Frugal Father's Day Gifts With Meaning

This weekend is Father's Day. How are you going to honor your father or your children's father? Here are a few frugal gift ideas for that special dad in your life.

Pictures. Pictures are a wonderful keepsake. The above pictures are of my children posing in different positions expressing "We love you". This was given to me from my husband for Mother's Day and I just love it.

Here's another idea. I made this folding frame a few years ago for my hubby. The folding frame I purchased from a craft store, and I used pieces of scrapbook paper and stickers I had on hand. I took pictures of each of my children, as well as myself and pasted them on the front along with some coordinating paper. On the back I attached another picture of each of the children and made a pocket. I had each child fill out a tag listing the reasons why they loved their dad. We tucked the tag inside the pocket.
Everyone knows the best way to a man's heart is with food. How about a nice breakfast or homemade dinner. Cook all his favorites and you can even add fancy china if you have it, wine glasses and candles.

The gift of time is always appreciated at my house. With 4 rowdy boys it's nice to have a little peace and quiet. Take the kids to the park or to grandmas and give dad a few hours to himself to do whatever he wants.

What are you doing for your dad?

Budgeting for Gifts and Holidays

Planning ahead for birthdays and holidays will save you time and money. Start thinking about gift ideas throughout the year. You can always be on the lookout for great gifts. If you see something at a really great price go ahead and snag it up and save it for later. You can start your own collection of gifts in a box or tote in your basement or closet. You may want to label it "old sheets" or something so that kids and hubby don't peak!

What I do is I make a list of everyone I will be buying birthday presents for, for the entire year. I set up a specific dollar amount per person. I also do the same for Christmas, Mother's Day, Father's Day and any other occasions I will need to get gifts for. I add all the numbers up and divide by 12. I figure this amount into my monthly budgeting expenses. If I don't spend all the alocated money for the month then I put that money into savings in the "birthday/holiday" category. That way if I have no birthdays in April, but I have 4 in May then I already have the money set aside.

How do you plan for birthdays and holidays? For more frugal tips head over to Being Frugal.