Starting a couple of years ago, the family on my husband’s side started a “new” holiday tradition- gift giving for under $20.00. I resisted. I struggled. I squirmed. Could it be done?

Let’s face it, not many women want to mess up the mother-in-law gift, so I started with her. Gift cards? Gadgets? Housewares? Panic. Then, it hit me. I searched online for a sketch of “Cinque Terra”, known as the five cities in Italy where my mother-in-law had gone the summer before. There is a distinguished beach scene at Cinque Terra that is the landmark equivalent of the lone cypress at Monterey Bay. Finally, I struck the motherlode. A small-time artist had done a color sketch of the scene, a picture of which was online. I emailed, and she was willing to sell me a color copy for $10.00. I had it shipped, framed it myself, and was hooked. What else could be found in my price range?

For my daughter, we did a mini-room makeover. Dollar store wall decals became a fairy tale scene above her closet. More decals spelled her name out on her coat rack. A $6 can of eye-watering pink paint quickly made-over her mirror. And 3 pillows purchased on clearance for $4 a piece created earthquake-safe, 3-D wall art above her bed. Adorable, and not coated with lead- bonus! A teenagers room could be updated with favorite movie posters or a wall collage of their “year in review”- school or sports paraphernalia, pictures of friends, concert programs etc.

My child’s teacher was a challenge, as I really didn’t know her well. I realized that she was a full-time employee, saddled with Christmas pageants, end-of-year reports, and other, familiar time-crunchers we all share as working moms. So I bought her “dinner in a bag”. Reusable grocery bag for wrapping (.99 thank you very much). Spaghetti noodles, sauce, fresh French bread from the bakery. This was followed by bagged salad, and a package of dressing. The dessert was frozen pound cake with fresh fruit and a tub of whipping cream. I added a poinsettia for a centerpiece and was done. I was nervous that she wasn’t going to catch my drift, and think I was weird. But when I picked up my son that afternoon she thanked me and told me that she had family coming in that night and was going to put it to use right away. This gift can easily be altered using a breakfast or a dessert theme.

For my girlfriend- martinis, baby! The local consignment store yielded beautiful, vintage martini glasses straight from a 007 movie. I added a bottle of vodka, funky toothpicks, and a jar of olives, with a promise to meet sans children to consume. Mix this gift up throughout the year by varying the types of barware purchased. Tall glasses accented with swizzle sticks and fuzzy naval or bloody mary mix, or a glass pitcher with margarita mix and colored salt.

I’m on a mission now to put more thought into gift-giving this year. Ideas I plan to use include birthday party gifts of school supplies such as backpack charms, mini staplers, funky pen toppers, locker mirrors, and tracing paper. Older kids will get gift certificates for ice cream and a game of bowling. I plan on taking the time to transfer a friend’s favorite photo to printer-friendly canvas “paper” for a cool portrait look (ebay had 10 sheets for $9.00), and have her family names cut out in vinyl from the local sign shop for personalized wall art a’la Pottery Barn. For Mother’s Day I am buying up packages of seeds for the garden and bundling them tightly on top of a huge bag of dirt wrapped in fancy ribbon. I am going to find and give books that have been written about the recipient’s home town.

Hitting the $20 mark that year wasn’t as important as really digging down and thinking about the recipients’ likes, needs, and lifestyle. From there, it was just a matter of a few sleepless nights, some creativity and a day out in the trenches putting the pieces together. Some things never change.

Sandram Reed is a partner of TAGS Consignment Boutique in Oakdale CA, and happy mom to Calvin age 6 and Clara age 2. She is an independent contractor teaching Human Resources and Effective Supervision, along with corporate training seminars on management. Other adventures include authoring learning modules and writing exam content for professional certifications. She can be reached at http://www.myspace.com/shoptagsoakdale