4-Week Holiday Savings Plan

Two Weeks to Go: Make Gifts

A homemade gift doesn’t have to be a strain on your time, patience, or bank account. A few ideas:

Vanilla sugar: A simple hostess gift that requires nothing more than combining a vanilla bean and one pound of granulated sugar in an airtight container and letting it sit for a week or two. The cost? About $6.

Beauty scrub: Blend a cup each of oats and almonds and a tablespoon of baking soda in a food processor, suggests Nava Lubelski, author of The Starving Artist’s Way: Easy Projects for Low-Budget Living (Three Rivers Press, $14, amazon.com). “I add a note that says to mix with water for a great facial,” she says.

A journal: Start one for her, with favorite quotations or an entry about a shared memory.

See 12 Easy Recipes for Edible Holiday Gifts.