One thing I love about gift giving is the search for ways to give lavish-looking gifts without paying too much. My gift for the family gift exchange was no different. I decided to give a relaxation basket.
I included:
~a lavender-scented candle (Taylor of London) for a bargain $5
~homemade French lavender body scrub (using this recipe)
~homemade French lavender soap (using melt-and-pour glycerin soap I already had)
~a pair of super-cozy, sweater-like socks bought on sale for only $3.49 (down from $12)
~a tin of chamomile tea for $2.50 (originally $5)
~a new-looking hardback book called Tea Time with God found for a mere $2 at a thrift store
~a pretty basket with stars and pearls for only $4, on sale from the original $10
Total cost: $17
Cost if everything was purchased at full price: $52
Now, admittedly, this doesn't count the cost of the ingredients for the bath scrub. I purchased epsom salts, essential oil from the health-food store, and a big bottle of sunflower oil. However, the essential oil will be used for many projects (including the soap I made), and the epsom salts and oil will make several jars of body scrub. So, initial output is a little high (I'm too lazy to do a cost estimate on this since it would involve digging out receipts), but only a small portion of the ingredients are used for a single jar.
The basket was well recieved, and I enjoyed putting it together.
4 comments:
It looks so beautiful and relaxing!!!
If you have one near you, Trader Joe's has great body scrubs for about $6 for 16oz. I've never seen 16oz for any less than $20! Their body scrub is actually the best I've ever tried. I am especially fond of the lavender salt scrub. Of course, this ruins the fun of making your own...
I just bought a whole bunch of those fluffy cozy sweater socks, too...cotton candy pink with some peppermint soap and peppermint bark, all wrapped up with a red ribbon.
That is so awesome! This is the problem we had when we did a similar exchange with my family years ago. One person thought that you should spend more to make it so you spent $25 (so, throw in another candle or something!) and other people thought that since the retail of the basket is more like $50 you should only put half of the stuff in. This argument led to the downfall of any gift giving at all. Now we just exchange stories and love. :-P
However, I'd be interested to know if you have anyone that takes issue with this sort of thing in your family.
Catherine, we've never had issues of that sort come up. But then, I never actually tell the recipients what I spent.
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