It’s in the Bag!
Posted by Michelle on September 7th, 2010 . Filed under: Uncategorized .Happy Day, Girls!
I’ve been busy updating my shoppe with new product…and today I’m sharing a couple of those new things with you. What I’m sharing with you today stems from something I learned from my beloved Yaya (grandmother) from when I was a little girl. And it’s quite simple: never show up empty-handed. Whether you’re going to visit someone who is sick, stopping by to visit over tea, or you’ve been invited over for dinner, they are welcoming you in to their home – so you should never show up empty-handed.
So I grew up with that instilled in me. The other thing I’ve grown up with is about frugality. My mother was a single parent so we had to be creative sometimes as we never had money to just go out and buy a birthday present for someone. And now that I’m all grown up and my husband and I have fairly good jobs and are fortunate enough to provide a nice living for our children, I’m still cheap frugal….very. Because you never know when you’re going to lose your job. Or when the refrigerator is going to stop working and you’ll have that additional expense.
So long story short – I still believe in never showing up empty-handed, but I do it on the cheap. What I have to share with you today are some quick and easy – and inexpensive – goodie bags that I whipped up using these fun windowed coffee bags.
I buy jelly beans on clearance after Easter and save them for little kid treat things. They’re colorful, they’re bite size, and they are loaded with sugar – all the things that make kiddies happy, right? *giggles* So I embellished my white windowed coffee bag with some papers and stickers from Echo Park Paper, stamped a quick little taggie, poured in 3 bags of jelly beans (to the tune of 30-cents total), and I was done. 30-cents for the jelly beans and 59-cents for the bag = a fun, sweet, and easy gift for only 89-cents (don’t tell me you don’t have loads of paper and ribbon and stickers in your stash so you better not go out and buy that for this lil’ project!).
My second gift bag is for our grown-up friends. I embellished this kraft windowed coffee bag with more papers and stickers from Echo Park Paper and topped my bow with some pretty pins. I filled it up with 1/2 a bag of big pretzels that I stocked up on with coupons at 49-cents a bag. So this gift was 25-cents for my pretzels and 55-cents for my bag = 80-cents to offer something when you are greeted at the door. Isn’t that fun?
Heartfelt and handcrafted does not need to cost a fortune – nor does it need to take a lot of time. You just can’t put a price on thoughtfulness!
Thanks for stopping in today!
September 7th, 2010 at 7:17 am
Ooh, gorgeous gifts! Great ideas! Can't believe how inexpensive it is. You have GOT to write a book on saving $$$ (esp in these times). Seriously. Or have your own column in a newspaper.
September 7th, 2010 at 9:59 am
I think Lorraine is on to something…future author? Great quick, easy, cheap, and adorable goodie bags. Always welcomed and enjoyed, but especially w/your embellishments.
September 7th, 2010 at 10:33 am
How fun to use the coffee bags with the windows in them- love that idea and your bags are super cute!
September 7th, 2010 at 2:48 pm
LOVE THESE!!! I would love it if somebody brought me a bag of jelly beans:) I would want those over the pretzels any day:):):)
September 7th, 2010 at 6:04 pm
Oh man this are sooo cool. What adorable gifts they make!
September 7th, 2010 at 7:52 pm
silly blogger keeps on refusing my comments! urgh. I love how you can do cheap and make it look SO good! Those windowed coffee bars are nice! And I'm loving that happy birthday font….too bad it's not a single 😉
September 9th, 2010 at 8:18 pm
This is the cutest idea ever! I really really have o get over and order some stuff! Great ides too!
October 11th, 2010 at 3:41 am
[…] the thing. I gave this girl at work a birthday present….the jelly bean bag that you see here. She liked the bag so much that she asked me to make 10 of them for her, like for cash money! […]