by Kay Kim, staff reporter

Holiday season is soon approaching, and that means stressing about finding flawless gifts. It is always quite challenging to find the perfect one.

“My struggle is whether a person will like it [the gift] or not. I try to take hints from the person by talking about the gift to see their thoughts,” senior Emilee Verdaguer said.

People are usually uncertain about what gifts they want, which makes things harder for the gifter. There is always a giftee who is way too simple and doesn’t favor anything. On the contrary, there is a person that seems to have everything in the world and doesn’t need anything else. In other cases, there is the person that is solely too difficult to find a gift for.

Prices can be another concern as consumer products may be way too expensive to even lay a finger upon.

Now, these worries can be wished a good farewell, as there are easy and affordable gifts.

Mason Jar Gift Bundles

Gifts in a mason jar has been and continues to be a very popular gift idea. This is a bundle of small items that are packaged into a glass mason jar. If for some reason, a mason jar cannot be found, a cleaned glass jars of pasta sauce can supplant it.

For females, it is a guaranteed option to buy travel size body lotion, fragrance mist, hand sanitizer, and/or hand lotion from Bath and Body Works, The Body Shop, etc… Adding in Kisses or shredded tissue paper can patch the empty looks in the jar.

Another way to fill the jars is by loading it with a variety of sweets. It is prefered to deviate from the original mason jar and use a smaller jar that has a different shape. Amazon sells square glass jars and vintage milk favor jars, which are some options to choose from.

The final step is to give it a little bit of decoration. They can be topped with a red ribbon, a red, white, and green label, and/or a candy cane for the holiday look.

Cookie Gifts

Baking cookies is an additional trouble-free gift idea. It is hard to go wrong with them when they are a widely favored food.

For this time of the season, it is a good idea to use sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies.

If one is inexperienced with baking from scratch, it is alright to buy the cookie mix boxes from the grocery store. There are ingredients and directions on the back of the box that are to be followed.

Holiday themed cookie cutters can be used to shape the cookie dough before it heads into the oven. This will augment to the holiday spirit. For gingerbread cookies, a gingerbread man shaped cookie cutter should be used. For the sugar cookies, a snowman or a snowflake shape can be used.

In terms of decoration, icing and sanding sugar will give the cookies some ornamentation. (Make sure to wait until the cookies are cooled before decorating them. A warm cookie will melt the icing).

Once the cookies have been baked and decorated, they can be packaged into small goodie bags.

Although baking the cookies may take some time, overall, it is an affordable last minute gift idea.

Miscellaneous Gifts

As the cold weather draws nearer, the feet must be kept warm and cozy. This can only mean one thing – fuzzy socks. They can be purchased at almost any store, including Target, Dollar Tree, etc… Several pairs of fuzzy socks wrapped in a box will be ready to be the toasty gift of the season.

There are also DIY (do-it-yourself) gifts that can be made at home, such as picture frames. Plain picture frames can be bought at Michael’s, Target, Raindew, etc… to be customized for the giftee. A memorable picture will make the gift more personal.

“An affordable gift idea is to create something you can make, such as a picture frame. You can buy a few materials and make them,” seventh grader Sasha Romero said.

Another DIY gift is decorated cups, which has been another popular gift idea. A solid-colored cup is decorated using a Sharpie. Then, it is baked in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit so that the color will not erode.

If all else fails, one can get a gift card.

“I get them [my friends] gift cards and money so they are not stuck with something they don’t like,” Verdaguer said.