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Friday, November 28, 2008

Frugal Holiday Gifts—Teen Edition

Truly, my two children give the lie to the common lament: “Teenagers are so expensive!” They are frugal in their own wants. My daughter, the Divine Miss Em, is particularly gifted at frugal gift-giving.

My daughter attends a residential high school about 250 miles from home. Don’t gasp, frugal readers! This is a wonderful state-supported magnet school that costs only about $800/year for a truly superior education. If you don’t have the $800 (this includes room and board), there are scholarships available.

So … she had to get her holiday gifts for friends together over Thanksgiving break. Her gifts are great. These are creative and frugal gifts.

If you happen to be an intended recipient, read no further.

Friend 1: Nice razor set (regularly $7.99, but $3.99 at Walgreens yesterday, with a $3 in-store coupon = $0.99). Pinwheel pen in matching color (had this lying around the house).



Friend 2: Vera Bradley pencil and brush case (regularly $18, but on sale for $5, plus about $1 for shipping / tax). This was filled with some of the Snickers bars I bought for Halloween (but ended up not giving out).



Friend 3: Large stack of magazines for a magazine-lover with no subscriptions (we get these with unusable Frequent Flier miles) plus little bow (cost unknown) plus huge chocolate bar (free after rebate at CVS) plus a set of three small bubble blowers (90% off at CVS last September, maybe $0.40).



Friend 4: over-the-top large sword that shoots out bubbles (bought at 90% off CVS sale last September, for about $0.70) plus joke gift.



Friend 5: cute underwear ($0.99 at Ross Dress for Less) plus Cover Girl lip gloss ($7 at CVS, but free after rebate).



Wrapping paper: I never bought this when my children were younger, which caused them great embarrassment. (I used a roll of wallpaper someone gave me.) When we went to the closet, there, in addition to the wallpaper, were several rolls of very snazzy gift wrap. My admiring husband said, “Look! This was only $1!” I wandered over, saw the wrap I had forgotten about, and said, “No. It was 10 cents. I got it at the 90% off sale at Big Lots last year.”

You do the math. This was put together on Black Friday, in the comfort of our own home. Happy Holidays!

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