Most of us holiday gifts to our friends and family as a token of our love and appreciation. But there are plenty of other people in our lives who deserve recognition too! Today’s post is all about those hard-working people who help make your life easier, and how to give them a holiday gift that won’t break the bank! :-)
More Ideas You'll Love
Identifying Gift Recipients
The holiday season is the perfect time to recognize all the people who have an impact on your life. Think of all those wonderful people who help make your life easier, better, or more enjoyable. They might include:
- Neighbors
- Mail and package delivery people
- Hair dressers
- Nail technicians
- Cleaners
- Doctors and dentists
- Gardeners
- Your children’s teachers, caregivers, bus drivers
- Coworkers
- Vets, pet groomers, and kennel employees
- …and more!
Those people all deserve a token of appreciation, right? Of course they do! But with as expensive as the holiday season can already be, how can anyone afford to give gifts to all those people? The key to maximizing your holiday gift-giving is choosing small, inexpensive gifts that you can buy in bulk.
13 Inexpensive Gifts You Can Buy In Bulk
There are plenty of gift-worthy items that aren’t terribly expensive. Locally-made artisan products are a thoughtful gift option, because they’re not something you can find in every store. (And you get to support a local business with your purchase!) Here are a few gift ideas you can use as inspiration:
Mini bottles of sparkling cider
Local honey
Spice and seasoning mixes
“Movie night” (Popcorn + a Redbox rental code)
Candles
Hot chocolate mix
Lip balms
Facial sheet masks
Syrups
Mandarin oranges
Bath bombs
Notebooks
Chocolates*
*I am seriously hooked on Mrs. Call’s Milk Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels, which are made by a local candy company. They are addictively delicious and make a great gift! You can order them online and have them shipped anywhere in the U.S. I should also mention that I have no affiliation with Mrs. Call’s, other than my hopeless devotion to their caramels. ;-)
More Ideas You'll Love
Packaging Your Gifts
Once you’ve chosen and bought your gifts, just add a ribbon and/or gift tag. Store your gifts wherever they’ll be the most accessible, like the trunk of your car. That way, if you happen to run into one of the people on your gift list, you’ll have a gift at the ready! :-)
When it comes to giving holiday gifts, it’s always the thought that counts. So don’t get too hung up on choosing the “perfect” small gift, especially when money can be tight this time of year. The purpose of giving gifts is to show love and appreciation, which is what the holiday season is all about!
What are your go-to choices for small and affordable gifts?
Is there a list of essential products / ingredients used on OGT+ ? If so, I would like to see it as soon as possible.I’ve been confused for quite a long time and I’d like to purchase most / if not all of the correct items online. I do know some – vinegar, baking soda, washing soda, oxi clean, blue dawn, rubbing alcohol, peroxide, lemon juice … I simply want to order all of the items effectively at one time. I do not drive. Thank You! Diana I just realized that this is not the correct place to post this!
Hi Diana. I don’t have anything like that on the site right now – but it’s a great idea! Although you might be interested in this post: https://jillee.co/2RG0vz4
Hi, don’t know how to reach Jillee and friends. Hope I will here. I paid to not have any ads when I receive the wonderful ideas in your e-mails, but, I still have ads mixed into the info. What to do?
Be patient with me. I am OLDER and not so tech savvy. Want to know how to get those computations of the different subject matters you give us tips on.
Thank you for your help, Nancy Nelson
Hi Nancy! You’ll have to log in to your account for the ad-free experience. Do you see where it says “Log In” in pink letter at the top of the page? If you have any other questions, please email me at jill@byjillee.com :-)
Scented hand sanitizers, holiday dish towels, socks (aloe, fancy dress socks for me ) decorative scented soaps, electronic screen wipes, essential oils, car air fresheners, coffee pods, hangers (padded, felt, trouser, skirt, wooden). I find it more difficult o find inexpensive gifts for men, but I manage to purchase dozens of small gifts to hand out around the holiday.
I am a cookie Baker, everyone gets the gift of home made or semi home made cookies. When I make them, I make them in bulk and I choose 3 different cookies in order to provide some diversity with the cookies. I’ve never had a complaint and it doesn’t break the bank.
Please delete this comment if not appropriate. I make 3.5″ note cubes, I am now up to 22 beautiful mostly-landscape designs. They are priced as inexpensively as I can and are comparable to what you can find at Staples. (Amazon takes a big fee and paper is very expensive.) My favorite, and hot off the presses, is the Eclipse from August 2017. Here is the Amazon store if you want to take a look. http://amazon.com/shops/earthcube (I signed up for the “one good thing” newsletter after finding an excellent online video about cleaning the dishwasher — and the first email was… Read more »
I love all your hints! You showed on a drill an attachment to clean tile. I have the drill but don’t know what the attachment is called. If you could share with me, I would appreciate it. Thanks.
Here you go, Norma: https://amzn.to/2SrZj1X
I know this service person job is getting smaller every year. I am the only one on my side of the mountain, about 40 homes, that still gets a hard copy of the newspaper. (old habits do die hard) My carrier is a young man in his 20s with many life issues. Of course I am going to give him cash with a card, but you have given me some ideas to spice up that cash gift with a real gift too. Thanks for the ideas for Christmas, and all year long.
I love your thoughtfulness about spicing up your carrier’s gift, and thought of another one that you could perhaps incorporate into his card; a sachet of hot chocolate/cocoa/malt drink for him to enjoy when he gets home. You would just cut a couple of slits into the card to hold the sachet and it would still fit into the envelope :)
I used to bake mini loaves of pumpkin bread and cranberry/pecan bread. Tie a loaf of each together with Christmas ribbon and a pretty enclosure card. My neighbors, the postman, the trash guys……they all seemed to like this small gift. I quit baking a few years ago, and still get comments about the Christmas breads.
PS: Recipes are on the can of pumpkin and the bag cranberries.
Sounds delicious!
We usually do a lot of baking for the gifts for neighbors and friends. We a bunch of favorites that we make every year. Also cheaper than buying a bunch of stuff. We always do at least one batch of peanut clusters to ship to one of my brothers family.
I buy the cheap fleece throws, especially at the end of the season when they get marked down to $1! I have an embroidery machine and I embroider them when I have down time throughout the year. They make awesome inexpensive gifts!!!
Great idea Marie!