Very very cheap and lovely gifts you've received and loved

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Asking out of curiosity really, because some of my favorite gifts throughout the years have been very cheap and i wonder if it also applies to other people as well.

My best friend knitted a lovely scarf for me using letfover yarn and it turned out to be one of my favorite gifts ever. When i was around 18 a good friend gave me a dessert his mom had made for me as an Easter gift and i remember how delicious it was. One of my patients gave me a pair of very cheap earings that i really love and use very frequently because they go with almost all my clothes ans are so 'me'.

Hand written poems

Here it is

A close from made me a case for my knitting needles which I love and use all the time.

I knitted her some Alice in Wonderland mittens one year and she wears them so much.

Unfortunately handmade items are rarely cheap in terms of materials and definitely not in terms of time - currently knitting a special baby blanket for another good friend the yarn cost £35 and has taken me many many hours. The baby jumper I’ve made cost about £8 and only a few hours but would definitely have been cheaper to buy one.

Back in the late 80's my then boyfriend gave me a vase from Superdrug for Christmas that cost about £2 because I'd said I liked it when we were shopping. It's a sort of grey faux granite with a gold flower design on it.
Countless years on, many other things have been and gone including the boyfriend but my vase still has pride of place on my dressing table and I still love it.

Pink foam heart that my daughter drew a smillie face on and gave me when I was leaving for work one morning when she was about 4.

When I was at uni, a course mate knit me a pair of mittens and I literally wore a hole in them. They were particularly meaningful as she had a lot going on at the time when she made them for me.

One of mine was a birthday card for DD's third birthday from a photographer friend. She had made the card and the cover was a beautiful photograph of DD with a huge pout, for which she was well known. The caption was "it's my party and I'll pout if I want to". I had no idea when she'd taken it, her daughter came to the party (so appropriate wording) and I still have the card 20 years later.

When I used to make papercuts for people they were very cheap to make (from £1-£5 for materials, plus a frame) but again take hours. I guess it depends whether you have more time or more money - I love giving handmade gifts and I love designing something specifically for that person rather than just buying what I can find. But these days I just don’t have the time.

A coaster with Kylo Ren on it.

Two things stand out - one was a Secret Santa gift given to my dad. He had never spoken to the person who was buying for him but the buyer made enquiries and with his five pound limit he put together a box of dad's favourite things - dark chocolate and tinned macaroni cheese! It showed thought and care to buy something that my dad actually wanted.

Eight years ago my daughter's friend (now married to my oldest son but only 16 at the time) gave us an unexpected Christmas gift - collection of pencil sketches of each of the family. She had done it as a gift because we had recently lost my dad and she wanted us to know that she was thinking of us. She captured all of us so well and it is one of my favourite things.

DD bought me £2 earrings. They are among my favourite, I wear them several times a week.

One year we went on holiday abroad for Christmas. This limited presents to a few small items we could fit in our luggage. My gift from DH was a picture. I had admired a picture in a local gallery and DH had recreated it with DS who was a toddler at the time with a bit of amateur photoshop. I was bowled over by it. He had actually bought me the real picture and I got that when we got home. I was delighted but I loved their little version so much more!

A pair of bamboo socks, just feel so great on!

As a secret Santa gift I was given a poem in a frame where each line began with a letter of my name and a line saying something lovely about me. It was well received and made me feel so special.

One of my hobbies is music, and I edit soundtracks, things I've written etc.

DH gave me a foil print of the soundtrack of "our" song one Christmas with a dedication at the bottom. It hangs in a frame, and every time
I see it I am reminded of his thoughtfulness.

I'm sure something like this could be created cheaply at home, you could use the first sheet of the music of a significant song.

A lovely little enamel red poppy keyring, keep it attached all year round, not just November.

Years ago when DH and I had our first Christmas together as a couple, he got me a tiny little raggedy elephant ornament. Not even sure how to describe it. Couldn't have cost more than a fiver. It was off the back of a joke I'd made on our first date about backpackers riding elephants in India.

He got me a lot of other gifts too that were much more expensive, but the thing I remember is that lovely little elephant. It was so personal and thoughtful. I still have it on my bedside table, 10 years later.

An old boss made us all home fudge one year. It was lovely and very touching.

For my birthday this year a friend gave me a bar of soap her daughter had made. It was lovely.

My daughter made me a gift of a £1 pack of playing cards- on every card she wrote a reason of "why I am the best Mum in the world" she punched holes in the cards to make a booklet and tied it together with string.
Some of the reasons are " because you hug me so well", "because you make such good lasagne", " because you take time to listen to me".

Simply the best gift I have ever recieved.

My husband is randomly a really good baker. Years ago when we were broke, he made me the most delicious chocolate cake. It was so thoughtful, I’m not sure how he found the time to do it as we were always working flat out

A crocheted apple protector used almost daily. It fulfilled William Morris edict of a thing which is useful and beautiful.

A framed photo of my first car from my parents. I cried when I opened it which is not something I normally do.

This sort of thing is what I mean.

For mother’s day one year when the DC were about 3 and 7 DH got them to give 5 reasons each why they loved me, typed it onto a sheet of A4 and laminated it. He even used my favourite colour background!
The cutest thing is that he wrote EXACTLY what they said with no corrections so I can just imagine them saying it.

Sorry, I can't remember who was looking for a light up nativity for their grandparents on the last thread. There's quite a nice traditional one on Brand Alley at £20 reduced from £40. The only problem with Brand Alley is the p=p though. Hope it helps anyway.

Someone gave me a cheap but nice hand cream, I think it was neutrogina (sp?) just when my hands were so sore and chapped from winter. It was a brilliant thing just to receive at the exact right time. It's been in my winter coat pocket the last two years and I think of my friend so fondly when I use it.