Drooling over something fabulous that’s still out of your price range?  Consider signing up for the websites e-newsletter.  You typically don’t have to make a purchase to register, and nearly every email that hits your inbox will contain coupon codes, free shipping deals, and other money-saving offers.  For example, I’ve had my eye on these incredible outer-space robot Christmas ornaments all month!  But with Christmas still 8 months away, I can bide my time until I see an offer I can’t refuse.

#1 – The Homemade Coupon

This is hands-down our favorite low-cost gift and one that will be especially loved by a spouse, parents or grandparents. Who says a Christmas gift has to cost money? Spend a little time creating a homemade coupon good for a free back rub, 5 nights of doing the dishes or a week of breakfast in bed. What mom isn’t going to love receiving a coupon from her kids worth 2 hours of “quiet time” or a coupon from her husband for a week of diaper-changing. You can even spring for the $2.99 Christmas card to enclose the coupon.

#2 – A Framed Photo

Find a great photo of you and the gift recipient. There may be a digital photo sitting somewhere on a computer hard drive. Maybe it’s on your Facebook or Flickr account or in some long lost folder. Dig up a great photo and have it printed in 4×6 or 5×7 size at any one of the many online printing services. Most offer extremely low-cost prints as well as free prints for new accounts.

Then buy a nice little photo frame. You may be surprised to find that there are well over 200 photo frames available in all shapes and sizes for less than $5. Check out Pronto Home for all the sizes and styles. The one featured here would make a great gift and is only $3.12 at Sears.

See the Photo Frames

#3 – A Christmas Ornament

The holiday ornament is a very nice gift that will be used year after year. It’s an inexpensive gift, often less than the cost of a scented candle, yet can look like it cost much more. Our favorites are the blown glass ornaments or the old-style wooden or metal ornaments that look like something out of a Norman Rockwell painting.

CB2 offers a handblown frosted glass snowman for only $1.95. It’s simple, sleek and is a modern take on a traditional ornament. With a nice box and wrapping paper, this will make a great little gift.

We found hundreds of holiday ornaments for under $5 from great stores like Pottery Barn, CB2, Target and more.

See the Ornaments

#4 – Holiday Sugar Cookies

Flour and sugar are cheap and water is free. Get the basics for making cookies for less than $5 at your local supermarket and spend the afternoon baking sugar cookies in all the traditional holiday shapes. What to pack them in? Here you will need to do a little recycling and regifting. Use last year’s cookie tins or some of the gift bags you’ve received in the past and stored in the closet.

#5 – A Bottle of “Inexpensive” Wine

Notice that I didn’t say cheap. The quality of wine is subjective and when someone doesn’t recognize the brand and has no idea of the price, more often than not, they also won’t know the difference. Don’t go to the liquor store for this one as these smaller stores are less likely to have wines below the $5 threshold. Try a local supermarket that runs good sales or weekly specials. Don’t buy a mainstream brand and judge the wine based on the label. A simple, elegant wine label will make the gift recipient think you bought this special wine while touring through the Napa Valley back in 1997. Who knows, you could have been storing it all these years just for this special occasion. Enjoy.

Ornaments and lights are essential decorations for any classic Christmas tree. I love finding unique light strings that glow in different colors or have non-standard shapes. Now you can combine ornaments and lights with these holiday gift box ornaments from The Gerson Company that light up in different colors. Add small and festive accents to any tree with these 2×2 battery-operating flickering gift boxes available at Amazon.com for only $2.36. holiday Check prices on Pronto.com.

Get 20% off Christmas Posters now through Sept 30th with code GFTS20

Decorate your home with wonderful prints, posters and giclee artwork for the holiday season. Allposters.com is offering 20% off all orders now through September 30th. This is a limited time offer.

Find wonderful Christmas tree art prints in all sizes perfect to add holiday cheer to your home. See a selection of Christmas posters or view all poster art available online.

Seasonal Wreath of Dried Herbs from Williams-Sonoma

Perfect for the Fall season, Williams-Sonoma has created the most fragrant wreath of culinary herbs. The beautiful combination of yellow, purple, white and orange air-dried botanicals and dried chillies makes for a lovely kitchen accent or front door decoration.

While WS isn’t normally associated with big sales and discounts, we can’t help but love their over-the-top spectacular seasonal decor. They combine hard-to-find materials, beautiful dried flowers and much more in the most artistic fashion. Look for much more from Williams-Sonoma including beautiful Christmas wreaths as we get closer to the holiday.

Rarely in September is one thinking of the Christmas tree stand for tree that gets purchased in December. But this may be the year to invest in something a little more decorative than the raw wood hammered into the bottom of the tree at the point of purchase. You know what I’m talking about. The ugly wood and extraordinarily cheap water bucket that gets nailed into the bottom of your fresh-from-the-mountains Spruce.

This year, why not opt for a colorful and decorative Christmas tree stand or, better yet, one that revolves! Acehardware.com, Bellacor.com and Unbeatablesale.com all have Christmas tree stands on sale with prices ranging from $23.99 to $120 for trees of all sizes.

See all Christmas Tree Stands.

Macy's Exclusive Spode Dinnerware

Get your holiday dining dinnerware at 50% off or more. Macy’s has their exclusive Spode Christmas Tree Garland Dinnerware Collection at 50% off right now. Stock up on dishes, bowls, serving plates and more in this festive holiday pattern.

Want something a little more modern? Check out the colorful yet subtle Christmas plates from Noritake. Their Aria Platinum 8.25 inch Christmas plates come in sets of four. The soft Christmas tree design and muted pastel colors make them perfect for more than just the holiday season. Normally $104.95, get them now at 51% off or just $51.95 at Dinnerplates.com.

See more Christmas and Holiday dinnerware on sale at Pronto Home.

Leg Lamp Ornament

This one is a must-have at any price, but thankfully it’s under $7 so it won’t break the bank. Normally you’d want to get a whole set of ornaments at this price but in this case we will make an exception.

From the classic Christmas tale comes the most kitsch ornament on the market today. The leg lamp scene from A Christmas Story is one of my favorites in the whole movie. Who wouldn’t want a leg lamp sitting in the front window of the house for all the neighbors to admire and envy?

Now you can hang the infamous leg lamp right from your Christmas tree with these mini replicas for $6.99. The leg lamp ornaments obviously make great stocking stuffers and are also fun as office gag gifts. And with the leg lamp ornament, you’re guaranteed not to shoot your eye out!