Green Gift Guide: Can You Create an Heirloom Baby Gift That Is Luxurious & Practical For $8?
Filed under Luxecycle, Miss Moneybags
Yes. Yes you can.
Zero Dollar Hipster Baby Sweater hand knit from a free pattern using leftover yarn and buttons from other projects: $0
Used but pristine Tupperware container: $5
Used tissue paper (ironed flat): :$0
Used orange silk ribbon: $0
Sterling Silver Baby Spoon purchased at a garage sale: $3
Total Cost: $8
When I don’t have time to knit a baby sweater, my default baby-shower gift has always been a huge stack of cloth diapers. Since all of my friends seem to be cloth-diaper users, everyone loves this gift because they:
1. Never have enough clean diapers.
2. Never get enough cloth diapers as gifts because diapers are the “boring“ gift on the registry.
3. Use the cloth diapers for decades after the baby is done with them as the softest, most absorbent cleaning towels.
A dozen new cloth diapers cost about $12, but what makes my $12 diaper gift the star of every baby shower is my presentation. I wrap the diapers in plain brown craft paper, but then I tie a sterling baby spoon to the top of the package with a satin ribbon. I buy the sterling silver baby spoons for $1 to $3 at swap meets, garage sales, and antique stores and store the little spoons for future gift giving in my silverware drawer, so they are easy to find when I need them (and don’t take up additional storage space).
This present is a huge hit because the gift combines two ultra-practical gifts that are gender-neutral and last forever. The shiny spoon and the satin ribbon make a $12 gift of diapers look really expensive. On several occasions I’ve actually lucked out with the perfect monogram already engraved on the antique spoon, which is just all kinds of win.
Do you have a favorite gift giving hack that saves you time and/or money?
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One Comment
Rice bags. I’ve made probably a couple hundred of them and they make the perfect gift for any occasion. I repurpose flannel shirts/sheets from thrift stores or use some of the store I already have and just try to keep a 25 lb bag of cheap rice around all the time. People who’ve never used them are a bit lukewarm on them at first–and then almost always ask me for more on future gift-giving occasions. People who are familiar with the wonders that are rice bags, get SUPER jazzed as soon as they open them. I keep a supply of brown lunch bags around for wrapping–I put the rice bag in, trim the top edge of the bag with scalloped scissors or in a scalloped pattern, fold the top over about an inch and a half, use a hole punch to put two holes side by side (like a giant snake bite), and thread repurposed ribbon through them to tie in a fancy bow. From materials to finished gift in about ten minutes. Never lets me down–a surefire winner every time.