The 4 inexpensive and super wholesome DIY Christmas gifts I made this season!
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Guys, you all know that I simply love to DIY anything I possibly can. So when the idea of making DIY Christmas gifts crossed my mind, I was totally stoked!
I’m particularly excited to write this post because my gift ideas are all quite diverse and require different skills or interests, so I really hope there’s something in here for everyone!
I also always try to do my best to keep things on a reasonable budget, so I hope that appeals to my fellow penny-pinchers. 😉
Read on to find out what different DIY Christmas gifts I made this season!
Why I did I make Christmas gifts instead of buying them?
You guys might think I am making these DIY Christmas gifts because I don’t have a lot of money to spend on them… and you’d be right! At least partly.
In my mind, the choice to DIY is often tied into the desire to save money in today’s overpriced world. Plus, since my husband and I decided to start paying extra on our mortgage each month, it’s meant we’ve needed to be more mindful of our spending than usual.
Making gifts is cheaper, but requires more time
Really, though, making DIY Christmas gifts should never be seen as the “cheap and easy” option. And why not? Because it takes a LOT of time to make gifts yourself! And time is money, too!
As someone who has made tons of gifts in the past (such as these memorial plaques for my family members), I can attest that it’s often WAY easier to just buy someone a present instead of make it yourself!
All that said, it is definitely true that you will save money by putting in your own time and effort making gifts. It is, of course, important to be mindful of the materials you use to make gifts and that they don’t exceed your budget.
So, if you’re someone who has some extra time on your hands, you’ll definitely save money making gifts yourself! However, I think there’s a better reason to do it…
The real reason to make gifts: They’re more meaningful
The bigger and more motivating reason to make gifts yourself is just how meaningful a handmade gift is.
Think about it: So little in today’s world is handmade by one person. Often, we can’t even picture the situation in which an object we use was created. We see “Made in China” and, with China being on the other side of the world, it just feels so far removed from us.
A handmade gift, on the other hand, is so powerful, especially if you’re the one who made it! You’re giving someone you love something you put your heart and soul into making, something you know the ins and outs of.
I’ve been given handmade gifts before and it’s always so incredibly touching that someone would spend hours making me a gift!
So, when all is said and done, it is truly the meaning behind handmade gifts which really makes them worth it! Not only do people tend to appreciate them more, but I feel so satisfied and wholesome giving these gifts!
So… what did I make?
As I mentioned earlier, these gifts really do vary. And keep in mind, they all use skills which I have acquired only over the past several years! It’s amazing how quickly we can pick up new skills when we are motivated and challenge ourselves!
Gift Idea #1: DIY soap bars
Okay, so literally just a few months ago, I made dish soap bars for the first time and I was amazed at how easy the process was! And then I had the idea to make ordinary hand/body soap and give them as cute little Christmas gifts!
And, shortly after I had this idea, I saw THIS silicone baking mold at Aldi which was PERFECT for holiday soaps!
This made me SO excited to make gift soaps!
It turns out that soap-making is a very straightforward process which doesn’t require a lot of investment in new tools or products. It was as simple as buying some molds, finding Crystal Lye drain opener for $5, and following the directions.
If you’re interested in learning how to make these hand/body soap bars, my post here explains it in depth!
Check out how they came out…
These do need about a month to cure, so I let them rest in the cupboard downstairs for a few weeks before wrapping. If you decide to make soap as a gift, make sure you leave yourself enough time! (Or tell your recipients the soap won’t quite be ready to use yet, lol!)
But I will say, making soap was one of the easier gifts. It took me probably about three hours over the course of two days (the second day was just de-molding and trimming the soaps a bit).
In terms of the expense, these are incredibly cost-efficient, which is really why I started making them to begin with! I spent probably $15 on the ingredients for these and, considering there are 15 bars, that comes out to only $1 per bar!
I made sure to pretty these up with some nice gift-wrapping once they were cured and ready, and I even made my own custom labels using Canva and some sticker paper!
