I have a bit of a pinched budget too. My children eat it and wear it mainly lol

What I like to do every year is go through the catalogues prior to xmas and often there are really nice dishes or plates that are very inexpensive. They can be xmas plates but sometimes I prefer to use something from Asia. There are lots of great shapes, designs and colours as well. Then I put them aside and closer to giving the actual present, I make something like shortbread and arrange on the plate and match with some cellophane and ribbon and nice home made card. I use raffia for ribbon.

I used to buy jars cheapy too at sales. Little jars with sealed lids for safe storage. Sterilize the jars and make something like prunes in port. It's basically just seeded prunes with port poured over the top (I would use a cheap one because prunes absorb it) and add a cinnamon stick and bob's your uncle. Put it away for a month or so and it's ready to go.