Gift giving at any time of year, is both exciting and stressful. These homemade gift ideas are tailored to help you make gifts for your list, on a budget, and that are suitable for any occasion. After all, gifts are awesome at any time of year, or just as a small acknowledgement.
Christmas is often especially overwhelming for gift giving, as there’s so much commercialism around it. And, so many people expect so many different types of gifts. Christmas has a ton of gifts. Gifts under the tree. Gifts for coworkers or for holiday parties. Gifts for teachers, friends, and distant relations. Even gifts in stockings, and for pets!
Get a head start on your holiday gift preparation with some of these homemade gift ideas, and collections of homemade gift ideas. The holidays are always a challenging time of year, following baking instructions, making a new blanket, or necklace, and arranging all the events and happenings of the season.
I like having a plan to spend a day each on a few different gift projects. Things like melt and pour soap, bath bombs, lip balms or moisturizing balms, and candles. Things that take a bit of time to set up, but you can make a lot of individual gifts, or items for a wellness basket, in just a single day. There’s no need for inexpensive coffee mugs, or dollar store keepsake items, when you can make useful, and one of a kind, things in just an afternoon.
Get a Head Start:
Get a head start on Christmas planing and homemade gift ideas for everyone on your lists, with these seven tips and tricks for planning your holiday. When you’re planning homemade gifts, remember that creating things in batches makes the task easier. And many gift ideas can be made in larger, customizable, quantities from candies, to lip balms, to soaps.
No matter how many, or how few, gifts you wish to make by hand making a plan to tackle them will make the task a lot easier and faster. As an example, a moisturizing hand balm and a lip balm can both have the same base. Making them at the same time saves energy, and clean up too.
Avoid large projects that sink a lot of time, especially once we hit December. Hand knit gloves or socks are fairly quick to make, but socks are actually quite large by stitch count. So stick with mittens, or just do cookies and candy when time gets tight. Cinnamon, clove, and orange air fresheners, for the table can be a good kid made gift idea.
Focus on Wellness:
Make wellness baskets customized to each person on your giving list. With ideas from bath bombs, to salt soaks, to salves, soaps, and balms, there’s ideas in this list for everyone. Here’s some additional homemade gift ideas for the men on your list as well. There’s no reason not to make awesome handmade gifts for many of your gifting needs and not just for Christmas. If you’re looking for gift tutorials, aim for those that make more than one gift item at a time.
You can also make cookies or candy to go in the wellness basket, or as their own decorative basket as great gifts for teachers, coaches, mom, or acquaintances.
If you’re wanting to make salves, balms, lip balms, or other personal care products, check out this resource on making recipe substitutions for herbal recipes. This will help you with the making of various items, and to tweak recipes to what you have on hand so you don’t have to rely on holiday post for last minute ingredients.
Handmade Gift Ideas:
Stocking stuffers are a standard gift need for many families on Christmas morning. Here’s some ideas for homemade stocking stuffers for women. Sometimes we do have to make and prepare our own stocking stuffers, though sometimes it’s nice if we can get other family members involved in the gift planning too. Things like paper mache dishes, handmade jewelry, or handmade soaps are also awesome ideas.
For youngsters, here’s some more homemade gift ideas to fill the stockings. Kids often have a focus on the magic of Christmas, and these simple stocking fillers can help increase the magic for any kid, or anyone whose a kid at heart. I know I wouldn’t mind homemade slime or play-dough in my stocking, it’s quite fun to play with even as an adult. Even mason jar sensory jars are awesome, or jars of handmade bath salts.
For more magical stocking stuffers, check out this list of 25 magical stocking stuffer ideas to make and increase the magic. The more magic the better on Christmas morning, at least for those who are young at heart.
If you enjoy fiber crafts, felting is an awesome way to make items fast. Felted items, like hats, scarves, mittens, and even slippers, are quicker to make than their knitted or crochet counterparts. Check out this list of felted gift ideas for more handmade gift ideas for this coming holiday season. Other fun fiber craft techniques to work with include weaving, knitting, and crochet. Work with thick yarns, and simple patterns to help make gifts work up quick. Chunky knit heats that are funky and fun are still awesome as gifts.
Adjusting gifts for peoples interests is a great way to make gifts even more appreciated. An example of this is this list of gifts for those who enjoy foraging. You can adjust gifts for any hobby, and figure something handmade out for most people from gardeners to board game players. Handmade bookmarks could be included in a gift for a reader, along with tea, hot chocolate, or even some nice coffee and biscuits for an easy gift.
Loving herbal gifts aren’t just for Valentines day. These homemade gift ideas could make a great wellness basket contribution for you and your spouse. Or variations of them as parts of other wellness basket ideas. It is quite fun to take gift ideas from other holidays and tweak them into handmade gift ideas for Christmas. Pillows, fabrics, or coasters can be fun to go with some of these ideas. Soap is always a great idea to make in bulk.
Last Minute Homemade Gift Ideas:
For quick holiday gifts, homemade herbal gift ideas are a great place to start. Many herbal gifts can be made in a few hours, or an afternoon of effort can make dozens of items for gifts. Here are some 55 different gift ideas that are perfect for last minute creation. You could even do a make and take gift creation session with some friends, so everyone gets progress on their gifts too.
Remember, these gift ideas don’t have to be just for winter holidays. They make great cozy gifts for birthdays, mother’s day, for a lover, grandparents, or even for teacher appreciation day. Keep the diy gift ideas simple, and skip the sewing or scarf knitting in favor of candle, or soaps that can be made in bulk for easy diy. The perfect gift doesn’t need to be expensive, just thoughtful and useful.
Keep gift giving simple, especially with homemade gift ideas. Often the holidays can become complicated, so some simpler gifts are always a great idea. It is easy to over complicate the holiday matters, but it’s not necessary.
Back to You:
Get started on your Christmas gift making before Thanksgiving with the ideas in this article. Make handmade gift ideas in advance, and in bulk or assembly line whenever possible. It makes gifting a ton easier, and even far funner. My favorite technique is making lots of individual items, like candles, or herbal gifts, and then making up individualized wellness baskets.
Make sure to do homemade home decor too. The christmas tree doesn’t need to be the only house ornament with sweet scent. Add in some swags, or a small centerpiece to fill out the home decorations. Don’t forget to get your kids involved, if you have them, as kid-made gifts and kids making gifts if a great part of the holiday as well.
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