When I was 7 years old I had to live in the hospital for a few weeks because my appendix exploded. The best present I got was from my Dad, he took one of his briefcases and filled it with color pencils, a couple of erasers, pencil sharpeners, coloring books, comic books, lined paper and typing paper. since I wasn't allowed to get out of bed it kept me occupied for hours at a time.

I found the perfect gift for my cousins wedding by accident and because I didn't have much money at the time.When she announced her engagement I went to the mall to look at options to save up for to buy her and her new husband a gift for thier wedding and I being young, a new mother and a fairly newly wed myself, had very little money to save up in the first place.

Wandering the isles of all the stores I searched high and low for something that would show that I cared not just that I could buy something on thier list. At the fifth store I went to I saw an old fashioned picnic basket and it was an aha moment.

In my family we travel quite a bit and we all like to go to Anchorage from Fairbanks by car it is a 350 mile trip, that takes a few hours, and we usually like to stop at one of the restaurants to take a small break on the long drive.

With them being newly weds and he being in the military I knew that they wouldn't have much money to blow on these trips so I bought the picnic basket, and picked up two red checkered table clothes. One I left whole, and the other I used to make a liner for the basket, and pouches for the flatware. Then I bought plastic picnic ware to fill the basket and everytime i went shopping until the wedding--- i picked up a kitchen tool that I needed when i was a newly wed and had to buy for myself. Such as a peeler, a paring knife, a cheese slicer, an egg slicer, a grater,measuring cups, measuring spoons, mixing spoons, a recipe box and recipe cards,. I also used a magnet to put a one gallon zip lock bag on the fridge and everytime i was done reading a magazine I clipped all the coupons and dropped them in the zip lock bag. The day of the wedding I just zipped it shut and dropped it in the basket with the rest of the stuff.

A week after thier wedding they took a trip to Anchorage to shop for the things they needed to set up thier new home. The basket came in handy for a meal and the ziplock bag full of coupons helped with a lot of thier shopping.

After my second daughter out grew her bassinette, my sister got pregnant with her first daughter. I bought a set of queen sized floral sheets and made a new skirt and hood cover for the bassinette from the sheets and made a sheet and a quit for it from the pillow cases. Then when ever I went shopping I'd pick up little items from the baby isle at the grocery store to fill up the basket, a box of disposable diapers, bottles, sippy cups, a baby brush and comb, a baby thermometer, etc.... By the time we had her shower the bassinette was full of goodies.

When my little bother was a teenager he really looked forward to the day he would get his drivers license. I got a tool box and put in a few of the necessary tools he would need along with some chamois and sponges, car wash detergent and wax, some Armour All ands soft cloths. and a leather steering wheel cover. It was a great hit at his sixteenth birthday party.

When my oldest daughter went away to college the 70's look had made it back into style and she and I went through all of my old clothes from highschool. We found quite a few outfits that she simply adored and took them to the cleaners. I went to my Dad's and got his old duffle bag and diddy bag from when he was in the Army. After the clothes were cleaned I packed them in the duffle bag, folded the diddy bag and put it on top for her to use as a laundry bag.

We didn't have to buy many clothes for her for college and had the money to blow on the items she needed to fill out the rest of her wardrobe. Popularity is everything to a young lady, and clothes are what help to make you popular, as adults we have a tendency to forget that. But her clothes were a great hit with the college crowd and she found a group to fit in with right away. that made for an easier time while she was in college.

Now my oldest daughter lives about 2000 miles away and she works at a pharmacy that also sells small toys and gifts. When ever she finds something that her little brothers would like, on sale at work, she picks it up and puts it in a box set aside for them. Every holiday and birthday they receive a box of goodies from her. That makes them not miss her so badly since she lives so far away and it gives them a reason to talk to her on the telephone keeping them close as siblings.

Christmas Gift Ball: You need a spool of ribbon and as many miniature, or quarter machine, toys as you can gather. Tie a toy to the end, roll the ribbon around it, tie another toy onto it and roll the ribbon, toy and all around the first one. Keep doing this until you run out of ribbon. Especially fun for little girls who can then use the ribbon for their hair and making bows for their clothes.