Anonymous wrote:I am currently unemployed so I had to be somewhat "creatively / cheap" when figuring out gifts for the family.
I am giving the oldest niece who is 14 a journal and pen;
for the second niece who is 13 I am giving her a set of lip gloss
The other two girls (ten and seven) I have craft kits I got on sale earlier this Summer.
Please don't stress; while gift cards are nice and relatively easy, they also add stress for the amount you are giving... the kids may not notice but the parents will and if you are OK with that... then so be it.
Seriously, how many of you remember what you got for a gift from your extended family when you were a teenager?
I'm 53 and remember the books and records (yes, records) that I got from my youngest aunt, my godmother and my older female cousins. In fact, I still have several of these treasured items and have passed them down to my teen DD. These gifts came with love and often they were meant to convey important messages to me about growing up.
Not to say that the craft kits, lip gloss, etc. aren't cool -- in fact, I think your nieces will love them -- and I certainly don't want to add stress to anyone's life at the holidays, but, a gift card is really impersonal.