Looking for ideas for easy DIY Christmas gifts?
I love giving DIY gifts! I love how thoughtful it is to give a gift you make yourself. However…I am not especially crafty. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I love and cherish my hot glue gun. But I’m both unskilled and impatient enough to learn new techniques or get involved in complex hands-on projects. So, both for my benefit and yours, I’ve put together this list of easy DIY Christmas gifts that don’t require crafting skills!
Why choose DIY gifts
There are great reasons to give DIY gifts this holiday season:
- They show thoughtfulness and can make your gift recipient feel seen and appreciated with a gift that’s personalized and that you took your own time to create
- You might be boycotting major retailers like Amazon, Target, and Walmart, and trying not to buy anything that goes against your own moral code
- You may be boycotting all retailers on Black Friday and the rest of Cyber Week
- Depending on the gift, it can be less expensive than purchasing something at the store.
- You can reduce your environmental impact by purchasing fewer objects (in most cases…of course it depends how you source your materials.)
Easy DIY Christmas gifts
Okay, let’s get into it! Here are the gift ideas.
Very personal gifts that mostly just require time
- A letter you write to the person about how much they mean to you or about some favorite memories from this year. Include photos and print it on nice paper, or handwrite it on that stationary you’ve been meaning to use!
- Write a poem instead
- Draw a picture if that is more your style!
- Make a list of things you like about the person. In my family, we have a tradition of doing this for milestone birthdays, such as “60 things we like about you” gifted on a 60th birthday. It would make a great Christmas gift, too!
- DIY experience gift – plan time spent together. Let me tell you about how I did this for my mom this past Christmas. I wanted to give her an experience gift, but the ideas I was seeing for “paint and sip” or “theater tickets” just weren’t her. I thought about what my mom enjoys spending her time doing, and one of the things I thought of is grocery shopping. It’s true! She goes to several a week and loves trying new foods. So, I created my own experience gift for her. I made a map of 5 specialty grocery stores in an area near us, and included an envelope of cash to spend at each one. Most importantly, I asked her to pick a date for the two of us to go shopping together and spend time together. She loved her gift and we had a great time together! Your DIY experience gift could be anything you know your gift recipient enjoys doing. Just make sure you follow through!
- Book with annotations – my book club did this one year. We each took a book we’d been meaning to read off our shelf, read it, and wrote thoughts and comments in the margins as we went. (One person did this on post-it notes as she could not bring herself to write in the book. I had no such scruples.) Then we exchanged. Some people added another layer of annotations and the books kept circulating. What I love about this as a gift idea is that it lets you sort of share a mind with someone for as long as it takes for them to read the book.
- BTW, if you are fascinated by this idea of notes in the margins of a book, might I recommend a book for you to read: S. by Doug Dorst, created by J.J. Abrams, which is a story told through the notes of two readers writing in the margins back and forth to each other. This is not a DIY idea. This is just a book I thought of while writing this post 😊
- A personalized playlist. I know, how Y2K! A playlist makes for a great personalized gift for you to share with someone, setting a mood, sharing songs that remind you of them, or sharing your favorites that you think they would like, too. To share this gift, you could create a playlist in Spotify and get a share link. Then make a QR code for your playlist – I like Canva for designing this, but there are plenty of free tools to make a QR. Print the QR code and put it in a picture frame. If you prefer something a little heftier, check out fun gifts made by Etsy creators to turn your link into a scannable keychain, plaque, etc.
- A homemade recipe book – share family recipes, recipes you’ve invented, or simply print out favorites. The idea of a handwritten recipe book seems quaint and fun, but…also a lot of work. I would probably get a three-ring binder and print out recipes to put in, perhaps in plastic page protectors. For something a little more polished, try CreateMyCookbook, a service to create and design personal cookbooks online and get them printed for gifts.
- Or, use Canva templates and get your book printed from a service like Snapfish or Shutterfly.
- Propagate a plant. I’ve long meant to do this with my golden pothos for family gifts. I purchased the plant 12 years ago based on the label that it is “nearly impossible to kill.” I must say that has proven true! To propagate a pothos, start 6+ weeks before Christmas, cut and grow the plant in water, and then plant in a thrifted pot. Of course, you can propagate most houseplants – pothos is just one of the easiest.
- Photo gift: christmas ornament, magnet, or framed photo – of you and your gift recipient, or perhaps a photo they took on their travels and shared with you, or even a quote they like. While photo sites will sell you $20 versions, there are plenty of ideas out there for handmade versions of a photo gift. You can even simply print it and put it in a thrifted frame.
Easy DIY consumable gift ideas
Consumable gifts are nice to get, because you can enjoy them without creating clutter in your home. They are personal, but the work that goes into them is mostly assembly – easy enough! I would love to receive any of the following as a gift this year.
- DIY vanilla extract – here’s an easy tutorial from Most Lovely Things. you’ll need jars, vanilla bean pods, and vodka. Plus maybe stickers and/or ribbons to decorate them. That’s it! The one downside is that you’ll want to let them age for 6-12 months, so you’ll need to plan ahead. If it’s too late this year and you go with another idea, set a reminder in your phone now for when you want to start these for next Christmas!
- Homemade pickles – it’s easier than you might think to make your own pickles. Here’s a tutorial on how to make them as gifts. Remember to think outside the cucumber!
- Homemade jam – another straightforward gift to make in a jar is homemade jam. You can make anything from pineapple habanero jam to blackberry jam.
- Homemade simple syrup – if your gift-giver loves cocktails, try a homemade simple syrup combined with a cocktail recipe – straightforward and fun!
- Infused olive oil – infused olive oil is super easy, and makes for an appealing gift! Here’s a tutorial with a few flavor variations.
- Hot cocoa mix – you know what’s great? Hot cocoa. You know what’s better? Homemade hot cocoa! Hot cocoa in a jar is perfect as a warming Christmas present. Get the kids in on the assembly! Here’s an easy tutorial for hot cocoa gifts.
- Cookie mix in a jar – a classic for a reason! Around the holidays, folks are often inundated with more sweet treats than they can eat. By gifting them cookie mix instead of already-baked cookies, you let them extend the deliciousness until whenever they want throughout the year. Check out this recipe for the cookie mix.
As you get organized, consider grabbing a copy of my Christmas Shopping List & Budget Notion Template to help you create a list of all the gifts you’re giving this year, a status checklist, and share the load with a partner.
Looking for something a little different? Check out my list of experience gift ideas.
