Thrifty Christmas: Gifts Under $5, Take Out Menu Binder

Here's my "go to" gift usually reserved for bridal showers, but would make a GREAT gift for those that have everything! Also makes a great gift for single people or super busy families! This is my personal Take Out Menu Binder and it gets used more often than I care to admit, however it's soooo handy having all my take out menus in one place! No more searching here or there to find the restaurants phone # or trying to figure out if that was the place that made the 5 lbs. of cheese pizza! LOL. All I have to do is flip to the correct tab and look through the page protector the menu is in...so easy! And easy and quick to make too!

Supplies Needed:

• 1" Clear View 3 Ring Binder
• 3 Hole Punch
• Clear Page Protectors
• Cardstock (12X12 and 8 1/2 X 11 Heavy cardstock)
• Label Maker (or stamps)
• Punch (for tabs)
• Brads

Instructions:

1. Start by measuring your front cover, this is going to be bigger than your standard 8 1/2 X 11 (they all vary slightly from manufacturer to manufacturer of your binder, so make sure you measure).
2. Cut your cover (s) (remember to do something to the back also!) and decorate. In mine I used patterned paper, Mrs. Grossmans stickers, and my Cricut for the lettering.
3. Now measure and cut your side strip. Slip it in the binder 1X to make sure it's the right size before decorating. Do NOT decorate this very lumpy, it's difficult at times to slide this one down because of the narrow opening! IF you have trouble sliding it in the narrow opening, use a thin ruler to help you.
4. Now figure out your Tab labels for inside, I chose to go with; Pizza, American, Mexican and Chinese. 3-Hole punch 4 pieces of 8 1/2 X 11 cardstock (these are the dividers, so you want something sturdy!)
5. Create your tabs and stagger them, make sure you again use heavy weight cardstock for the tabs as well as attach them with brads (I also ran my tabs through my xyron as well as attaching them with the brads), these will get a lot of use and you don't want them to fall apart on the recipient!
6. Place in binder and put a few clear page protectors between each.