Five Homemade Gift Ideas

By Bonnie Owens on December 22nd, 2009

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Whether you are watching your budget or trying to give something extra personal, homemade gifts are fun for everyone involved.  I love making special gifts for dear friends and neighbors. I also appreciate the time and effort when someone else make a gift just for me.  It is fun to let your kids lend a hand in constructing presents and it also shows them that it truly is the thought, not the price, that counts.  If you want to hand out a few extra special things this year, but are drawing a blank on what to make, here are 5 great ideas.

1. Gift Baskets.  You can put together festive goodies and decorations like chocolates, crackers and cheeses and unique ornaments.  Or you can make a themed gift basket.  If your neighbor loves to cook, put together a chef’s basket with specialty tools and ingredients and a cookbook (or perhaps a little booklet of your favorite recipes).  If your boss spends his free time on the links, put together a golf basket by adding some balls, tees and golf gadgets.  Think of what the recipient enjoys and build around that.
2. Cookie Tins. If you love to bake then this is for you.  It works well if you need a lot of gift for dear acquaintances.  I like to bake a double batch of about half a dozen cookie recipes, load them up in pretty tins, tie a ribbon around them and a top it with a Christmas card.  I usually make this for my son’s teacher and slip a gift card inside the greeting card.
3. Holiday Crackers.  These little tube-shaped packages are a blast to open.  Fill them with little Christmas toys, stickers or candies.  Crackers are great to send to school for your kids’ classmates.  Or you can put them in your family’s stockings for a little extra fun.
4. Soaps and Scrubs.  Spa products do not have to cost a fortune.  In facts many of them are made with just a few simple ingredients.  try these “recipes” for salt scrub and bath fizzies.
5. Scrapbook. Scrapbooking is a fun way to show off your creativity.  Make a book of your kids for grandparents.  Or make a book for a close friend with pics of the 2 of you throughout the years.