Dad is turning 65 - any ideas for a "free" or low cost gift I can make? I'm participating in the spending freeze and I really want to be good!

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My sister in law gave me a coffee mug with my boys pictures on it and I love it. She said it was very inexpensive but to me it is priceless. Also last year I gave everyone in the family a calendar with different family members pictured for each month. I think it was around $7-11 and everyone said they loved them. I think you could make one on the computer if you are way more computer savvy than me. Everyone needs a calendar. Good luck!

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abneyms

I like the calender idea

My friend gave her mom who turned 75- a coin from 75 years ago and then one from the current year- she made a nice display in a shadow box with both coins.

My sil made a college that resembled a newpaper and put in pictures ie. one with him as a baby, high school grad., with his forst car, with you as kids, with the grandkids then had dates and a little paragraph discribing the photo- kinda like current day scrapboooking though in one frame. Reflecting the past 65 years was the heading.

I think the coffee mug idea is a great one! We made something similar for FIL one year with our kids handprints. Something we are doing for our grandma's birthdays this year is making a small scrapbook of our family, including pictures that the kids have drawn and letters they have written.

When my mil turned 70 we came up with 70 reasons why we loved her. My husband, son and I all thought of some.. I printed it out on parchment paper from the scrapbooking store and used some different scrapbooking paper as the border. We framed it in a frame from walmart. It was the greatest present she says she has ever received!
Good Luck!
Genie

One frugal year I wrote my Dad a hand written note telling him about my happy memories as a child and what I remembered about him. I shared why I was proud of him and how I looked up to him and continue to admire him. He cried. It was really touching. He told me later it was the best gift he's ever received.

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Mom to dd (age 9) and ds (age 11)
blogging daily about purpose and personal identity

If you have some photos you can put together a slide show. It would be really sweet.
You can also burn it to a DVD and have it play to music. This way he can watch it over and over again.

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Heather
Mom to three dd 14, ds 9, dd 5
http://www.facebook.com

I have given "memory boxes" as gifts and it is always a hit...to men and women. For an Aunt of mine I bought a pottery"box" with a lid, for my Mom it was one of those photo boxes with a hinged lid tha you put photos on the outside (Walmart for $3), to a friend it was a paper mache box froma craft store i decorated....you get the idea.

Inside you fill it with notes about past memories that make you smile. For my Aunts I had my Mom, brother, cousins, myself all do a list of memories from childhood to the present. Each year she has added more to the pot and they take them out at holiday meals and read them aloud.

I did this idea, but on a flip type scrapbook. Each page had a photo of a grandchild, or special moment with him and an explanation of how it was a special time.

Kim, I was going to suggest this one too. You seem pretty computer savy and you would probably not have a hard time doing this. Are they having a get together or party for your Dad? You could go one step further and if you have the ability to tie in video clips of family members talking about your Dad (i.e. your Mom and siblings etc.) then you could lace that together with some photos and in the end the whole room will be in tears.
I know there are programs for this sort of thing.......I see my husband do it all the time. He's the computer guy in our family. He even did a video like this for a friends wedding aniversary.

Would a coupon book work of things he's like? Like lunch out once a month, dinner with your family, a Saturday with just you, help around the house, things like that?

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