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Inexpensive Power Tips Creative Christmas Gift Ideas to make December 17, 2004 |
Hello again
Power Tips newsletter, special issue for Inexpensive but Creative CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS…. show your loved ones how much you realy care, without spending a ton of cash…
Are you already in a mild panic about what you are going to give everyone, how you can afford it, already checked your credit card balance to see if you can celebrate Chrismas festivities at ALL this year?
NO WORRIES… as part of my self help Blog page I started writing out some creative and simple gift ideas, and I thought today might be a good time to send you out a copy of the gift ideas so far….. You still have a week to get some of these ideas in place…. so get creative and get cracking onto it… SELF HELP LOVING INEXPENSIVE CHRISTMAS GIFT IDEAS Only a week to Christmas….YIKES! IF you are in desperate shortage of self help wholesome and caring, but inexpensive gifts for your loved ones, keep an eye on this self help page, as I will suggest some self help ideas for no-cost and low-cost gift ideas that you can (and should) make yourself…. REMEMBER… It’s supposed to be about the THOUGHT and the effort, not the $$$…. set your own standards for Christmas with your loved ones and the rest will follow. 1) BAKE SOME CHRISTMAS COOKIES! Get some free recipes from our Healthy cooking recipes self help section. Bake two or three varieties of cookies and decorate some, even if only pressing a half red glace cherry, or half almond, into the centre. To pack the cookie gifts, simply put them on Chrismas themed paper plates, sprinkle some colourfully wrapped toffee or candies and to wrap them just put the plate of cookies into a cellophane “cook in the oven” bag, tied with festive ribbon and candy cane and gift tag. Making three varieties of cookies is usually enough to make a dozen or more gifts… also a great self help idea for workplace gifts. 2) D.I.Y. GIFT VOUCHER: Get creative with all the things you can DO for someone as a special treat for them…. Wash their car, clean their windows, foot rub, back massage, mow the lawn, cook a meal, child minding, grocery shopping trip, manicure, paint or maintenance job, dog walking…. ANYTHING you know you can do and that the gift recipient will appreciate….. How well do you know a person? Try to work out a gift that will DELIGHT them with your creativity and thoughtfulness. It doesn’t have to be “back breaking” hard work…. it’s about creativity… why not “a kiss a day”…. “a shoulder to cry on..” etc Write the “Gift Voucher” out onto nice parchment or coloured paper, then roll it up into a scroll & tie it with a glorious festive ribbon, with some cinnamon sticks or other festive pine sprigs along with a gift tag. The gift vouchers can also be prepared on the computer to look like official PRESENTATION CERTIFICATES, print them out and paste red or gold seals on them, have fun and be creative…… 3) HOPE CHEST: for very special loved ones, create a box full of hope and inspiration. Print out the page of self help Famous Quotes on our site, on coloured paper, then cut the quotes up into single inspirational quotes. Fold or roll them up into little individual parcels. Write some loving notes telling the person what you think and feel about them… “you inspire me because….” “I respect you so much because……..” “Just to let you know how much you are loved… without conditions” “Thank you for .. being…. doing… caring…..” “I think of you with love every time…..” “Know that you are loved” and so on, with very personal notes of hope and love. Fold or roll all the notes and self help inspirational quotes and pack them into a beautiful cardboard, or wood, or metal gift box. Write a note to tell the recipient that when they feel the need for a “pick-me-up” they will find love and inspiration in this HOPE CHEST. 4) SCRAPBOOK JOURNAL OF 2004: This is simply a collection of photographs, clippings about things you have done, travelled to, bought, shared, that is collected and pasted onto sheets of paper or an attractive blank pages journal book.
