DIY Holiday Gifts that Won't Make You Seem Too Cheap

By Alyssa Laffitte on December 10, 2017

With the holiday season comes many expenses, mainly due to the gifts you will be giving. As college students, we don’t have as much money to spend on gifts as we’d like. You want to get all the amazing people in your life something as wonderful as they are, but sometimes you just don’t have the money. You don’t want to be cheap, but you also don’t want to break the bank, either. Well, here are some ideas to make DIY holiday gifts that won’t make you seem cheap. These gifts will work with your budget and be good enough for your amazing friends and family.

Image via Isorepublic.com

Baked goods

If someone you love has a sweet tooth, making them some baked goods is an inexpensive gift they would love. You can even personalize the gift by baking their favorite treat. (For example, I know that my dad loves fudge brownies, so that would be a good, inexpensive gift for him, and I know he will love it!)

Make all-natural things

Do you know someone who loves all natural products? Try to make some yourself! Of course, make sure you know what you are doing when you’re making your own products. Get your recipes from reputable sources, and make sure that the recipient isn’t allergic to any of the ingredients.

A great example of an all-natural thing you can make is this sugar scrub!

Jewelry

Jewelry is an easy and inexpensive, yet beautiful craft you can make. Jewelry DIY kits are readily available at craft stores. With a kit like that, you can make something fancy and unique for the people in your life. Bonus: whenever your recipient sees the jewelry you made for them, they will think of you!

Mug package

Another simple gift is what I like to call a “mug package.” A mug package consists of a beautiful mug filled with a stocking stuffer (like candies, chocolates, hot cocoa mix, tea bags, coffee, etc.), wrapped up in plastic and tied together with a cute bow. This is not expensive at all, but the tea/coffee drinkers or chocolate lovers in your life would appreciate this gift. This is the general idea of the “mug package.”

Crafts

You can also hand make a craft and give that as a gift. Making something like decorations (especially Christmas-themed, like ornaments or wreaths), a painting, a quilt, or another craft is a perfect gift. If your mom loves home decorating stores, like mine does, you can make her a craft she can display in her house and she will love it.

Tips:

Before embarking on these DIY projects, here are some tips to make sure the recipients will love it. These tips will make your gift seem more thoughtful and more expensive.

Personalize the gift

Personalizing the gift is another way to make the gift extra special for the recipient. Think about the person you are making the gift for. What do they like? What is their favorite color? (As I mentioned before, what is their favorite treat?) Answering these questions will give you some ideas as to what to make for the person, and how to make it just for them. The person will feel extra loved when they see that their gift is personalized, because they will know that you put a lot of thought into it and that you know them well enough to give them something they will love.

Make the gift presentation extra elegant

Another way to make the gift special is to make the presentation elegant. An elegant presentation will make your inexpensive DIY gift look expensive. At a craft store, you can find various materials to make this elegant presentation (such as bows, tissue paper, mugs, painting supplies, and mason jars.) Get creative with this!

Do research on Pinterest

Pinterest is known for its large DIY community. Use that to your advantage! Do a quick search on Pinterest for easy, cheap DIY gifts, and you are sure to find great ideas. Remember those crafts I mentioned earlier? Pinterest is the perfect place to find ideas for those.

Visit a Dollar Store and a Craft Store

Dollar stores and craft stores have awesome sales this season because they know people want to make gifts! Take advantage of those sales. Visit these stores and see what you can find, you might be pleasantly surprised.

Sometimes it is hard to give your favorite people some great gifts on a college student budget, but I hope those ideas will help you make your great gifts on a budget.

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