Need Ideas on inexpesive gifts

[Sun Runner Stables]

I have a very close barn group, asides the one bad egg, (Who Is leaving shortly, thank you for the support!!) and really have a wonderful group of people. Here's the deal, a few of my older girls are grouping together to get me a gift, and I have a clue, as they fish poorly,

, (and yes it's rather expensive, but there are 10 of them, the vixens!) and the rest of the boarders have a tradition of doing the same thing for both my mother and I.

I would like to find maybe some nice brush sets, or grooming things that I could give out to ALL my kids, then maybe something a little older for my boarders, without going broke in the process....

It makes me feel horribly guilty that I can't do return the favor in the same fashion...I know it's Not about that but stilll... It weighs on me...Thoughts?? Idea's However much I would like to return the favor I simply cannot afford to give the super nice gifts I really love too this year. (Thank you Wilma!

) Any ideas>>?

 

[runamuk]

OK I will share some of the gifts I recieved over the years some are inexpensive some maybe not so much

Watch

Hilarious singing easter rabbit stuffed toy (easter not xmas)

cute horsey door mat ....several times and loved them all

horsey resin/plastic figurines

a snaffle bit key chain (loved it still have it)

horsey tee shirts and sweatshirts

horsey socks

see after all these years I still remember

 

[mountain_waif]

....

 

[Sun Runner Stables]

Ooooh I like the snaffel bit key chain thingy. Maybe I'll get a whole bunch of tee shirts with thier names on them in barn colors/logo... Keep the idea's a going!!!

*we must have been writing at the same time Mountian Waif, I didn't even think about Crafty stuff... But Oh do I Love crafty stuff!!! Great ideas all!!!*

 

[Marty]

This is fun! I've done it many times before.

Get some tee shirts and iron on their horse's names!

OR

Get a picture of all their horses and put them on an ornament for each one.

Personalizing! I love it!

 

[Sterling]

A barn party is always a fun thing! Put together a bunch of finger foods/snacks...chips, dips, salsa, veggies, sodas and have their little hand-crafted gifts awaiting.

Clothespin horses painted in their horses' color and pattern.

Or take one of their fav pics and decoupage it onto a small wooden frame

 

[Littleum]

I love giving baked goods- even to my family. My pseudo father-in-law wants a box of my chocochip cookies fedexed to him. Wrap them up in a pretty reusable basket or tin with ribbons and a card, maybe a little trinket or fun thing and ta-da! Might not be a gift from the store, but it's a gift from the heart.

You should try my chocolate peanut butter volcanos...

If you have an used or discount bookstore, see if you can find some old horsey novels or books. I don't think horse crazy girls ever outgrow cheesy horsey fiction! They'd fit neatly into a basket too. Then again, gifts of dusty old magazines and books are very popular in my family too...

 

[rabbitsfizz]

This is probably not suitable fro Christmas- but if you wanted to give one of them a Thankyou for something nicely done you could run off some gift certificates on the computer- for a month or two weeks or even one weeks board.

I LOVE those clothes pegs horses, but I also think the personalise, barn colours, key rings is a really good idea- they would all have the same thing, but slightly different, and it would not be so expensive that they would be embarrassed- a real "it's the thought that counts" gift.

 

[Kim]

I like the idea of something personalized. If you have a digital camera, you could take photos one day, then get them printed on something like t-shirts, coffee mugs, mouse pads, etc. Or, you could pick up some cheap picture frames at the dollar store and put a nice picture of the whole group in each one.

 

[jacks'thunder]

I just love this! Such creatitivity! I'd do a mix of alot of these!

Basket from Michaels with a jute or raffia bow

Digital photo of each persons horse or the group with a dollar store frame. The

camera you can pick up a disposable at CVS (if you don't have one!) And the dollar store has some nice oak frames. You could even paint them their colors.

Some goodies like M&Ms and Oreos, and other favorites all wraped in indvidual bags(from Michaels for around 2 or 3 bucks for 12)

And I love the bit key chain. you could put it in a small box wraped really pretty and use that and the picture frame. Hit TSC or your local farm store and I'll bet they have a nice brush set on sale for Christmas right now . If you had to you could take the sets apart and give the brushes seperate. Mabey with a nice hoof pick or something.

Id stuff as much stuff into your basket that your budget will allow!

Edible goodies are wonderful fillers, wether it be for their horse or for them or mabey both!

Good luck! If you lived closer I love to help!

