Ok, people. I presented a challenge earlier this week: Help me to come up with some cheap, but thoughtful, Christmas gifts for family and friends.

And you delivered!

Edible gifts, pampering gifts, relational gifts and more were thrown at me faster than I could jot them down. Thank goodness they’re all in the comments section for me to go back and check out. There was an overabundance of craftiness among you all. I’m impressed!

So, I thought I’d compile the ideas in one central location and make it easy for those of you who are also looking for homemade, non-cheesy, gifts to give away for Christmas this year.

Crafty ideas:

Handmade picture frames, scarves/hats, or ornaments. Or use your hobby/talent/gifting to bless others in some way, if you’re a photographer/artist/musician/knitter/crocheter/sewer (um…a person who sews, not a stinky underground area). My friend Melissa is doing a series called Gifted, 12 Days of Handmade. Check it out for some great handmade gifts and decorations!

Foodie ideas:

Cookies in a box, recipe book with the background stories or origins of the recipes, caramels, fudge, jam, jars of homemade cocoa mix, homemade vanilla extract, or homemade lavender sugar.

Pampering Gifts:

Sea salt scrubs, $5 candle from Bath & Body Works, lip balms, or a lotion bar

Relational Gifts:

$5 Starbucks gift card/coffee date, date/movie night package (popcorn, movie rental gift card, candy), CD of songs that remind you of the person, gifts of service (wrap presents, clean house, babysit, etc)

Charitable Gifts:

Compassion International, Charity Water, World Vision

Aren’t these fantastic ideas?!

What I loved more than the ideas, were the comments about gift giving…

• A gift that cares is more precious then any other kind. – Craig
• I’d rather someone get me nothing than a gift that says “I did this because I’m obligated and don’t really care if you like this or not.” – Jason
• I’m moving more and more toward striving to invest TIME into friendships rather than spend lots of money on gifts that don’t really mean anything anyway…It’s a good time to examine my own heart and see who I’m really looking to please – people or God. – Erin
• The whole gift giving thing is difficult, but I think it’s important to work through the difficulties – to learn about ourselves and those we share life with and to focus on giving. – Levi
• A gift should be an extravagance. We give at Christmas because we were given Jesus who is more than we deserve. This gift of grace is extravagant!…I need to be a giver. I need to remember to be generous. I don’t think this always needs to be material things but once a year at Christmas its good to put my money where my love is… – Jess

I think my favorite suggestion of them all was praying over the person and asking God to give you a specific verse or prayer for them. This struck a chord with where my heart is at this year. More than any other year previous to this, I want it to be about Jesus.

This suggestion of intentionally seeking out God for the person — this is the Body. How better to bless someone then to lift them up in prayer and encourage them with God’s word? This could result in a handwritten card filled with what you heard from God for them, or it could be a verse jotted down on the gift tag to one of the above gifts.

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While I was at it, I thought I’d do a little searching around the Net to see if I could find my own ideas to add…

And now it is 11:38 PM on Thursday night, I’m completely overwhelmed by the vast amount of presents that can be put into jars, made from kitchen ingredients and wrapped in cute ribbon…and I’ve barely scratched the surface.

I don’t have the time, space or inclination to post all of them, but I did find three ladies who were planning their Christmas handmade gifts in July! Now I feel really behind…

Cindy @ Skip to My Lou has seven (7!) pages of homemade sewing gift ideas, and she even has a printable holiday planner. Very helpful!

Kelly @ According to Kelly had me scrolling down and down and down, wanting to make each item that I saw! I especially loved the Subway Signs that were featured…way towards the bottom. I thought that would be a great way to hang scriptures around your home or to encourage friends and family.

Rachel @ A Southern Fairytale has the foodie items! Mmmm!

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I guess you all know what I’ll be doing this weekend.

What’d I miss? Do you have any more suggestions for myself or other readers?

As Christmas is now only 15 (!!) days away, do you have any fun holiday plans for this weekend?

Do you think you’ll try out any of these ideas? Too many questions? 🙂