Christmas homemade gift ideas are a great way to give someone a thoughtful yet inexpensive gift for the holidays.

Times are tough for many of us and unfortunately we cannot spend a ton of money on all of the people we care about.

I have written this hub to shed some light on Christmas gifts ideas that are not only thought-provoking but also won't lead you to break the bank!

Gift baskets are a unique way to personalize your homemade Christmas gift by having the option to use a number of different themes.

Let's say you have a great recipe for chocolate truffles. Why not make some and then add some marshmallows which you can purchase from the grocery store. This way you have created something that you already know a great deal about and just add an inexpensive item to the list. Now all you have to do is place these items in a basket, with perhaps a card, and voila! You've just created something that not only tastes good but the gift shows that you took the time and effort to create. Your friends and family members will appreciate this.

Other Gift Basket Ideas:

• Body Wash Basket
• Fruit Gift Basket
• Chocolate Gift Basket
• Restaurant Gift Basket

Giving the gift of an experience is another thoughtful yet low cost homemade Christmas gift idea.

Create a booklet (either buy one from a dollar store or just create one on your computer) and set up pages that give ideas to be redeemed to go places. Possibly set up to go ice skating at a park, pay for someone's admission to a public zoo, go to a dog park, go bowling, watch a movie on an iMax screen, go to a go-chart course, play putt-putt. These are all ideas which you can write on your "booklet" and have your friend or family member redeem at a later date.

It shows a little creativity on your part as well as setting up to spend time with a person you care about, which there really isn't any substitute than that.

Create mp3 tracks and burn them onto a CD is another great gift idea. You know your family members and friends pretty well, so why not compile a list of some of their favorite bands or songs and put onto a disc.

They will appreciate that you took the time to create this and appreciate this every time they listen to your CD or mp3 track list.

If music is not your friend or family members thing, then do the next thing for a homemade Christmas gift and burn them a home video of maybe a vacation or a wedding day from long ago. If they are a movie buff, burn a movie (legally, of course). It's little gifts such as these that go a long way and mean much more than just giving them any old item. Once again, it shows that you took the time and effort and thought process to know what this person likes and they will appreciate your efforts.

If you know someone who loves to cook, what better handmade gift idea that you can give on Christmas than a spice rack.

You can purchase an assortment online or you can just go to your local grocery store and purchase a few of them separately and once you are done place them in a gift basket.

This will give your friend/family member/co worker an array of options if they love to cook and try out new spices.