For many families, this year has made it essential to find inexpensive homemade Christmas gift ideas.
I have found that homemade gifts are not difficult.
The first thing you need to consider is what do you know how to do.
What is your favourite hobby?
For example, do you know how to:
- knit
- crochet
- make jewelry
- woodworking
- paint
- sketch
- bake
- photography
Really the ideas are endless.
Let’s take a closer look at some of these ideas and learn how you can make a great Christmas gift for someone special.
Table of Contents
Photography
I love taking photos and some people are quite good at it. Some family members have gotten professional photos taken of their family while others have used snapshots.
I love them all.
These days it seems we are constantly taking photos with our phones.
When you visit family and friends be sure to take photos.
Last year our oldest son gave us a photo collage of him and his family.
I really treasured this gift because we were unable to get together over Christmas due to distance.
We absolutely love photos of our grandchildren and proudly display them in our living room.
Baking
Who doesn’t love home baking?
We have a couple of single sons who don’t bake but they love eating home-baked goods.
Every year when I send them their Christmas parcel I always include some home baking.
This year our youngest son will receive half a cherry cake, banana bread, and cookies.
His brother needs different baked goods because he has Celiac disease which means he requires gluten-free baked goods.
He has always loved peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies so I found some great gluten-free recipes for those and he can enjoy them.
With home-baked goods be sure to wrap them well and package them in such a way as to minimize breakage. I would also recommend sending it priority mail or by courier to ensure it arrives without spoiling.
Sketching
Our youngest son spent a lot of time sketching pictures when he was younger.
Several years ago he went through a rough patch where he was struggling with anxiety and depression.
During his healing process, he picked up that old sketchpad and discovered just how therapeutic sketching can be.
He has since recovered and a couple of years ago he gave us a sketch which we are so proud to display in our living room.
If you sketch, why not give someone a picture you have sketched.
It really would mean the world to them because you would be giving them a piece of yourself.
Knitting or Crocheting
When you have kids in your life you are all too familiar with lost mittens and hats.
I couldn’t keep up with all the lost winter gear when my kids were small so I learned to knit and crochet.
It sure helped the budget by not having to purchase hats and mitts weekly.
I knit an assortment of gifts for my grandchildren and yes I still knit for my children as well at times.
I have knit hats, scarves, mittens, socks, sweaters, and baby blankets
I have crocheted baby sweaters, hats, scarves, and blankets.
You can find patterns for every skill level and it is a fun hobby.
Painting
One of our sons is a truck driver and is on the road a lot. When he is home he loves to paint to relax and wind down.
A couple of years ago he gave us a painting he made of a mountain scene we love so much.
We framed it and have it proudly displayed in our living room.
You can easily purchase painting supplies either locally or online.
You can even learn to paint by watching some old Bob Ross videos online.
Woodworking
Our oldest son is quite the woodworker.
He loves to spend time out in his woodshop.
He loves to make furniture.
Our son also made the bed frame for his and his wife’s bed.
He has also made various tables for both himself and others.
One year our daughter was renovating their house and our son’s gift to her was his woodworking talents to help remodel their kitchen cabinets and their banister on the stairs.
She now fondly thinks of her brother every time she looks at either her kitchen or banister on the stairs.
What a precious gift.
Homemade Beer or Wine
Some people like to try their hand at wine or beer making.
You can buy kits that make this process quite simple.
It is time-consuming though so keep that in mind.
We have made wine both from kits and from our own grapes with great success.
We have found people enjoy a bottle of wine as a gift.
In fact, we gave our adult children a bottle for their “date nights” when they can have time for each other without the children.
We often include a night of babysitting so they can really enjoy their date night without worrying about the kids because they are safely having fun with their grandparents.
Training
Perhaps you or someone you love is interested in learning a new skill.
Why not register them for that cooking class or karate instruction.
Maybe the local art college is offering an evening painting class.
If someone is interested in learning to start an online website or blog why not sign them up for our free training.
Or better yet sign yourself up and discover it really isn’t that difficult to get started online and earn yourself a few extra dollars (a great gift to give yourself).
You can check out the free training that got me started here.
Conclusion
Ideas for inexpensive homemade Christmas gift ideas are not difficult to come up with.
You really are only limited by your imagination.
Put that hobby to use and create a wonderful gift for that special someone?
Making a gift is giving a piece of yourself so what a perfect gift to give.
Homemade gifts can be personalized to suit the person receiving the gift.
Make those hats and mittens in the recipient’s favourite colour.
That photo collage is filled with wonderful memories of the people they love most.
You can make a sketched or painted picture of a favourite place or activity.
You can easily see how homemade gifts can be deeply personalized and that makes them priceless gifts to give.
This year get creative and make a gift for someone you love.
Do you make homemade gifts?
What ideas have you come up with?
Leave your suggestions in the comment section below.
We wish you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all of you and your families.
To answer your questions: I love to be creative, and yes, sometimes I give that as a present 🙂 Most of the times nowadays I make paper collages. Kind of scrapbook-like. I used to be a ceramicist. Those gifts were more durable than the paper ones, but it’s a ‘dirty business’ so I quit doing that for environmental reasons.
Maybe you like a few additions? Photo collages can be made in a program like Canva. It’s great to play around with the images and with the texts you can add there. Making an online photo album also is a great thing to do. Once made you can either post it online in for example issuu-dot-com. Or make a print of it at Albelli.
Making clothes, whether it is knitting, crocheting or sewing, is a lovely idea, Deb. By the looks of it you have developed quit a talent for that. 🙂
Like you said, once we start thinking about it, ideas pop up all the time. Thanks for the inspiration, and Happy Holidays to you and Richard and your family as well.
xxx
Thanks for commenting Hannie. I am surprised I forgot about ceramics. In our area, there is a place called “The Clay Cafe” where you can go select an item from their vast selection of clay objects and then sit down and paint or glaze it. You then pass it to staff along with your contact info. They will call you after it has been fired in the kiln and ready for pick-up. My daughter, her daughters, and I did this one year and made several Christmas gifts this way. It was a great way to spend some quality time together while getting some of that Christmas list taken care of. Thanks for the idea of using Canva to make collages or even scrapbooking. There really are endless possibilities. Happy Holidays to you, Tom, and your family.