This is the creative part of Christmas and it makes each person feel special!

Leya

 

[MeadowRidge Farm]

When we had our boarding stable in Mequon, I hung in the tack room, a stocking (picked up at the dollar store) I attached it around the saddle with a new lead rope, and inside the stocking I put a hoof pick and a brush, a couple of carrots and apples. On the stocking I wrote each horses name with a glitter pen. I also left a large coffee pot plugged in , (so there would be steaming hot water

in the freezing cold weather)) and a decorated tin of instant hot chocolate, and apple cider next to it, for anyone who was at the barn that day, (of course this turned into the complete winter..with the borders always brings cookies and hot chocolate for everyone else..so it was always filled

) and also a large plate of goodies. Everyone loved it and it really wasnt very expensive to do. Corinne

 

[Voodoo]

I love doing personalized stuff as well. I usually make almost everything that I give for Christmas. Headstalls, reins, photo albums, picture frames, all out of leather. I wish I had some pictures. Any way I know you can't do that, but anything personalized really hits home. Also, if you could do anything for them as a group? You know they are buying for you as a group so maybe you could do the same. Is there anything that your barn needs that everyone could use? That way it could be more expensive (if that's what you want) and then tell them it's for everyone to use?

 

[whitney]

The clothes pins are REALLY neat! What do you use for the body? I can't really see it in the pictures.

 

[Sterling]

Whitney, the body is just a little wooden thimble. The head is the top part of the clothespin, and the neck is part of the clothespin leg. Very simple to make and put together. Add yarn for the mane and tail and paint them however you wish.

 

[Pepipony]

Holiday Candles w/refillable wraps.

They sell these for $50 plus and are EASY to make. You will need pillar candles, PVC in candle diameter , barbed wire ( old and rusty) , horse charms, screws, drill and wire cutters. Oh and leather gloves LOL

Drill a couple of screws into the PVC, verticle and maybe 3"s apart ( depends on the height of candle. Cut your wire to about 2' and make a hook at the end, place hook around screw and wrap wire on the PVC making another hook at the end and wrapping that on the other screw. remove screws, slip off wire and place on Candle. Decorate as you wish, horse charms, mini horse shoe etc.

I made these and ended up selling quite a few to a local tack shop.

 

[Sue_C.]

I have a ton of "horsie-treats" receipes, I have saved over the years. Several times, I have made up mason jars full of ingredients for one such receipe, along with a CD with a bunch of others on it. Put a piece of pretty cloth over the top of the jar, tie it with a bow...and TADA. Or, you could even make one of the receipes, and put them in a basket with the CD.

You are welcome to e-mail me for some receipes, should you wish to do this. [email protected]

This is very inexpensive to do, but very much appreciated.

 

[Sun Runner Stables]

Yay!! You guys Rock!!

Both my heart and my Pocket book thank you!! I love ALL of these ideas, and think I will be doing quite a few crafts over the next few weeks! I really like the baskets, and the horsey cookies, and the clothspins horseys' for the little uns, and and and.... Wow.... I am going to have a blast! I will post pictures as I go. I am pretty artsy and crafty, and can paint or draw, but design?? Yuck, not good at All. Thank you Thank you Thank You!

I bow down to the Craft Queens of the Forum!

Voodoo, nope not yet. The big wish this year was lights and a sterero in the ring, and that is my Boyfriends gift to me. Last year it was a hot water heater in the barn, year before it was a new Jump course/dressage fencing.

I am needy, thank goodnes he loves me so!

I still want to do More though. I have such wondeful clients, who always spoil me tremendously, and I love to return the favor...

I need to fly you and Leya down to help me out and teach me how to work leather! (And trim feet too!

)

 

[Laura]

Horseloverz.com has some great and very, very inexpensive items...thousands of them in fact! I bought very nice leather stable halters for $16.95 INCLUDING SHIPPING for my big girls!

Also, I have a disc...somewhere, that has lots and lots of pet and horse treat recipes. Gift bags of horsey and people treats would be nice

 

[whitney]

I saw this idea on PBS.

They took peppermint candies and put them in a circle on a baking sheet and baked them at I think 350 for 5 min. It melts them enough to hook them all together and then you just put a ribbon/bow on them. I'm going to make some for the horses stockings.

 

[Jill]

One year, Priscilla gave me framed pictures she took of Derby, Lonesome and Lou in Christmas hats. I'm sure the cost was under $5 and I loved it more than anything she'd given me and still have those pictures in my office