltesers. Was even better when I remembered I had them and they'd gone off and were even crunchier :D
(Something funny, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 0:43, closed)

If the family portrait idea becomes too hard to manage, you could do what we did for my grandmother recently - just collect together a bunch of separate photos of everyone and make a collage or put them in a nice multiple photo frame.

Or there's always the "cook something" option. Generally works well on mothers.
(xanthine, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 5:07, closed)

If your car is up and running, explain you're broke and offer to be the designated driver...
No finer gift.

rafter
baz
(bazmorningstar efil4nat3b, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 9:43, closed)

Finger nails?
Nothing says I love you more than your own finger nails.

Or toe nails as well if you need to send more than 10.
(magic the cat will someone please think of the kittens, Tue 1 Dec 2009, 12:41, closed)