I don’t know about you, but homemade gifts and heirlooms are presents that I most cherish. Today, I’m sharing 10 holiday gift ideas that you can enjoy creating in the comfort of your own home during a cozy night in.
1. Make a memory book
Memory books are mementos that can take the recipient back in time to wonderful moments that invoke all sorts of strong emotions. For the past five years, I have created one for my partner to celebrate the year and give it to him during the holidays.
To create a physical memory book, I utilize Shutterfly, which almost always has some kind of percent off or freebie happening on the site. Not only does Shutterfly have great deals, but they also have a variety of options for making the photo book quickly and easily; you can create it via their mobile app, using a desktop via their website, or if you have your hands full, you can have a designer create the book for you. Check out this quick video that shows the basics of creating a photo book.
2. Do an embroidery project
For those of you unfamiliar, embroidery is the craft of decorating fabric or other materials using a needle to apply thread or yarn. Beads, quills, pearls, and sequins can also be incorporated into the embroidered design. The great thing about embroidery is that it is quite simple and straight forward. You don’t have to spend a lot of time on the front end learning how to do it. You can watch a YouTube video or two and be ready to go.
A few beginner/easy-to-follow YouTube videos I recommend:
- Cherry Blossom’s Hand Embroidery for Beginner’s video
- Tasha Leelyn’s DIY Hat Embroidery video
- Fatimafaruq’s Flower Embroidery video
3. Complete a macrame rainbow
If you know someone who is obsessed with colorful rainbows or has had a baby following a miscarriage, completing a macrame rainbow could be the right project for you! At Home with Ashley is an interior design blogger and a force to be reckoned with regarding all things DIY for home (PS: she’s also obsessed with rainbows). Watch her DIY tutorial.
4. Create a needlepoint canvas
I recently read this article on grandmillennials, known as “millennials who prefer a nostalgic design aesthetic inspired by the quirky comfort of their grandparents’ homes and the opulence of bygone eras,” described Shayne Benowitz. If this description speaks to your soul, you just might be a grandmillennial. And if you ARE a grandmillennial, I’m going to guess that needlepoint just might be your new calling. Bonus points for needlepoint pieces making quite unique gifts. Resources for getting started with needlepoint are below:
- Needlepoint.com’s Learn How to Needlepoint in 5 Minutes video
- Barbara Reinfeld’s Needlepoint Basics video (LOVE her accent!)
5. Knit a scarf
Make a gift that a loved one can WEAR! I taught myself how to knit a couple of Thanksgivings ago, and creating a scarf is one of the easiest projects to do because it’s a simple rectangle. So many tutorials and resources exist for novice knitters – here are a few I used to learn:
- Hobby Lobby’s Knitting for Beginners video
- RJ Knits How to Knit: Easy For Beginners video
- Free Knitting Patterns
- Beginning Knitting Supplies
6. Turn pickle jars into candle holders
Want to upcycle something and create a gift with it? Try turning pickle jars into candle holders for a nice home decor gift. Seriously, it’s SO straightforward. Simply remove the label, use a hot glue gun to wrap a bit of rope at the top of the jar, and voila! Check out the article that covered the original story.
7. Assemble a set of wooden bead coasters
This is the next DIY project on my to-do list: wooden bead coasters! Only a 4-step process – love easy to follow DIYs. Take a look at Jacqueline Clark’s blog post on how to assemble these coasters. (Hint: you can choose what color to paint the beads!)
8. DIY a marker mug
Who doesn’t love a good personalized mug? This project is so flexible – you can literally put just about anything on the mug! Because they don’t take long to produce, you could even make a few in one sitting – make a few gifts (I call that scratching multiple itches at once). Here’s the step-by-step tutorial (video included).
9. Make edible watercolor cookies
We can’t have a DIY holiday gift ideas without some kind of food on the list, right? Try making edible watercolor cookies! Not only is this gift edible, but you also get to express your creative freedom with your cookie decorating skills (or lack thereof, no pressure). Also, your gift recipient will be able to eat their gift.
This idea has a few more steps and takes a bit more time and patience, but if you’re a baker, artist or both, I think you’ll really enjoy this one.
10. Patch and pin a jean jacket
Confession: I added this idea to the list because I think it’s the coolest idea on here, but it’s definitely not for the faint of heart – you really have to know someone well to nail this DIY gift idea.
Giving a gift that best expresses the essence of the gift recipient is terribly hard for me to do. How unique would it be to create a final product that’s a patched and pinned jean jacket that truly shows off the gift recipient’s personality? I’m obsessed with this idea (heck, I may make one for myself!). Watch this tutorial and this video for patch and pin inspo.
If this list of ideas doesn’t keep you busy, then I don’t know what will! If you decide to try one (or more) of these DIY holiday gift ideas, let us know in the comments below.
Happy (early) holidays!
