valentine

A nice little surprise to my daughter will be a gift certificate for neuter/first shots for her little kittens. She's always loved cats, but until the past year had horrible allergies. She discovered that her allergies to cats have vanished (YAY) and adopted two little black/white kitty cats (Flip and Flop) to save them from euthanasia. She absolutely adores them, but pet care is very expensive. Since she's still in college, works and has her first apartment, I decided to give her some prepaid pet care as a Christmas surprise. She's been worrying about saving up for this, so this will bring her some joy and relief.

Kyras

^Nice. Good idea, Valentine!

Lainey

That's a nice thoughtful gift, Val.

I have a cat..................................

LittlePenguin

Gee, where was that Jerry?

This year my sons and I have an agreement to limit presents to a maximum of one $10 gift per person. Wehave had fun, with each of us being forced to rack our brains for something FUN, not necessarily useful or even practical, and above all cheap. They will all be suprises this year.

I had an hilarious time making up a 'do-it-yourself' fudge brownie pack for my oldest son's partner (she adores them). I've found a group of recipes, modified them for local ingredients and metric measurements , printed them into a booklet, then got baking pans, most of the ingredients (not the butter, as that would go off under the tree in our summer heat), and made my own wrapping paper. I'm sure that takes the cake ( ) for a surprise.

paS2K

Sue, I had no idea that you were as frugal as me It lets us reserve capital for tech goodies and travel, eh? The 'home made' things....or items like Val's 'neutering gift cert'....are most meaningful, IMHO

I wonder what Brian and Eion will get their Momma.... \

PS- Is that NZ$10 or US$10

Kyras

We do an adult Hanukkah gift exchange at Andy's mom's house. It has a $10 limit. I picked thee hot item this year. It was something I gave to the kids too. Costco has these wind-up LED flashlights, in the tools. You get two for $20, so I broke the package open to get a $10 gift. They're really fun and fairly bright. They don't have any batteries to go dead. I think I bought about 26 of them. Put one in each vehicle, at each bedside and made presents out of them.

paS2K

[QUOTE=Kyras,Dec 21 2005, 08:10 PM] .... Costco has these wind-up LED flashlights, in the tools.

LittlePenguin

Not usually frugal, just that the kids werre worried that they couldn't compete with my spending power at the time (I'm currently only semi-employed ), so we've levelled the playing field with a $10NZ ($7US) limit.

A neutering voucher wouldn't be much of an effort from me: I'll take eion's kitties to wherever I work at the time, and whack their nuts off for free (oops, sorry mixed company: desex them). I'll vaccinate them as well for the all the $2 the vaccines actually cost.

If I knew what they were planning it wouldn't be a surprise, and since they're with my ex for the Christmas weekend, it would be a surprise just to see them. As it is, we have a delayed Christmas in my house, waiting until the 4th January when I can get all 3 sons together. And it will be my birthday the day before I get to see them all too.

Christmas gets so complicated for the boys these days. They have two separate parents, then their partners family in different parts of the country. Sigh! It was just easier to get away and let them do their other families this year. NEXT year they're all mine (evil cackle!!)

valentine

Wish you were here, Lil Penguin. I had a beastie time shopping around for the shots/neutering for my daughter's kittens. I take my dog to a vet in my area, but discovered it would cost me 3 times as much to get shots/neuter at the foofoo clinic where my pet goes. I settled on a vet nearby who does a lot of work with the shelter in town and who was 1/3 the cost. Being cautious, I went to the clinic and checked it out to be sure it wasn't a total dump before I shelled out the $$. I just had a hard time believing the same shots/same treatment could be so much less expensive if I went south instead of north to get the pet care. I'll be moving my business for BB (my dog) to this vet. I felt it would be easier for my daughter to keep up with shots and care if she had an affordable vet. I figured everybody would charge about the same price, but after calling 7 or 8 vets in the area, I discovered the pricing was all over the chart.