Ugh. I dread the hours it takes to put together a thoughtful gift. But I also love finding the perfect gift for my extended family and friends. What a bind. This year I may send out electronic gift cards, like the animated ones below that are for sale on Amazon. Check out the cute stuff they have!

Electronic gift cards are a great idea for a holiday gift and they’re not the only type of electronic gifts out there. If you’re still looking to make holiday photo cards an easy and frugal way to do so is by making an E-card. What’s great about E-cards is that you can make them at home for little to no cost. You also save by not having to use stamps!

My favorite free E-card apps are Smilebox and PicMonkey. PicMonkey will be very easy to use for anyone who’s familiar with Instagram. The available templates and effects are similar to Instagram and are extremely user-friendly. I use this primarily to create collage photo cards. Every year my siblings and I fight about which holiday picture we like best. With the collage style card we can all pick a favorite picture of ourselves and have them included in the card.

Smilebox is excitedly different because they have animated cards. You can add music and other fun features to make your card unique. When I showed my grandma the card she fell in love with it. Besides holiday cards, Smilebox also has templates for cards for graduation, Valentine’s Day, baby announcements and more.

In my opinion, E-cards are a great way to stay in contact with friends and family. When giving gift cards or presents I often have to knock people off my list to stay on budget. E-cards are a frugal way to let someone know you’re thinking of them during the holidays.

Another idea for a cheap holiday gift, are Kindle e-books. If you know a friend or family member has a Kindle, a great gift  would be a list of free e-books you know they would enjoy. If you’re able to spend a little money, Amazon often has sales for highly-rated Kindle books with prices starting as low as $0.99. You can score ten E-books for the price of one hardcover book. What a steal!

What do you think? Would you like an electronic gift?

Have you ever sent an electronic gift?