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It seems like I’m jumping the gun, but believe me, Christmas is just around the corner.

Bath Bombs are a great Christmas gift, but they are incredibly expensive.  I’ve seen them sold for as high as AUD$20.  That’s an awful lot of money for just one bath bomb.

Yes, you can buy kits, which include all the ingredients – for just a small handful of bath bombs – but they are priced from $25 right up to around $70.  That’s a lot of money in anyone’s terms. (And that doesn’t include postage!)

So I checked around, did some research, and I located an ebook on how to make your own bath bomb.  At the time of writing, it was priced under $15.  Be clear that this is an ebook only, no ingredients included, BUT can you imagine how much of the raw products you can buy for the same price as those kits I mentioned above?

I can assure you, the bath bomb ingredients you would end up with would last you for many years. (At one point – many years ago – I made all my own soaps, perfumes, spritzers, and moisturizers. The raw ingredients are not that expensive.)

Okay, so here is the link for the ebook I mentioned.  Don’t leave it too long as the page says they are limiting the number of sales to 250.  When you consider how many people are on the internet, that’s not a big number.

Don’t know what bath bombs are? They are generally made in circle shapes, and when you put them in the bath they fizz up.  It’s almost like having a bath in champagne.  My grandchildren love them, but they are soooo expensive. Making your own bath bombs cuts down the price immensely.

Go there now, before it’s too late!

Image by Getty Images via @daylife

My daughter told me about this, and I’m so glad she did.

If you like to give people photos – of family, kids, anything, then this is for you.

It comes in full-color, so don’t think you’re getting black and white. You simply upload your photographs, choose your layouts  and that’s about it. They make fantastic gifts, and in fact, my daughter and her hubby gave me and my hubby two of these at Christmas, both featuring our three gorgeous grandchildren.

The books do have a four page advertising layout in the middle, but as they say on their website, you can easily remove it if you don’t want it there!

http://www.hotprints.com

You can make the Easter holiday much more personal and save a lot of money if you make your own home-made chocolate treats this Easter.

Since nearly everyone goes overboard and eats too much chocolate during the Easter holiday it’s a good idea to make low calorie, low fat, or sugar free chocolate during Easter. That way you can eat the same amount of candy, but you’ll be eating fewer calories and less fat, and so will your kids.

Here are just a few ideas that you can use to make your own home-made chocolates for Easter:

• Put your own twist on classic chocolate bunnies by using exotic chocolates or an unusual chocolate base like chocolate mixed with spices or fruit to make chocolate bunnies.

• Make edible home-made chocolate baskets instead of chocolate bunnies, then arrange other holiday treats inside the basket. To make a chocolate Easter basket melt some base chocolate in a plastic bag and blow up a small balloon. Put the balloon inside the bag of melted chocolate until the bottom half of the balloon is thickly coated with chocolate. Immediately move the balloon to the refrigerator.

• Once the chocolate hardens pop the balloon and pull the balloon out and you’ll have a solid chocolate Easter basket that you can use for your kids or as a holiday table centerpiece. You can even use white chocolate as a base and dye it with food coloring to make your chocolate baskets in different colors. Be careful though! The chocolate will melt if left out in the warm weather.

• If you want to cut down on the amount of sugar that your kids will be eating during the Easter holiday make a chocolate dipping sauce and then cut fruit into Easter shapes and dip the fruit into the chocolate. Once the chocolate hardens your kids will have a sweet holiday treat with a lot less sugar and calories.

• Instead of decorating hard boiled eggs in pretty colors make some dark chocolate eggs and use candy coloring to pain the chocolate eggs the way that you would paint traditional hard boiled eggs.

• Most Easter candies are made from milk chocolate so stay away from using milk chocolate in your home-made Easter candy bases and use something more exotic to make your goodies stand out more.

Click Here to Download FREE Printable Easter Activities – Easter Treats that won’t rot their teeth!

Although they can be costly to buy ready-made, with a little planning and creativity you can craft the perfect gift even for the person who has everything.

Personalized gifts say a lot about you. It tells the recipient you cared enough to put love and effort into creating something special for someone who’s important to you.

Sure you can buy gift baskets from a professional gift-basket company and spend any amount you want. They look good and come in a variety of themes and containers. But, wouldn’t a basket created personally by you send a more meaningful message? It also means you can personalize the gifts to suit the person, not the gift-basket company.

Not to mention you’ll save a heap of money.

Start by asking yourself three questions: who is it for, what are their interests, and how much can I spend?

No matter your budget, there’s a gift basket to suit everyone, regardless of age or gender.

Choose a theme based on their interests, hobbies or even an upcoming event in their life. You can spend as much as you want but even if you’re on a tight budget your basket can be something you can give with pride.

Wicker baskets are often the first choice because they’re easy to work with and can usually be found at a budget price at dollar stores. Other containers work as well such as trays with an edge, plastic or metal pails, coffee mugs, flower pots, clothes baskets, baby baths, and if the person you’re giving to happens to enjoy cooking, you could use a baking pan or bowl, or even a colander.

Let your imagination run wild, and use a variety of shapes, sizes, and materials. For instance if the recipient is a hobby fisherman, put your items in a tackle box, or a sewing basket would work well for a sewer. Choosing the container and the gifts can be almost as much fun for the giver as the receiver.

If the gift is for someone who lives in a hostel or even a hotel, you could fill your basket with ‘luxury’ items such as homemade foods from your kitchen. Or if it’s for someone living in a nursing home, they may appreciate soaps, powders, moisturizers, deodorants, etc.

If you’re using a main (large) gift in addition to smaller ones, place it in the center, or at least high enough that the eye is drawn to it. Additional gift items then go around the sides. Use colored paper, straw and other filler materials that can be purchased cheaply at dollar stores to fill any gaps. They also add to the visual appeal.

If you have a paper shredder and colored paper make the filler yourself and save. (Just make sure it is cheaper – sometimes buying it ready made is way cheaper because they use end of roll paper.)

Remember, an overflowing basket looks better than one that’s sparsely filled.

Use cellophane as the ‘gift wrap’ tucking it around the sides at the top. To really set it off and add to the effect, tie a bow with colored streamers flowing down. Attach a card and you’re ready to go. If you need to secure items inside the basket to keep them from flopping around, clear tape works well, and is generally more secure. Be neat with your work, and keep the presentation clean and tidy.

Plan ahead and buy items when they are on special, and save even more. Give genuine thought to the appropriate theme to make the basket more expressive – and impressive. The recipient will appreciate the effort you’ve put into the gift, and will likely appreciate it even more.