Frugal Friday: Inexpensive + Versatile + Personalizable = Great Gift

Friday, November 13th, 2009 | Frugal Friday

Someone showed me this item the other day and I think it is not only a great gift for a variety of people (from the officemate to the man in your life who loves gadgets), it is also inexpensive (just $10!) and you can easily personalize this for almost any recipient.

Easy ideas:

Want to make your girlfriend’s heart melt? Instead of putting a picture in there, stick a little love note inside instead.

Great stocking stuffer! It is inexpensive and you can put a photo you know they’ll love into it.

For grandparents that are comfortable with using a computer, make it even more fun for them to get online for a chat with their grand kids by having the kids draw a pic for you to put into the mouse.

You have to get gifts for people you barely know at your office, or else feel like Scrooge? At this price, you could afford to get one for everyone and personalize it in unique ways. This is a great way to get everyone the same gift, yet still give everyone a different gift. Click here for some specific ideas.

Men tend to love items that are practical and useful, but they also like fun things. For the man in your life – give two gifts in one…does he have a favorite band or team? Get tickets to the event and put them (or a decent photocopy of them!) in and wait for him to notice the big surprise in the little gift.

Put an inspiring quote in it.

Put a picture of your teens favorite idol in it.

Be creative and have fun! As you can see, this gift is easily transformed to suit the personality of many a PC user!

Happy gifting!
Do you have a favorite idea that I’ve listed? Have you thought of more unique ways to personalize this? Please feel free to leave me a comment or share a suggestion!

Tags: Boyfriend, Budget Friendly, Co-worker, Father, Frugal Friday, Girlfriend, Grandfather, Grandmother, Grandparents, Men, Mom, Officemate, People You Barely Know, Stocking Stuffer, Teen, under $15

6 Comments to 'Frugal Friday: Inexpensive + Versatile + Personalizable = Great Gift'

Bette Yip
November 13, 2009

Hi Alyna,

Love this gift idea! Hadn’t seen a customizable photo mouse before. I think I know just the person to appreciate such a thing–and I needed a gift idea. I’ll go check it out further.

-Bette

The Gift Detective
November 13, 2009

@Bette – I know! Isn’t it a cool idea? And for someone who works at their computer a lot, it will be something they can enjoy every time it catches their eye.

Steve Call
November 15, 2009

Thanks a lot for your useful article. But I had trouble navigating through your site because I kept getting 502 bad gateway error. Just thought to let you know.

Matthew
November 15, 2009

I think if someone gave this to me I would deffinetly have to put a picture of a mouse in it, or maybe just a picture of mouse hair. You’ve certainly got it down pact for me when you say that guys like somehting practical and useful. I could never understand why the girls in my family love buying anything that doesn’t do anything. Sure I like the occasional cool looking item that you put on a shelf somewhere but what’s the deal with all of these singing stuffed animals and toys for adults? WHo needs another mechanical dancing dog that sings merry christmas? oh waite, my sister does, LOL.

On another note, I finally had time to start reading the book you gave me and it is great so far. I really am able to see bits of myself in the main character. THanks for the great gift! Hey I’ve got an idea, you should be a Gift Detective!

The Gift Detective
November 15, 2009

@Steve – Thanks for the compliment *and* the heads up. It seems the problem resolved itself and it just an occasional glitch with/between servers. If there are other topics you would like to see more of please feel free to contact me!

@Matthew – You make an excellent point Matthew…what you are not into your recipient *is* into! For instance, I can’t imagine in my wildest dreams thinking that one of those singing fish things are a good present…but they sold so many of them because someone loved them! So, when you need a gift for your sister I’m here to help you.

So glad you are enjoying the book! I think (hope) you find that it just gets better as you get further along into it. Potok’s character development is great and you’ll meet other characters along the way that you’ll see bits of yourself in too, I think.