My daughter's best friend's birthday party is this Sunday. An emergency car repair has left us completely broke this week. All of our money is going to food and gas.
Any ideas for inexpensive birthday gifts? I looked around the house to see if there was anything we could re-gift or put together. So far I found a brand new pair of flip flops that my daughter never wore and I was thinking of decorating them with balloons as one of the gifts. (I made a pair for my daughter last year and she loves them!)
I also have a blank wooden name plate that I could write her name on and then we could decorate it with rhinestones and maribou feathers.
Are those corny gifts? Any other ideas?
Thanks moms for all the great ideas! My daughter LOVES the nameplate/barette idea and I do too! It turns out we have a package of 10 brand new barettes that she never used from Easter and she's excited about sharing them with her best friend (she wants them to be "twins.") I know we have tons of ribbon around the house. My daughter is MORE excited about making her friend a gift than if we went out to the store and bought a toy. I guess I never thought that going crafty/inexpensive was the way to go! She also thought of making a friendship bracelet for her all on her own. Thanks so much!
Another quick idea is, invite her for a pampering date ... make some cookies, put on a movie (ie princess diaries) while you paint their nails & toe nails, do "makeup" & style their hair. Some girls eat up stuff like that. You could make up a cute gift certificate for your daughter to present during gift time.
have fun!
D.
One of my girls would love the rhinestone nameplate. You could use sparkly markers if you have any. A friend had a similar problem a few months ago when she lost her job. Her daughter gave her friend a card she made and a coupon for a "ladies' picnic" at their house this summer. They just had the picnic last week complete with a "tent" in the yard (sheet over the clothes line), a pretty sheet for a blanket on the grass and small sandwiches and cakes. They had a blast.
I heard that the best part was "no bratty brothers bothered us".
Hi N W!
I love the idea of the wooden name plate! You can actually make that into a hair barrette holder by hot glueing ribbon down from it also. If you go to Etsy.com you can get some great ideas from there for it! Then if you have any money in the budget you can also go to the Dollar Store and get some cheapy barrettes to put on there so they know what it is exactly!
The flip flops are a great idea also... maybe paired up with some water balloons or bubbles. Something outdoorsy and beach or pool themed! I loved Ellens idea if it is in the budget!
I think I am going to have to search you down when I need to come up with craftsy ideas! lol
Good luck with your car and many blessings to you and yours!
So sorry for the financial hit! Personally, (if this is not too much money) take the flip-flops and add a cool beach towel and fun chalk. (I hope I am being thoughtful enough of your financial set-back). A lot of places are already discounting their summer stuff.
Or... if that name plate is big enough - if you have a cute little picture of your daughter and her... do a "best friends forever" plaque, with a picture on it, for her room, decorated in the style that you described.
There are people decorating these "flip-flops" and selling them for (just heard this figure!) $90! True, these artisans are using genuine crystals on them but, depending on what they look like, you CAN make them look expensive.
Good luck.
First off, sorry to hear about the financial set back, we can totally relate. I love the name plate idea, the barrette ribbon idea and the decorated flip-flops. Paired with a home-made card or a colored picture for her friend, those are all lovely, thoughtful gifts for a best friend!!
I also like the idea from the poster about a coupon for something to do together in the future, since the girls are so close. How about a movie night in a couple of weeks, where she comes over and they watch a movie in pajamas, eat popcorn, bring her her favorite doll? Or a Girls-Day-In party where you paint their nails, do their hair, whatever. My daughter did something like that with her two best friends and it only cost a bottle of Mr. Bubble (they soaked their feet in plastic buckets) and nail polish, which I normally don't buy, but perhaps you already have on hand.
Janis recently posted a question about "Green Gifts" a couple days ago. If you can scroll back and see her posting, there were tons of inexpensive ideas.
Here is my posting from that question,
Can he select a couple of his books to give her? We have a Go-Green Book Brunch each year and parents/kids bring their used books to pass along to others, rather than have the books sit dusty on shelves or end up in landfills! Everyone leaves happy with a bag of "new" books for their family.
I love the potted plant idea from the first poster. A pot, bag of soil, packets of different seeds and maybe a little pair of gardening gloves!
You could make your own homemade Play-Doh. There are recipes on-line.
My kids love to put together homemade activity books. Do you have a printer and xerox (color helps, too)? We print off activity pages from on-line sites (word search, mazes, dot-to-dot), then add poems, sticker pages, recipes, jokes, homemade Mad-Libs, photographs of whoever the book is for, etc. We bind the pages (use hole-punch and yarn if you don't have a page-binder (Office Depot) . These are a huge hit for car trips or overnights.
Do you knit? Could you knit her a little purse? I don't knit very well at all, but I have made my kids bags using straight knitted rectangles folded over and sewn at a seam, then a knitted strap sewn on.
Good luck!
