Part of being a graduate student means feeling ever-so-slightly like a grown up. This makes for some awkwardness when the holidays come up and you realize that your account balance hovers just above a month of tuna fish sandwiches. When we were undergraduates, many of our families resigned themselves to having us show up, eat their food, open our gifts and leave. Now that we are graduate students, our semi-maturity grants us a sense of responsibility that leads to a holiday dilemma ... how do you provide for your entourage without taking out another student loan? This year, I suggest appealing to the vanity of your loved ones by using the following gift ideas.

1. Tell their story: Getting video equipment can be as easy as asking your roommate to borrow her Macintosh iBook for the weekend or heading to the library or Tech Center. Why not make a “documentary” about the history of your family? Round up a few friends and household props, and act out the story of your ancestors or more recent family lore. How did dad and mom meet or get engaged? You can play all the parts with some tricky editing or cast friends who need to procrastinate on their final papers. If a video seems too complex, just put together a power point slideshow and gather people around the computer. This works well via e-mail if your loved ones live across the pond. You can even narrate it over the phone to hear their reactions.

2. Champion their talent: Is your special someone or best friend a great writer — even over e-mail? Put together a book of your favorite chats or e-mail exchanges. For less than $5, you can have it bound and covered in plastic at Ram’s Copy Shop on the Ave. If it is one-liners your giftee is known for, turn some memorable quotes into refrigerator magnets. You can buy magnetic strips and paper at the bookstore.

3. Bake them alive: One of my favorite holiday activities is the gingerbread cookie. Mix up some icing, buy a few paintbrushes and decorate your cookies like the people in your life. If you love them, give them the cookie; if you don’t, bite off their head with extreme prejudice. If you mail the cookies, wrap them in wax paper and write the name of the doppelganger on the outside with a sharpie. This is a fun gift for your fellow TAs as well as family back home.

4. Meet their needs: In years past, my impecunious brother has lent me his car as a gift when I come home for Christmas. It saves me the cost of renting, and because I know how much he loves his car, I feel special getting to drive it. This strategy applies to long-ignored requests too. Now is the time to finally get rid of all your old stuff from your parents’ basement, change the oil in your partner’s car — it needs it — and polish all of grandma’s silver.

5. Exploit small children: If you have them, assist them in all the arts and crafting their little hands can handle. A framed drawing of a family member is a priceless keepsake. Ikea has a variety of inexpensive frames, as does Target. If you aren’t a breeder, offer to babysit your nieces and nephews, and put them to work. This, of course, is two gifts in one.

Nobody expects you to be prodigal. Showing you care enough to spend a little time on a gift — like that macaroni frame from years gone by — can still send the right message in your 20s and 30s. In a world where holiday shoppers are so desperate for consumable goods that they trample a man to death, a heartfelt gift can be a relief and a surprise for the folks back home. If you can make your mother cry — in a good way — you know you have succeeded.

Reach columnist Elizabeth Brady at features@dailyuw.com.