Arrange the picture, theatre ticket stubbs, dried pressed flowers, the birthday cards you received, ANYTHING that can be pasted onto a page that brings back MEMORIES of the good times that have happened this year. Add notes along the pages describing some of the events that are represented on the pages. They can be humorous, romantic, childish (like the kids wrote it), or quite formal with neat calligraphy or typed on the computer… Simply present the book in a gift box, or wrapped in a festive theme, and you can make a pantomime of the TV show “This is your Life (for 2004)” and really play it up to the hilt, “remember when we….” with family and friends roasing the recipient…. have fun and be creative… 5) WRITE A FAMILY TREE JOURNAL This is a huge job and not one to be started today, but can be something you start this year, to present copies to EVERYONE in your family for Christmas presents next year…. There are lots of websites that tell you how to find and catalogue your family tree and history, but you can begin with the free ebook on our site. An alternative is to conduct a series of interviews with each of the more elderly members of the family and just begin a catalogue of their individual “Life Story of….” that can have new chapters added to each “edition” you print from your computer each year. You will be amazed by the experiences they have lived through and the lifestyle changes in their lifetimes! Your kids will be even more amazed when they read the “life Story” of Grannie or Auntie… Simply “paper punch” the two holes in the left hand side spine of the pages and tie attractive ribbon or silk tassell rope throught the holes to bind the book together together. Two sheets for firm coloured cardboard (or clear plastic sheets) on the front and back, give the book the feeling of firmness and substance. Even simpler, just put the pages in a clip folder with clear cover sheet for your personalised “book cover” inserted. Then the each of the family members can just add the new chapters to the folder/book each year… 6) MINI CHRISTMAS CAKES: Just buy a some commercial square dark fruit cakes Cut each cake into 4 square pieces or mini cakes. DECORATION OF YOUR GIFT CAKES: 1) Decorate the individual gift cakes with icing rolled out 1/4″ thick, spread some apricot or other jam on the cake to make the sheet of icing stick, put the icing over the top of the cake, press or trim the corners to fit. Trim the surplus icing from the base or tuck the icing edges under the cake.
Smooth out the surface with some icing sugar on your fingers as you smooth out any lumps. Stick some holly or use a tube of icing sugar to write a “merry christmas” greeting. 2) Or beat the icing sugar, egg white and teaspoon or so of lemon juice, until the icing forms stiff peaks. This takes a few minutes, so be patient. Spatula the icing onto the cakes and make “snow peaks” that you can stick some plastic holly or mini Santa’s into.. maybe add a marzipan snowman… 3) If you can’t even stretch your cooking skills to roll out a sheet of cake icing to decorate your gift, then you can decorate the sides of the cakes with Christmas cake wrap or a strip of firm gift wrap and just sticky tape into place around the circumfrance of the cake. Tie some Tinsel around the side of the cakes as well if that works for you creatively! Press a “sprig of holly” into the top of the cake, maybe purchase some “merry christmas” signs that can be pressed onto the top. PACK & PRESENT: Then just place the cake on a paper plate or cardboard & foil square, into an “oven bake bag” or other cellophane type wrap. Tie the loose ends with ribbon or tinsel. Viola! 7) FAMILY OR FRIENDS CALENDARS: For this personalised gift you need to go to your computer “publisher” or similar program (some Outlook Express programs also have calendars loaded into them) and save the calender “monthly” sections into a Word document, or just edit the “publisher” document if that is what you are using. Then creatively edit into it some family photos and happy motivational quotes for the yearly calender, or do one for each month. Print the calenders up and bind them with a slide on plastic spine cover that can be bought at newsagents, and thread a cord along the spine to create a hanger for the calender. Or simply staple / paper punch and tie a hanging loop to the top somewhere. Just get creative and fun…
