The reality is that some people on your holiday gift list, like your kids, are probably expecting store-bought presents this year. However, not everyone is looking for the fanciest phone or most cutting-edge gaming system. Friends, family members and coworkers are likely to appreciate homemade gifts that come from your heart and hands rather than packages, boxes or bags from the mall.
Fill jazzed-up mason jars with fun holiday goodies.
For those of us who aren’t the most crafty, the idea of handmade gifts sounds more than a little daunting. Fortunately, these mason jar-based presents are super easy to throw together (with love, of course). Plus, you can be creative in their design and contents without needing to master more difficult DIY skills like needlepoint or decoupage.
The Polka Dot Chair has four fantastic mason jar gits inspired by some of our favourite holiday characters.
You’ll need a few basic craft supplies like pipe cleaners, pompoms, buttons and scrap fabric to transform your glass containers. You can even download matching printable tags for each character. If you’d prefer to switch things up a bit, you could also try creating mason jar likenesses of other characters that could use a little more love this season, like Mrs. Claus, the Elf on the Shelf, the Mensch on a Bench, Jack Skellington, or the Grinch. Hint, a Grinch or elf themed jar with a DIY Green Tea Face Mask or lime & mint foot soak would make a fabulous gift for someone who deserves a home-spa day of pampering.
When it comes to filling your jars, you can use store-bought candy, homemade goodies, or handmade non-edible treats. What about a reindeer jar filled with hand-mixed coffee sugar scrub, a gingerbread man sporting DIY gingerbread exfoliating scrub, or a Santa jar filled with candy cane slime?
Gifts for classy candy lovers
Everyone loves candy, especially at this time of year. What could be better than receiving a delicious batch of sparkly champagne gold leaf gummy bears as a holiday party favour or candy cane gummies as a sweet stocking stuffer?
Cayla Gallagher from pankobunny has a passion for gummies that she wants to share. We think her wide variety of candy recipes make for easy yet eye-popping treats that figuratively break the mould of traditional holiday confectionery. You may want to buy silicone candy moulds to pull them off, but ice cube trays will work in a pinch.
These candies would look great in festive mason jars, but they could also nicely pair with hand-decorated glass or ceramic ware.
- Rosé, white & red wine gummy bears gifted with painted marble wine glasses or dip-dyed frosted tumblers would make for a sweet or romantic gift for the oenophile in your life.
- What about celebratory Champagne gummy bears perfectly paired with chic polka dot Champagne glasses?
- For beer buffs: an assortment of real beer flavoured gummies filling matching glasses made from upcycled beer bottles.
- If you know your friend’s Starbucks order by heart, then homemade coffee (Americano and latte) candies might be the perfect gift. Serve up this present with a dishwasher safe decorated mug or nail polish watercolour mug featuring your friend’s favourite colours for an extra personal touch.
- There are even dog-safe and approved gummy watermelon bones for the dog parents and pampered pooches in your circle. These treats would look adorable inside this easy to make doggy treat jar from Everyday Dog Mom.
- For health-conscious or plant-based friends, healthy juice gummy bears, vitamin water gummy bears, or vegan gummy bears would look elegant in an etched glass water bottle.
If you want to gift a taste of the holidays, then these cranberry or candy cane candies wrapped up in Santa and elf hat candy jars will bring a big smile to your giftee’s face.
Rustic wooden gifts made by non-woodworkers
Are you super handy with a passion for woodworking? In that case, you’re probably not reading this. You may have even already headed off to your hand-built log cabin workshop to construct the highest quality cherry and maple furniture to surprise your loved ones with over the holidays. For the rest of us, keep reading for crafty gift ideas that feature the natural beauty of wood but don’t require much in the way of sawing and chiselling.
- Mini wood pallet coasters are an excellent gift for anyone who could use a handmade reminder to put their feet up and relax with their favourite beverage.
- Does someone on your list have an iPad that they use to pull up recipes in the kitchen? A smart DIY iPad Holder is the perfect accessory for tech-savvy cooks and bakers. This project uses a pre-made wood cutting board and upcycled Scrabble tile holder to reduce the amount of wood cutting you’ll need to perform.
- Does the person you’re thinking of have a favourite animal or animals? You don’t need to be great at carpentry, painting or drawing to make these cute wood-slice animal ornaments from Better Homes and Gardens.
We wanted these gift ideas to be unique and easy to customize for virtually anyone’s preferences. We hope you’ve found something to spark your creativity so you can indulge in those warm and fuzzy giving feelings while making it through the holidays without breaking the bank. Whether you’re wood crafting or moonlighting as a candy maker, there’s lots of fun to be had when you’re making gifts at home and probably also waiting for a few online holiday purchases to be delivered.