It’s May now, that means June is almost here. Are you ready for wedding season? Thankfully, I don’t have many friends who are the marrying kind, or that are traditional enough to get married in June, but you might have those kind of friends or family, so here are some ways to save money on wedding gifts this year.

So, one issue we all seem to have is that money is tight like my gramma with her money. But, there’s no getting out of gifts this year. Where can you find a cheap wedding gift and not look cheap? How much should you spend? If you’re invited to one of the wedding dinners a good rule of thumb is to spend about as much as the dinner would have cost.

This could run between $50 and $125. You’re certainly not obligated to spend that much but polite etiquette also says you should not go empty handed. How can you afford to give something special yet affordable?

Select the gift early. Go ahead and get it over with and check the gift registry. With so many weddings, especially in the spring, registry items can quickly get picked over leaving you with little to choose or gifts out of your price range.

The great thing about this day and age is that brides and grooms are adding a broad selection of gifts in all price ranges. Again, shop early for best (and cheapest) idea to save money. With the distinct possibility of going to two or three weddings in the same year even an inexpensive gift could add up!

Save money by making it yourself

Use your imagination and creativity to make or buy something that’s personalized for the newlyweds. Wedding gift baskets can be geared to their particular tastes and lifestyle. Most new brides need kitchen gadgets so a basket filled with kitchen basics, a few epicurean recipe ingredients and even a recipe book would be perfect. The groom could appreciate this more than you know and it might help a new couple save money in their first year, which can be tight for new couples anyway.

Frame their wedding invitation. Make the frame yourself or buy one that can be personalized with their names and wedding date. Framing a favorite poem or readings from the ceremony itself is a very considerate gift.

Newlyweds are usually on a tight budget so give them a movie night out. You could spring for movie tickets and cash for the popcorn or buy them a romantic movie DVD and include a package of popcorn to pop. Put all this in a popcorn bowl along with two boxes of movie candy. How about you buy them a subscription to RedBox or Hulu.com? They can use the gift all year long for date nights.

Give a bottle of wine with a note attached that the wine will be at its prime in 10 years and it’s not to be opened until their 10th anniversary. Decorate the bottle with bows or ribbons. You could also include ingredients for a romantic dinner such as pasta and a gourmet sauce. A couple of candles would round out the gift nicely.

Usually, the thoughtful gifts, and the humorous ones will be remembered even longer than the really expensive gifts, and it might not so obvious that you were trying to save money on the 15th wedding of the season!

Famous Recipe 53 Carmel corn

We called my Dad, Grampa Popcornwhen my oldest kiddo got old enough to tell the difference between grampas. My Dad was known for his popcorn loaded, soaked really, with melted butter.

So, when we got the oportunity to try out flavored popcorn from Jody’s Popcorn, it was too hard to say no.

The story behind Jody’s Popcorn is too cute. Jody and her husband visited resorts on the eastern seaboard and ate Carmel corn everywhere they could. He used caramel corn in his proposal to her and when a resort opened in their home town, they decided it would only be fitting to open up their own popcorn shop.

Jody’s hubby test over 50 recipes before finding the perfect caramel corn formula. Can you even imagine? That’s a lot of caramel corn to eat before you decide there’s one that’s perfect!

My personal favorite flavor is cheese popcorn, especially if it’s mixed with something sweet like carmel or chocolate like Jody’s fusion. Jody’s offers all of that and a whole lot more flavors, like Mardi Gras and Cheesi Chilli.

Holiday sampler pack popcorn

Jody sent me a few flavors, including the famous recipe 53 caramel corn. I have to be honest about my reservations going in. We have a local popcorn shop in our town and it’s fabulous. Their popcorn is super fresh and isn’t on their shelf for longer than a day or two. So with that in mind I wasn’t sure if Jody’s would be as fresh as I’m used to.

However, I wasn’t disapointed. The bags we tried were good! Yummy, sweet, but not too sweet.

The people at Jody’s Popcorn even wanted me to share a special coupon code with you! The code is: REV15 and this promo code is worth 15% off the entire order when you order at www.jodyspopcorn.com

If you order, or if you’ve tried their flavors, we want to hear about it. So, leave a comment below!

Or learn to cook better for yourself with Taste of Home.

How about organic and fair trade chocolate? You can still keep your resolutions in line with this, I promise!