Forgive my cynicism, but it has always seemed that the

Forgive my cynicism, but it has always seemed that the amount of joy you get out of a holiday is directly proportional to the size of your pocket book. Whether it is your friend's birthday, Christmas, or even Thanksgiving, it will be less fun if you have to spend your time worrying about every penny you spend. That is why holidays are such a stress for so many people. Merry making is less of a pleasure when you do not have any resources to make merry with.

Fortunately, there are ways to save money on any occasion. One of the most universal of these is through using cheap gift ideas. No matter who you are shopping for and what their tastes are, there is probably a cheap gift idea that will save you a little bit of loot. Sometimes, you can get them the perfect gift for practically nothing.

One cheap gift idea that is rapidly gaining popularity is simply making the gift yourself. It was not so long ago when this was the way most gifts were made. Nowadays, we take it for granted that most of the things we use come from factories, but the techniques to make some lovely handmade presents are still within reach for most of us. Taking up knitting is a great hobby, and a great way to make wonderful handmade gifts for only the price of the yarn. You can also make your own jewelery by selecting the beads at a local store and assembling them by hand. You can even make your own miniatures out of clay, and use them as presents for that next big holiday.

A more conventional cheap gift idea is to bargain hunt. Although people have been doing this for as long as things have been bought and sold, it has gotten a whole lot easier in the last few years. You can use the Internet to find all kinds of different discounts. There are fantastic cheap present ideas on eBay every day, and many of them are one-of-a-kind collectibles. Even if you are getting a conventional present such as a book, movie, or video game, you can still save a whole lot of money by buying it online. As long as you are not running out to do your shopping at the last minute, it should not be hard to save a little bit of cash with a cheap gift idea.