Store-bought gifts are great, but DIY gifts are the best because they take a lot of thought and elbow grease.
Beginning in 2012, I started making Christmas gifts for my immediate family and friends. It started as a way to give a high quality, useful without breaking the bank. I hate giving people stupid gifts that will end up in the garbage in a week's time. It's also really handy if you're giving gifts to people who typically don't give you a gift, and you want to be nice lol. Here's non-stupid gift ideas to make for your friends and loved ones.
Baked Goods
Baked Goods
Anything edible is pretty much a good gift. It has a much smaller chance of just sitting around or getting re-gifted, especially when you have a good presentation. This isn't a good time to test out a new recipe. If you're going to give a baked good, make sure it looks (and tastes!) good.
Chocolate Covered Fruit Basket
A regular fruit basket may be ok, but an ever fancier gift would be chocolate covered fruit! There's so many toppings you can play with, and Toll House (and Hershey's) make a lot of other options besides regular and white chocolate. But if you want to stick with a classic fruit basket, dress it up with a fancy glass bowl or some festive fabric.
Homemade Jam
A cool twist on the classic fruit basket would be to modernize it with homemade fruit preserves or marmalade, and some fresh buttermilk biscuits.
Mason Jar Mix
You've seen the mason jars with the cookie ingredients in them. Those are really tasty, and you can get creative with them. Don't forget to add an ingredient list and the directions on how to use it. Add a spatula or whisk as a final touch.
Fancy Popcorn
Another super easy, and even kid friendly gift idea. All you have to do is buy some plain popcorn kernels, pop the corn, and add your ingredients. The flavor possibilities are endless! Bag the popcorn in a Ziplock, and gift it in a decorative tin or drawstring bag.
Coasters
These can be made out of cork, they can be crocheted, or even knitted. If you really want to get creative, made some epoxy coasters. For the coasters to be really effective and appreciated, give these to people who you know will actually use them.
Candles
Super easy and super creative. Hobby Lobby, Michaels, JoAnn's, etc. has lots of supplies for an amateur candle maker. People love things that smell good!
Decorative Cookies/Scones
Cookies are really easy to make, and they're cheap. Betty Crocker has some $1 cookie mixes, or you can make some from scratch. You can do so much with cookies and packaging to wow people.
Specialty Gift Kit
You can get really creative here, customizing it to the recipient's tastes. Just be sure not include any perishables!
Homemade Candy
Homemade Candy
This is a lot easier than you think! You can buy candy making kits and candy molds from Hobby Lobby if you want to get really fancy. But you don't need either of those to make delicious candy. Melt down some Hershey's chocolate, peanut butter, or toffee into whatever shape you want, you can add almonds, coconut, walnuts, cranberries, or whatever. Use your imagination!
Potpourri
Easy and cheap to make, and people will actually use it. People like stuff that makes their home smell good. You can make potpourri bags or stick with the traditional potpourri in a basket. But remember, the best gifts are creative AND practical.
Pillows or Blanket
This is really easy if you can sew, knit or crochet. Can't do any of those? Make a no-sew blankets by tying the tasseled ends of two pieces of fabric together.
Dog Treats
You'll need to be careful here because you don't want to make someone's dog sick. Make sure you know what foods are edible for dogs. A simple Google search will yield dozens of easy dog treat recipes.
Framed Portraits
Usually parents and grandparents like family photographs. Buy a really nice frame, and they'll love it even more! Nice picture frames can be found all over the place.
Spa Day Jar
Women will love these! But every woman isn't the same, so it'll be more effective to give a 'spa day jar' to someone who likes that kind of stuff.
Hot Chocolate Kit
These will come in handy when the weather gets cold and frightful! This is similar to a mason jar mix above, but I'd probably add the ingredients separately packaged. One of my former supervisor's gave us a gift box with some pre-packaged hot chocolate mixes, candy canes, etc. I've seen hot chocolate on a stick, too. It's a solid hot chocolate bar with homemade marshmallow on top. There's more than one way to make your hot chocolate kit.
Custom Coffee Mugs
If you're artsy, this one is for you! It's also great for little kids to give to grandparents, aunts, uncles, etc. You can get plain white mugs from the dollar store, and a Fade Resistant Sharpie.
Recipe Box
This is something you'll want to make for someone who likes to cook and/or bake. Or, you could risk your life and give a recipe box to someone who needs to learn how to cook! Lol. You have a few options here. You can make fabulous recipe box with blank index cards inside, or you can make one with a few recipes inside along with blank index cards for new recipes. It doesn't even have to be a box., either! You can make a book, or whatever.