Practical Gift Ideas

I was in Walmart the other day, mainly for me and my kids to walk around, as that is the main thing people do in our small town, and we were looking at the aisle that had locks on it. I was thinking a lock, with a key might be a good gift for an older child to practice on. This is not for young children, as they could drop it on their foot or swallow the key. I am wondering if a combination lock would be too hard for a nine year old.

There were also the little key tags you can write on and I think that would be a good gift for my children too, it would be cute to tie those onto ribbon onto their christmas presents instead of nametags. They could use them for other things later.

I tend not to like to see things that are used just to be thrown away. I am thinking of gifting presents in homemade little bags, using small blankets, etc, pillowcases, etc to wrap gifts in, and I have done this before with good results. I like to see things that last to be given as gifts.

I was looking at the wonderful yet expensive bath towels at Walmart, they are eight dollars and huge,but they are so decadent. That alone would make a good gift for someone. I am probably going to get me one of the lighter colored ones LOL.

I am also looking at the cute totes they have at the dollar store, and filling those with gifts, those are always fun to do. There are so many cute little things in the camping/sports department too, like little wrist bands in the tennis section. I was reading somewhere that when you are very hot to wet a couple of wristbands and wear them to bed. I have not tried this, but it sounds good Then after further thought, sleeping with wet wrist bands? I am not sure if I can swing it, no pun intended.

The t-shirts in the craft dept are so cheap, at least they were today, the t-shirts were all under three dollars and fifty cents. They are the ones the kids would paint, I suppose. I am thinking of buying them one and giving them a couple of puffy paints and letting them go. I am wondering about the little half vests that are appearing everywhere on clothes. They look like just half of a tank top front pattern to me.

Also the aprons for decorating are so cheap too. I love going into the craft department, because there are all these little necklace beady things, you can by the fasteners, the claw ones, and sew them to little dresses, and it looks like it is a necklace, but it isn't and you unclasp it to wash. All the little dresses are coming out with these little attached "jewelry" to them.

I have seen that beads, foam, and other crafts that involve beads or string are not working out here. They are still nearly brand new from last year, and are about to be freecycled for someone who will appreciate them.

I am thinking the bandanas there are cuter than ever before. I bet they would make cute bows, I dislike seeing bows wasted and thrown away, or saved and not able to be used or repurposed. I am really getting into the recycling thing.

Yesterday, I gave my mom a bottle of perfume from the family dollar, and I used the plastic bag handles, which I cut out, as a bow, and wrapped it in the plastic bag too. It looked so pretty, I wish I had taken a picture of it.

By Robyn Fed from Hampton, TN