Summer is filled with parties, birthdays, holidays and vacations - do you have any frugal gift and vacation ideas?

This time of the year can be a bit expensive (next to Christmas) with all the parties and potential vacations… not to mention birthdays. There are ways to experience a fun filled summer without breaking your pocket book. The most important thing to do is try to plan ahead and get a good idea of what your major expenses are going to be (vacations and gifts…etc).
To save big on vacation, try considering local places or areas within your state. California has a bunch of great beach cities and vacation places that don’t attract the high tourism traffic and prices, yet they are beautiful locations with bargain price lodging. Also, try making your vacation a group trip so that you can split some expenses. Having great company can always make a vacation better.

As far as gifting goes, this is more of a personal matter. You don’t always have to get an expensive gift. Try to be more creative and find something that might mean more to that individual. Creating and making the gift can save you even more money. All my opinions above pretty much outline my first year out of college and into my career. I still didn’t have much money saved up yet, but I didn’t have a boring year either.