I like mine with batting, but not everybody does.
If she does decide to put something in the middle, I would say there's 2 options to help keep costs down:
1) buy 100% poly batt on a roll from Joann.com with a coupon (retailmenot.com has coupons for Joann 24/7)
2) there is some kind of flat product that is like an interfacing/stabilizer or such that helps make it lay nice. I used it once for a tablerunner I made for my mom. It's been a few years so I don't remember what it's called, but again, you could buy a bolt of it at local Joann/HL with a 50% off coupon to help lower costs
There are plenty of free table runner patterns available online. I'd suggest she just search through some websites to find a couple patterns as a starting point & then add on applique or embroidery to those. Jinny Beyer has a few at
http://www.jinnybeyer.com/quilting-w...e-patterns.cfm. Honestly, though, even just a simple "whole cloth" table runner with a bit of embroidery on it with a seasonal message would be enough to get me to buy it.