Ahh! I love it! Now, onto the next gift…
Gift idea #2: 100% cotton flannel adorable PJ pants for my little sis!
This project was probably the most time-intensive of all the DIY Christmas gifts I made!
Several months back, I was at Hobby Lobby and I saw the most adorable fabric!
I vowed to make PJ pants for my little sister from them, because I knew she’d just love all the cute little animals!
I’ve made a bunch of pairs of pants before, and I even had a pattern cut out that would fit her. Here’s my in-depth post which goes over all the ins and outs of this project!
It was super fun and now I’m making myself a pair since I love them so much!
I really hope she likes them!
These took me three days to make but, if I’d had the whole day, I could have knocked them out in just one. I spent $15 for about 3 yards of the fabric and just used thread I had on hand, so this gift also felt fairly cost-efficient!
Gift idea #3: Sentimental wood photo art
I actually got this idea from a gift I made for my husband for our anniversary this year:
If you want the full tutorial for this one, check out my post here!
This project only took me a few days to make (I decided to make it the same week as our anniversary). Since it wasn’t a huge project, I thought I could make these for our family and friends this Christmas!
My husband dug up a really sweet, older picture of his brother with his wife, as well as one of his sister and her husband. I went through my family’s photo albums and scoured them for romantic pictures of my parents until I found one!
Additionally, I found a photo my best friend had shared with me of her and her husband on their wedding day. Basically, I was looking for romantic, sentimental pictures of the couples we know!
Lastly, for our devout-Catholic friend, I took an image online and printed it onto wood for him.
Here were the finished gifts!
And I attached matching oak stands with little hinges on the back to help them stand at a nice angle:
For the most part, I was very happy with how these came out! And I just love working with wood. The oak sort of lends an iridescence to the images, as well, which is a nice natural touch. And this particular method utilizes an ink printer instead of a laser printer, making it accessible even to those without laser printers (like myself).
Gift idea #4: Cloth fermentation covers!
My last DIY Christmas gift idea was to make some of my really handy cloth fermentation covers for my bestie. She lives on the other side of the country, so I’m going to send them to her along with some homemade soap and her wood art!
I actually have a whole post about making these covers, which are really useful whenever you need to cover a jar which still needs to breathe. Since my friend makes sourdough, kombucha, and water kefir, I thought these would definitely be useful to her!
These are super easy to make, taking only maybe half an hour. And all you need is a bit of cotton fabric, elastic thread, and some knowledge of shirring! Here’s my in-depth tutorial on shirring if you’d like to learn!
And keep in mind with these… the cuter the fabric, the more you’ll love them! (I’m speaking from experience…)
And that’s it for my DIY Christmas gifts this season! But hang on for just a final note…
Making DIY gifts is so personal…
If you’re not feeling inspired to make any of these gift ideas, that’s totally okay! My main purpose in posting this is to show you how creativity is really all you need to start making DIY gifts.
I really want to encourage you guys to figure out what your unique talents and interests are, and go from there. The more you learn to do new things, the more you’ll feel capable of making gifts for others!
Start simple, with something like making soap bars, or sewing basic projects. You can even get into leather-crafting with scrap leather at the craft store!
There are so many things I still want to learn how to do, and I absolutely love getting new skills under my belt as time goes by.
And the internet is amazing for providing endless tutorials, both written and in video-format, for anything you might possibly want to learn! There has never been an easier time to pick up new skills, and I really wholeheartedly recommend it to all of you, regardless of what those specific skills are!
So, I hope this post has inspired you guys to consider making your own DIY Christmas gifts. I am of course still buying some gifts… it’d be hard to make everything by hand! But I am just so excited to give handmade ones this year!
If you guys have any gifts you’ve made in the past that you’d like to tell me about, please feel free to share in the comments below!
I wish you all luck, discipline, and inspiration in your creative endeavors!
