Nostalgic Low Cost Gifts

I am very big on touchy feely gifts that make the recipients cry or go "aaawwwww" when they open them.  I have compiled a list of my top 10 favorite nostalgic gifts.   I have given them in the past to family and friends.  They never fail, are always appreciated and usually a huge hit.  They take a little work and advance planning, but they are so worth it.

We all have our favorite christmas carols.  How about making a CD for Mom and Dad or the Grandparents.  Or any person you know who is not into MP3 players.  Even if they are, they can convert the CD into an MP3 file and load it onto their player.  Create a cover and cd jacket that maybe details out your favorite memories of the holidays while listening to each specific song.  Try making the cover art with a photo of yourself as a child, or an old family christmas photo. 

Family recipe books are a fun way to include others in the gift.  Gather up all of your family's favorite recipes.  Type them up, add some cute graphics, of photos of the people with their signature dishes.  Make multiple copies and keep a master, because everyone will want one. 

Quick scrapbooks are also a big hit with older siblings and parents.  Digging through childhood photos of the seasons past, and compiling a holiday photo album can be so fun.  Laughing with family menbers over the photos of a sibling crying on Santa's lap, or riding the big wheel and roller skates you got on christmas day when you were 7 can bring back a lot of family reminiscing that your kids will love hearing about.

Pick a favorite old family photo, and reproduce and frame it.  I made photos for my brothers one year of us on a snow trip with our dad.  There are very few photos of us with our parents when we were little, and even less with Dad.  That picture sits in a place of honour in all of our homes now. 

Make a photo ornament of a loved one who has passed.  I made ornaments for my sister in law and her sister with a picture of their grandma, covered in a fabric that was the same as one she had in her sewing room.

Interview your children and write it down.  Ask them questions about what does daddy do for work, what does mommy always say to you, ask them to define big words like what is marriage, what is responsability etc.  The things they say are hilarious and so precious.  Frame it and give it to a parent or grandparent.

Grow a little tree from a seedling of Grandma and Grandpas tree... or Mom's favorite rose bush, or Auntie's prize winning Zinnia's...  Living gifts are cool, but make sure the recipient is a gardening or plant person before gifting.

Dig out those baby shoes you have packed away, stuff them, glitter them, turn them into ornaments and gift them to your kids with a photo of them when they wore them.

Save your kids christmas lists and letters to Santa and put them into a book, with christmas photos, and give them to your grandchildren.  Or scan them, reduce them and print them on to photo paper, put them in a mini frame and make an ornament with them.  Same goes with your kids Christmas artwork.

The old standby of converting VHS tapes to digital  can not be underrated.  Watching old videos of christmases, and hearing those tiny voices, watching the excitement on the face of your husband or wife when they were little just can not be topped.

Please post any nostalgic gift ideas you have done in the past.  I would love to get ideas for new ones!