Chic But Cheap Gifts for Your Parents

By Amanda Cross, Student at University of Central Arkansas

Shopping for your parents can be kind of torturous. You aren’t really sure what to get them, and you want to buy them something they’ll love.

Well, I have a list of good ideas that will hopefully get the wheels in your head turning about cute gifts for your parents this holiday season but won't break your bank account.

Candles:
Candles are amazing gifts for any parents. There are so many different options for candles these days. They make great decorational pieces, and the detail involved in candles can really make a table shine.

Pier1 has some really great Christmas-themed candles. One that really caught my eye is the Santa and Reindeer Face Pillars. They are really fun, festive and cute for this holiday season and are only $15 a piece.

Frames:
Frames are a great way to add color and life to any house. Your parents will love a cute new frame, and for additional personalization, add a picture of you and your parents together. Frames are great gifts because they are relatively inexpensive and there are all kinds of frames to chose from.

If you are looking to buy a frame, I would suggest buying an 8”x10” one. It’s a big enough size to show off, while also being a cheap enough thing to buy. Hobby Lobby had a pretty great frame selection, but the one I liked the most was the 8”x10” Black Plastic Distressed Rope Frame. At $19.99, it’s super pretty and would match any living room decor.

Canvases:
Canvases are a super cool gift to get for anyone. There are so many options when it comes to canvas buying for your parents. You could buy a pre-made canvas, make one yourself or you could buy your parents each a trip to a paint bar so they could make their own canvases depending on the cost of that option.

Getting crafty is super simple these days, but if crafting up a storm isn’t your forte, you could use a pre-designed canvas. Hobby Lobby has a lot of cute canvas and sign stuff. One that I really liked is the Home Wood Wall Sign. At $17.99, it's a great way for your parents to show that their house is really their home.

Coupon Book:
I know it seems like parents have left this behind years ago, but they really haven’t. If you fill the coupon book up with worthwile “coupons” like a dinner and movie night or offering to come down from college and rake up their leaves, they will appreciate it.

You can make the coupon book really nice. You can decorate each coupon, hole punch the coupons and tie them together in a book with ribbon. It’s bound to be a sweet present if you put a lot of thought into what coupons to offer your parents and how you decorate the book.

Plus, it will also be a great way to remind your parents that you are still a kid at heart! Looking for inspiration? Click here to see some cute design ideas.

Magazine Subscriptions:
The best kind of gift is a great magazine subscription. It’s kind of like the gift that keeps on giving for months and months. Most magazine subscriptions for a year cost about the same as getting them from the Walmart for a few months.

Check out Amazon.com for deals on magazines, as there is always a deal around the corner. If your parents have e-readers or tablets, you might even look into getting just e-versions of the magazines for a discounted rate! Not sure which type of magazine your parents would want? Try looking into websites like Next Issue that offer unlimited access to multiple digital magazines for a monthly fee.

[Image from HobbyLobby.com]

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