Thursday

25 days of Christmas

 As a tight-budgeted grad student, I had to get creative with gifts this year, thanks Pinterest! For the budget conscious gift-giver, check out my compiled list of easy cheap gifts for a creative personalized and complete 25 days of Christmas!

1)Favorite fast food not found in Vail: Chick-fil-a

2)Gift for the inner child: silly string and noise putty

3)Silly coupons: massage, get out of jail free...
  
4)Playing Cards: We always laugh at hipster paraphernalia, and Chris is terrible at Nerts, so I found a mustache shaped deck at Target!

5)Mug: Plain white mugs at IKEA are only $1, and you can decorate with a sharpie and bake for a personally designed treasure!



6)Baileys: Single shot bottles for some adult hot chocolate.
7)Hot chocolate: Or hot drink mix of choice 


8) Bag of favorite Candy

9)Potatoes and parmesan cheese

10)Truffle oil: Anytime we go to dinner we always order truffle fries if they are on the menu. Chris has a deep frier, so we made some of our own. Win. 

11) Book Safe: The library on campus has a great used book sale, so a grabbed a hardback for $4 and hollowed out the middle as a hiding place for treasures!

12)6-pack of favorite beer.

13) Favorite drink not found in Vail: Strawberry limeade

14) Ninja bread cookie cutters: Found on Amazon

15) Sprinkles and icing - cream cheese, duh. 



16) cookie dough: Yes, even the pre-made kind needs flour added to it before baking in the mountains. I thought I had learned this lesson from some would-be yummy blondies




Nailed it.


So this is how the cookies turned out. 



But we managed



What a trooper.



Ninja or pretty princess?


17) Touchscreen gloves

18) Favorite homemade dinner: I redeemed myself from the cookies, with homemade chicken cordon blue, thank you very much. 



19) His birthday is actually on the 19th, so I taped 25-$1 bills together and rolling up in a cardboard tube. Ok it was a toilet paper empty roll. He made it rain. 

20)Flannel Shirt

21) Picture Frame: Love simple frames from IKEA, and framed this bad boy.


22)Get creative

23)Get creative

24) Ornament: As the avid talented snowboarder, I started a little tradition for Chris and I with a wooden carved snowboarder ornament.

25) Monogrammed leather journal cover: Etsy is a great source for these! 

What was super fun was incorporating inside jokes, Chris' personal favorites, and having excuses to spend time with him by using the gifts. I also probably had way too much fun reusing bags and wrapping all the gifts to match. 





Some other ideas:
I attempted a scarf, but ran out of yarn. I can crochet one heck of a rectangle though.
Also, simple homemade treats are always a win. Especially when it means you get to spend an evening with a bestie. 
Also this. I love this idea for a simple ottoman if you can find a tire. And if you aren't flying home, doubt this would count as a carry on. 


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