It’s late, after 9 PM on a Friday, but I don’t want to let Friday pass without sharing again about thrifting for gifting with a #frugalfriday tag. I don’t have many days left to share about thrifting gifts for Christmas, with the big day less than two weeks away. Here are more ideas of thrifting for gifting! Part 1 is over here, where I talked about making themed-book baskets for the book lovers in your life. I gave my mom the basket above, with the theme of her interests, for her birthday yesterday. I had so much fun putting this together. The photo below shows the books I picked. Now that I’m posting this photo I realize the bow’s loops aren’t even but oh well, just look at the books and not the bow.

I found all these books at thrift stores, as well as the basket. I know my mom loves near death experience stories (NDE) or stories about people who die and come back to life so when I saw the book in the upper left corner months ago I got it for her. Sorry about the glare in the photo above, here it is below.

The book in the bottom left corner is a book by Susan Branch, a tiny gift book about Christmas. If you want to know more about Susan Branch books, go here and here. I love finding her books when thrifting, it feels like finding thrifting gold! They aren’t gold in terms of being able to resell and make a huge profit, but they are gold in terms of bringing much pleasure to me. Sometimes I find them in the children’s book section even though they aren’t children’s books. They are cookbooks and homemaking books. Ms. Branch does all the text by hand-lettering and illustrates all the books with ink and watercolor. They are just so charming with all the fun illustrations, ideas, and anecdotes. I knew my mom would love reading this since she is an artist as well. This was only $1!

I remember my mom telling me a few year ago that she likes Sarah Palin so when I found a book about Christmas by Sarah Palin with her conservative views I knew my mom would love it. It was $1.50.

Then I found a book that still had the retail sticker price on it, about Mary, the mother of Jesus, by Camille Fronk Olson. It was $2. It has so many different lovely artist renditions of Mary, along with Ms. Olson’s scholarship on Mary. Again, since my mom is an artist I knew she would love seeing all these different paintings of Mary. My favorite painting in the book is the one by Elspeth Young, and my second favorite is the one showing Mary and Joseph traveling to Bethlehem by Joseph Brickey, below. I just love his use of light and shadow. It is so amazing!

I took the basket to my mom yesterday on her birthday. We enjoyed looking at all the paintings in the book together and talking about them. The image on the cover is also by Elspeth Young. I just love beautiful artwork and love to look at art with my mom.

Then I found the cute mug below back in November, on Black Friday. It’s hard to tell in the photo below, but it has a cut-out-heart shape that goes all the way through the mug. I knew my mom would get a kick out of it and she did, as evidenced by her laugh when she saw it. Then I got the potholders new at the Dollar Tree and the tea at a grocery store. The herbal tea bags are what is inside the mug.

I also added a candle, never used, as the wick was not burnt, that I found at the Provo DI for $1, plus a bag of mixed nuts and sugar-free chocolate chips since she is allergic to sugar. She loved it all. When I walked into her home and showed her the basket, she said, “Oh, do I get to pick one of the presents from your basket?” I told her “Oh, they are all for you!” She was so surprised! It really made my day, as she said I had made her day. Then on this Sunday we are having a family dinner birthday party for her with everyone, and I’m going to give her another gift, the gray cardigan sweater I thrifted on my trip to Maine to visit my sister Emily last October. It was NWT but only $10, at a Goodwill in South Portland, ME. It’s in the photo below. It’s a large so I don’t know if it will fit since she’s a small, but if she decides it doesn’t fit, she can give it back to me :-). (There’s something about my camera lens that makes the sweater look wavy, when it really doesn’t have wavy lines.)

Then I also have some Christmas gifts that I got for her and my dad that are all thrifted. I’m giving my mom these two books below:

My mom and I are descended from John Howland, “The Boy Who Fell off the Mayflower” and my dad and I are descended from William Bradford, so I think she will enjoy this book because, hey, it’s family history! Then I got this board game below, brand-new, with the seal intact at Savers’ earlier this year, which I think she’ll love because she’s an artist. I was gong to keep this myself to replace the same game I got thrifting years ago but needs new markers but now I’d rather give the new one to her. I’ve played it once before and enjoyed it. I gave her another Bob Ross board game for Christmas a while ago so this will complete the collection.

Then I got this puzzle for my dad, below, at Savers for $4, since he served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Winnipeg Canada as a single young man before he met my mom. He has a bunch of Eric Dowdle puzzles but I’m pretty sure not this one. We often put these puzzles together as a family when we stay at my parents’ cabin.

My dad has gotten into poetry lately, especially since he retired after 45 years as a college professor. I’m hoping he loves this book I just found at the Provo DI for $2. It’s over $45 on amazon right now so what a deal!

Below are some fun videos I’ve enjoyed lately that can show many more ideas for thrifting for Christmas gifts. It really is amazing what you can find at thrift stores! You can give thoughtful gifts that really make the people feel loved for a fraction of the cost of new items.