If you want to make a more “generic” one, simply pick a theme, flowers, animals, nature scenes, sports, race cars, WHATEVER you think is pretty wonderful, paste those pictures into your calender and add whatever quotes or comments you think are appropriate…..and once again, print up as many copies of the calender as you want, use the colour printer and the calenders will look truly wonderful. Just have fun… 8)PRINT OR EMAIL A GIFT BOOK: If you are really desperate for time, just go to our “free e-books” directory page and select from our over 80 self help books that you can print out, paper punch holes and insert into clip folders…. wrap and present…. Really can’t get simpler or faster than that…. ITS THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS, remember… and if you know someone who wants to start a web site business there are books (up to 500 page top quality training manuals) that will be incredibly helpful and show your thoughtfulness. Also books for like “Ten ways to Happiness today” BRILLIANT! just print and pack into a folder. Or 101 Romantic Ideas, or WHOLE RECIPE COOKBOOKS… Even YOU can print and pack some cook books to give to your favourite chef… the choice is incredible…. If you don’t want to print and pack, you can simply download them and EMAIL them, as an attachment to your letter to them, to your friends… Great way to SEND GIFTS TO YOUR OVERSEAS FRIENDS… Just find a subject you know they are interested in, download the book, save it to your desktop, then write them a Christmas email, attach the .pdf e-book document, and your Gift shopping has just been taken care of…. These Gift Ideas work and are fun, maybe you just got some more ideas from reading this… just try to make the effort to CREATE rather than BUY all the time… and you will enjoy the New Year MUCH MORE without the extra credit card bills you otherwise struggle with …
p.s. I DO practice what I preach with my Creative Gift Ideas, as I baked 5 batches of biscuits last night to pack and present to my neighbours and friends… read below my suggestion for this as gifts… and I am in the process of making up a 2005 calender that my site visitors can download as my gift to you. – Helene Malmsio If you are planning to set some New Year Resolutions, you may as well get a head start. The site is filled with Goal Setting articles that set you up for everything from happiness, to health, to prosperity and budgeting etc. I also hope to have a New Year free Goal Setting book ready for you…. I will email you as soon as I have it ready to download….
“Don’t let the learning from your own experiences take too long. If you have been doing it wrong for the last ten years, I would suggest that’s long enough!” It is time to dream again! If you really are serious about changing your life for the better in 2005, maybe a 12 month coaching program is the answer… I participated in the pilot program for this coaching, and it was truly brilliant… I ended up with a wonderful friendship with my coach in Texas… And since you are going to save a fortune on gift giving this year, you can afford to invest in your future this year…. check this out and see if it is of any help to you.
Great Health, Wealth, Relationships and Overall Success!
I’ve set up a special page where you can download a great selection of cookbooks for GIFTS TO FRIENDS just for being a valued subscriber. There are even two Healthy cookbooks, and an amazing selection of international recipes..
http://www.personal-enterprise-self-help-resources.com
Just go to the HEALTH – cooking recipes section for your collection of books to cook up a storm!
And if you have the usual New Year Resolution to LOSE WEIGHT…. We also have a few free diet books and weight management self help articles ready for you on the site to read more, go to our HEALTH weight management section at: http://www.personal-enterprise-self-help-resources.com
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HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY, and spend some time planning and anticipating the wonderful year ahead of you in 2005! To update yourself on our new goal setting resources and self help strategies just go to our site and also .
Get your free copy of Love Quotes, Poems & Romance Manual ebook here We have also just loaded the brilliant self help Happiness Ten ways to be happier .. Right Now e-book for you.
Wishing you all the very best in life.
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The self help contents are solely the opinion of the self help author and should not be considered as a form of therapy, advice, direction and/or diagnosis or treatment of any kind: medical, spiritual, mental or other. If expert advice or counseling is needed, services of a competent professional should be sought. The self help author and the self help Publisher assume no responsibility or liability and specifically disclaim any warranty, express or implied for any self help or otherwise products or self help or otherwise services mentioned, or any self help or otherwise techniques or practices described. The purchaser or reader of this self help publication assumes responsibility for the use of these self help materials and self help articles and information. Neither the self help author nor the self help Publisher assumes any responsibility or liability whatsoever on the behalf of any purchaser or reader of these self help materials. =============================================== |
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