Tag Archives: homemade gift

DIY Christmas Gifts

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Christmas is the most joyous time of the year. Shopping for gifts, however, can be a stressful task especially when on a budget.

Enter DIY gifts.

There’s no shame in giving a DIY gift, in fact I’m a big fan because a lot of effort and thought goes into it and it’s much more personal and sentimental. Over the years I’ve given and received plenty of DIY gifts not only during Christmas time but on numerous other occasions like birthdays, graduations, and New Year’s. Here’s a list of some of my favorite DIY gift ideas:

  • Scrapbook – I love making scrapbooks. Nothing says ‘I love you’ better than a book containing pages of memories. Photographs, quotes, magazine cut-outs, you can go all out with this and be as creative and personal as you like.
  • Music CD – Bringing back the classic mix tape gift. Pick out a bunch of songs that remind you of your loved one or a bunch of songs that you both love and put them on a CD-R for them to play in the car. A nice touch would be to add voice recordings of yourself in between songs.
  • Personalized Christmas ornament – Buy a plain colored Christmas ornament and a glitter tube pen. Use the glitter pen to write the person’s name in cursive on the ornament and wait for it to dry. You can add other things such as studs and stickers as well. Put it in a small box and wrap it up for your loved one to put on their Christmas tree. I currently have one on my tree as I type this post 🙂
  • Video montage – Something I did for one of my best friends last Christmas. I basically went through my computer hard drive and found all the videos we’ve taken over the years from parties to university to vacations etc. I then created a 10-minute long video montage using Windows Live Movie Maker complete with background music and sound effects. She said it was the best gift she’d ever received.
  • Painting – If you’re a good drawer/painter, why not paint a painting for your loved one to hang in their home.
  • Notebook full of quotes – I have a notebook where I write down all of my favorite quotes from movies, songs, books etc. Sometimes when I’m feeling down I read through it and it instantly cheers me up. Start one off for your loved one and leave the rest of the pages blank for them to fill out themselves.
  • Homemade cake/cookies – Not a long-lasting gift but at least it tastes good! Who hasn’t got a sweet tooth?
  • Personalized photo frame – Buy a plain wooden or ceramic photo frame and proceed to paint and decorate it. Afterwards, print out a photo of you and your loved one to put in the frame. It can be placed in their home or on their work desk.

Have you ever given or received a handmade gift? What would you add to this list? Let me know!