$10 OFFICE CHRISTMAS PRESENT CHALLENGE

No money to buy presents? Why not make your own?

I was listening to the radio just the other day while dropping my little son at school when I heard a guy bragging to the radio DJs that he decided to be an office Scrooge last year. You see, every year, his entire office staff would each buy a $10 Christmas gift, and place all these gifts together, do a draw and people would pick up a gift based on the number they pull out of a hat .. or a box.

Anyways, instead of buying something meaningful as the office Christmas present, he decided to just grab a bag of sugar from his mother's kitchen, wrap it up in newspaper, tie it with kitchen string and dump it under the fake plastic Christmas tree at the reception area. I think that's just terrible, terrible attitude. I'm sure many of you guys have this tradition at the office so you would know how the recipient of the awful gift felt!

I believe it's better not to give, than to give in such bad manner. He could have just opt out gracefully, but nah. But ok, what if he was on a very tight budget? We all are nowadays. It IS possible to give a meaningful gift which will not cost you $10, but is worth much, much more to the other person in value.

Take the sugar present for example. He could have just put the sugar into a nice manly looking glass jar and stick a couple of Cinnamon sticks (kayu manis) inside for fragrance. Perfect gift for the office coffee drinkers who love Cinnamon flavored coffee first thing in the morning (and we know quite a few coffee addicts don't we!), and really, does not cost much at all, and is so easy to make. Great for tea drinkers who like their chai with Cinnamon and milk too!

It IS possible to bring cheer and joy, even if your budget is less than $10. The point is to find something that is practical, usable and thoughtful.

One of the great DIY gift ideas from Erica

Really, there's lots of creative ways to stretch your dollar ..... just needs that little bit of imagination. If you need some ideas to crank up your creative juices, just visit http://lovelydiy.wordpress.com/ to see how Erica does it.

Jasmin
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