That does sound cute. I am a farmer's wife, I have to go to feed store today, and I'm drawing a blank! Maybe when I get back I'll think of something. Have you seen cake and cookie mixes made up in the ball jars? That would be nice with a towel or mitt? Maybe Hand Lotion? Garden gloves and fall bulbs?

A farming wife's day starts very early in the morning. Because she is doing so many things over one period of time..how about one of the coffee cup electric warmers? I LOVE mine! You could get a case of specialty tea bags & Dollar Store mugs. Place the mug on the warmer, place the teabag in the mug & wrap in colored cellophane and tied with a gingham ribbon (or get a bunch of the red bandana print handkies, cut in strips & use as ribbons!). I am almost sure if you contact the company that makes the warmers-because you need so many, they would ship them to you at a really good price per case!! The brand I have is Toastmaster. Been keeping my coffee warm for 4 years now, whilst I read my morning paper, throw in laundry, etc., etc.

I'll bet last year's gift was really cute. I think it's a great idea. But since your have to keep around $4.00 and there's only so many things available in that price range, I think I'll save myself a lot of work trying to think of something new each year and just start a tradition of giving out some type of mix each year.

This year you could do a bread mix or a coffee cake. How about a cookie mix and you could tie each one with a cookie cutter? Adding a dish towel is always nice. Are you able to order from one of your suppliers at wholesale in order to keep your prices down?

Peg's ideas are great. I'd love the garden gloves & bulbs.

I missed Sharon's post while I was typing mine. Her ideas are clever too, especially the bandana handkerchief!

Or, if you want to go in a different direction--what about some bulbs that could be planted now for spring flowers? Possibly wrapped in a dollar store basket, with maybe some garden gizmo's if you can find any on clearance?

Are these all couples that come... Or do you have male customers and female customers? What are the men getting... would it be something the woman may like too? I hate it when there are two types of gifts and I prefer the one I didn't get.

Or, if they are all generally couples that come maybe you could get something to compliment the men's gift. Like if the man gets a fishing knife, the wife could get some fish frying batter mix (ok, maybe not the best idea, but I hope you get what I mean).

I can't imagine going wrong w/ hand lotion, or bubble bath, but somebody mentioned bulbs and boy!! do I like that idea!!! I've given bulbs for presents and that's a great gift. Just give something that doesn't have to be dug up at the end of the season, like tulip or caladium. Give good ole' daffodils that will come back year after year.

A pair of gloves, a tube of hand lotion and a tube of chapstick
A mug with a couple of packets of apple cider mix and hot chocolate mix
Candles are always nice
Mixes in a jar wrapped with a dish towel

The mug and apple cider idea is a good one, but I just love the daffodils suggestion. Just imagine how pretty the area will look next spring with all your daffodils popping up! It's like a second round of advertizing. You can probably find the huge bags of daffs for not much and split them up into packages of 5 or 6.

Lots of good ideas here. I like the bulbs, hand lotion.

Oh! I just thought of something else! It might sound labor intensive (did you mention when this is?) but if you and any neighbors who are willing and you know how to sew? Wouldn't one of the old time kitchen aprons be a pretty & useful gift? You know, the ones with the bib on them & ruffled (or plain) bottoms? Wondering if you bought the entire bolt (or 2 or 3) LOL.. of cotton material, you should be able to get a good discount.

Or..how about a pretty recipe box with a set of mixing spoons & recipe cards?

What about some new cookie cutters just in time for the holidays? I know they can be relatively inexpensive...

If you're a country feed store, I would think a perfect gift would be a tin (either the tiny ones or the regular size) of Bag Balm would be appreciated. Of course you can offer it with any one of the other ideas mentioned here.

Jodi- who uses Bag Balm every day and lives nowhere near a farm.

I like the bulb idea. All of the farm women I know love to plant bulbs. They don't really get into planting seeds except marigolds and daisies, or care for plants that require a lot of pampering.

*Fall bulbs* (tulips, daffodils, crocus, narcissus)are planted now and will come up and bloom in the spring. *Spring bulbs* are planted in the spring and come up in the summer (gladiolas). Spring bulb need to be lifted every year and are a lot of work.

For hand lotion I would get something that is not floral. Floral scents attract bees and bugs when you work outside. Some lotions are manufactured in earthy scents like tomato and coffee that actually repel bugs yet smell wonderful to humans. Some like Burt's Bees Farmers Friend Hand Creme has eucalyptus in it to keep bugs away. It is out of your planned budget but there may be something similar.

Use the search terms 'kitchen soap' or 'garden soap' and even tomato soap/lotion, cucumber, coffee, pear to find such products. Burts Bees Castelbel, L'Occitane all make fabulous garden soap and lotion but they are pricey I read that Target carries a nice line though.

Here is a link that might be useful: Burts Bees Farmers Friend

My bank had a small table of gifts for customers. Pens, tape measures,coffee mugs, stuff like that gender-neutral.

Hi tralynn, if you Google "craft gift ideas" a lot of sites come up. Also, www.familyfun.com is good for easy inexpensive craft projects.

I like the bulb idea. Get plain, small terra cotta pots and paint them and decorate them however you like. I'm not crafty so I can't think of ways to do it, but I know plenty of people here are. Then stick the bulbs in to be planted in the spring.

That's a mighty small budget you have to work with. Sure hope you get some good ideas.