Guest Author - Valerie Shoopman

I just love to give lots of gifts to people, but doing that requires some thought if you want something meaningful, but not costly. I think holidays are much better when you can give additional gifts without breaking the bank or your budget. With all the stress the holidays can bring, you certainly don’t want even more stress of not having enough money for groceries! So that being said… check out the following ideas for holiday gifts that are either free, you just might be surprised at what you find.

Free audio books – You can find many free audio books for instant download that will play on a MP3 player or a CD player. Since I think it is such fun watching people unwrap their gifts, I would burn the free audio books to a CD so it could be wrapped. If you were already planning on buying a MP3 player, you could pre-load the free audio books on the MP3 player before you wrapped it. Audio books are a great way to learn new information or pass the time constructively while driving or waiting in doctor’s offices. They are also a great way to share stories with your kids while your cooking, taking a bath, or preparing for the following day. I love to encourage children to visualize and draw out what they are hearing as they listen to audio books. It’s a great way to build their vocabulary and comprehension skills. To spark your child’s imagination, or lose yourself in a good book will cost you nothing. You can choose from 47 different free audio book titles to download instantly at http://www.emediaxpress.com/free.

Record your own audio book or special message using a free software called Audacity. This is one of the best free software packages I’ve seen. You can record MP3 files directly to the computer with a standard plug-in microphone. The controls are very easy and intuitive. Just press the red record button, start talking, click the stop button, save the file. Once you have the audio recorded, you can do some more advanced editing if you like, cut out dead spots, increase the volume in low areas, or remove background noise are just a few of the features. Once you’re satisfied, then you can easily export the audio as an MP3 file with just a couple of clicks. I use Audacity on a regular basis. I love using it to record oral readings of a child at the beginning of the year and then again at the end of the year to show growth and progress. Parents love nothing more than hearing their child read, and when they can hear that progress with their own ears, it is really powerful stuff. Download Audacity for free at http://audacity.sourceforge.net.

Add pizzazz to your PowerPoint presentations and only do them once instead of over and over again with Camtasia. Studio. This is a widely used, feature-packed screencasting software package that will allow you to integrate PowerPoint slides with voice, highlighting, and annotation and turn it into a video that can be played over and over again from your local computer, or uploaded to a web site for others to see. Camtasia really comes in handy for teaching difficult, abstract math concepts that require several explanations before it sinks in. You can just do the presentation once, have all the steps involved color coded, and then have it play over and over again as many times as needed for as many people as needed. You can download Camtasia Studio at http://download.techsmith.com/camtasiastudio/enu/312/camtasiaf.exe. You will have to request your registration key at http://www.techsmith.com/camtasia/pcpls.asp. The only catch is this is version 3 and the current version is 5. However, version 3 is still very sweet and you can upgrade for a much lower price than buying version 5 outright if you choose.

Enjoy these freebies over the holidays whether you choose to “give” them to someone else or just enjoy them for yourself. Have a safe and happy holiday season!