After I read Briana’s post, I glanced up and fixed my eyes upon a cute wine glass that a good friend decorated for me one year for a birthday present and thought, “Perfect for an ‘in my budget’ and affordable 21-year-old present!”.  Then it hit me: I was inspired to write a post just for you!  Here are the cash-friendly ideas and create-your-own/do-it-yourself presents I have done myself, been given, or thought of while brainstorming.  These gifts will identify to a sorority sister, casual co-ed, classy co-ed, comedic co-ed and a great girlfriend. 

1.  I just mentioned a wine glass, but you do not have to choose that one.  You can decide from a martini glass, margarita glass, or even a wine bottle!  Plain ones can be found anywhere for a cheap price: Wal-Mart, TJ Maxx, any craft store, and other similar locations.  If you don’t have any yourself, find a friend that has the painting essentials: paintbrushes (think about cup-ware size when choosing this as well), bright and fun acrylic paint colors and you can choose to dab a wee bit of modge podge over the dried paint for lifetime stay!

2.  This is a very cute one for sorority sisters: order or buy a baby paddle for less than $5 from A.C. Moore or other stores that provide them.  They are as long as one of your lengthier fingers and can be used as a keychain as well.  You can paint or order her initials letters or the numbers ‘2’ and ‘1’. Cut a little bit of string and tell her she can put it on her doorknob, wall, or my favorite – hang from her car’s rearview mirror. 

3.  If not a sorority girl, you can still use the same idea as #2, but without an obvious “fraternity/sorority” paddle and buy a straighter, more board like small keychain, star, or princess crown to decorate however you want to!

4.  I recently made my mom and a friend a pictured collage birthday card at the picture station at Wal-Mart that takes less than 5 minutes!  It was LESS than one dollar!  You could easily put pictures of you and the special birthday girl in the collaged frames and type a little message along with it and maybe add a cute cocktail mixer, margarita salt-top, a lime- anything to go along with it!  It is personable, yet very inexpensive and shows you still care and took time to customize your charming card! 

5.  Buy a poster and write down 21 creative things she will have to do on her birthday with you and her other friends!  A couple of things my friend Anna wrote for our friend Sarah to do were: “Go into your room and find something wacky, tacky, and fun to wear for the rest of the night – and must get approved by Anna and Kayla” – the winner: a backpack. “Randomly yell ‘it’s my birthday!’ or ‘I’m 21!’ throughout the night”.  You get the idea!

6.  Create a “Margarita” Basket.  Buy a basket and pick and choose to add: margarita glass (and decorate – look at #1), mix, salt-top, lime, Bath & Body Works “Island Margarita” home fragrance room spray and/or 4 oz. candle. 

7.  Wine stopper and wine glass tassels!  Definitely cash-friendly and very cute accessories! (My friend Abby gave me those in the picture!)

8.  For giggles: a breathalyzer – just Google or go to Amazon to find super cheap deals, and then you can create and add something from #1-#8 above! 

9.  For more chuckles: “Cocktails for Dummies” book and create and add something from #1-#8 above!

10.  Buy a cork board to hang onto her wall.  Think of a general color scheme and paint the board a base color.  Once dried, write with another color of your ideal spectrum something along the lines of “My 21st birthday…” or “My First Legal Moments/Memories” or something more creative.  Then draw different colors of paint to act as pictured borders where she will place photos from her 21st birthday bash once they’re printed.  If there was a theme involved, try to use those colors or symbols in a corner or two, or between borders, example: Mardi Gras – purple, gold, green and masquerade mask or beads.  Oh, and add a little message on the back so she won’t forget who gave it to her in the future and for proof you are SO imaginative!! J 

11.  My best friend Abby did this for me one year, too!  Get a ceramic piggy bank (I know AC Moore and Michaels has them) and decorate with ceramic paint pen or acrylic and smooth over a dab of modge podge for long-lasting stay.  Add a little message on a card to say, “Just four more years until you can rent a car!  You can start saving now!”

12.  Create a photo album of 21 different adventures you and your sister/co-ed/girlfriend have created together and add little captions beside them.  You can probably find a scrapbook/photo album with an unfinished wooden cover that you can paint and decorate as well! 

13.  For laughs: Get a picture printed that you know is not your birthday girl’s favorite.. for funny reasons of course- where she is blinking, laughing, not ready for the picture, acting silly and add a little message to say it is her new driver’s license picture, note it’s a joke (duh!), and offer to drive her to the local DMV and pay for her new license if it requires payment. If no charge or very little, take her out for a birthday dessert too!

14.  Speaking of dessert, one of the easiest and fun ways to show you took out time for your best girl’s birthday is to bake goodies, like a cake, cupcakes, or whatever!  Check out a yummy cake balls recipe we just love!  

These gifts don’t have to be just for a 21-year-old!  You can add them in a Big/Little present mix, another birthday age, or for any special occasion!  Tell us which present you chose to do for your next girlfriend’s 21st birthday at intern@collegelifestyles.org!

Kayla Norris is an intern at College Lifestyles(TM).  She is a proud sister of Alpha Sigma Tau National Sorority and her favorite gift to make/decorate is the corkboard (#10)!