Gifts are a way to express your love and appreciation…
9 DIY Gift Ideas The Recipient Will Adore
When gift-giving time rolls around – whether for a birthday or a mass-celebrated event such as Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentines Day, or the festive season, the stores will do a very good job of trying to convince you that they have the perfect gift solutions for everyone on your list. And while it can certainly be the easier solution to pop to the shops and take care of all your present buying chores in one (albeit exhausting) shopping excursion, deep down we all know that the best gifts are those that you make yourself.
DIY gift ideas are becoming more and more popular and the reasons are simple. Homemade gifts speak volumes without saying a word: they tell the recipient that you think enough of them to give up your precious time and energy on creating a gift by hand, rather than taking the easy way out and buying a ready-made gift from the store.
And as a fantastic added bonus, homemade gifts are usually so much less expensive than the store-bought variety. Just a little something extra to keep in mind when deciding what to give your loved one on the next gift-giving occasion.
1. Candy Cake
If your gift recipient has a sweet tooth, and if you’re looking for something a little extravagant to give as a gift, you can’t go past this DIY candy cake. You will need an initial outlay of all the candy and chocolates that go into making this cake, but the end result is a feast for all the senses. This would be a fantastic gift to give in lieu of a birthday cake at a birthday party.
2. Infinity Scarf
If you’ve ever seen your intended gift recipient wearing a scarf, then stop right here and check out this fifteen-minute DIY infinity scarf. The brilliance of this scarf is that you can choose any fabric from your local craft store and instantly personalize it in a way that will make it so much more special to receive, as well as making it immediately obvious that you made the gift yourself rather than buying it. Don’t be thrown off by the fact that this DIY project involves sewing: you don’t need a sewing machine, only a simple needle and thread for some basic hand sewing. This is one example where the end result looks way more complicated than the actual process and initial outlay.
3. Handmade Herbal Soap
From Health Bites
We love this recipe for DIY herbal soaps, mainly because it’s one of the simplest versions we’ve seen. If you’re completely new to soap making, the recipe even has a cheat for beginners – starting with a plain bar of natural soap, grating it, and then melting it down to combine with your other ingredients. If you’ve ever considered making soap as a gift, this is a fantastic way to start. This homemade gift idea can be made in larger batches to serve as fantastic wedding favors or bridal/baby shower favors.
4. Canvas Collage
The fact that you’re willing to spend your time and energy on a handmade gift for someone implies that you have a shared history with that person. What better way to celebrate your special shared memories than with a personalized canvas collage featuring photos of all the fun times you’ve shared together. A canvas collage is the perfect gift for someone special because it combines the DIY element with a professional, store-quality finish.
5. Envelope Mini Album
By Paper Vinenz
Unlike other DIY scrapbooking or album making projects, this mini envelope album includes pockets for smaller items to be stored without potentially damaging them. If you’ve got original black-and-white photos, slides, or photo negatives, they will be much better preserved inside an envelope than by being glued in to a scrapbooking project. You’ll need a few basic scrapbooking supplies to begin with, otherwise these can all be purchased – but that will bring up the overall cost of the project. Still, the end result is stunning and is sure to be treasured by the recipient.
6. Patterned Tights
We had been thinking that, apart from a scrapbooking project or photo gift, there weren’t many DIY gift ideas suitable for children and teenagers. But we’ve been proven wrong once again with these fantastic patterned tights. Sure, these would probably mainly be popular with girls, but with a slight change in stencil they could also be a big hit with younger boys as part of a superhero costume.
7. Chocolate Cookie Mix in a Jar
We saw this gift idea and instantly thought party favor: for a birthday party, baby or bridal shower, or for a wedding. Alternatively, this would be an excellent holiday gift for those occasions when you need to bring bulk gifts – you know, when both sets of grandparents and seventeen cousins will be there. The recipe is so simple that you don’t even need to create the cake mix yourself (the recipe suggests that you simply buy a premade box of cake mix) – it’s really all in the presentation.
8. Wall Organizer
From Curbly
The perfect homemade gift for a student or someone who runs a home office, this DIY wall organizer has a little bit of everything, and can be customized to suit the particular needs of your gift recipient. We love that this wall organizer includes a wooden shelf for decorative or practical purposes.
9. iPad Case
By Honestly Wtf
This one may be a little deceiving, since even though it’s a DIY project, you still need to purchase a ready-made leather iPad sleeve before you begin. On the other hand, your finished product will look so much more chic and stylish than the plain old leather case did to begin with, so this is the perfect gift for anyone who loves their iPad and who carries it around religiously (and I’m sure you can think of at least five people like that – we know we can). Of course, if your gift recipient of choice prefers a different brand of tablet, phablet or smartphone, you could apply the same technique to any size sleeve.
Hopefully one of the above eight gift ideas resonates perfectly with you and will send you off on your own happy DIY adventure. If you’re looking for more ideas for homemade gifts or thoughtful gifts, please see our other blog posts for a variety of other ideas.
