During the festive season, everything is magical, shiny, and… expensive. The truth of the matter is that Christmas is a seriously costly time of year. From parties and office meals to presents for your loved ones, everything costs money. If you’re strapped for cash, you might be feeling stressed out. Luckily, there’s a simple way you can save some pennies.
Rather than heading out to the shops and spending over-the-odds on presents, why not make your own? You’re sure to have undiscovered talents that you can use here. If you’re ready to get started, let’s take a look at five easy homemade presents you can make.
1. Homemade Chocolate Fudge
The Christmas break is the perfect time to guzzle down all the chocolatey treats you can stomach. That’s why so many people will appreciate a present that they can eat. While you might think that making your own fudge is difficult, you can whip up a batch in no time at all. This particular recipe has just two ingredients — chocolate and condensed milk.
When you’ve made your fudge, the next step is cutting it up into small ‘bite-sized’ cubes. You can either give people the fudge in a box, a jar, or even wrap it in some homemade wrapping paper. Spend some time thinking about how you want to wrap your fudge and make it personal to people. The choice is yours. Remember, presentation is everything!
Buy gift boxes here
2. Colourful Crayon Candles
If you have some old crayons lying around your home, it’s time to put them to use. One of the greatest DIY Christmas presents you can make is a colourful crayon candle. You will need to buy a wick from a craft shop and use some small glass jars or glasses as the container here. Essentially, you melt the wax from your old crayons to make your candle.
Of course, there’s an art to getting this fun DIY project right. You might find that it takes a while to get the knack of it. However, if you watch the video tutorial here carefully and follow the steps, you should find that it’s quite simple to get this right from the offset.
3. Printed Graphic T-Shirts
Why not make some personalised graphic t-shirts for your friends and family? It could be easier than you first imagine. Of course, before you get started, you will need to buy some plain t-shirts and some transfer paper. Next, you need to decide what design you want. In this tutorial, the presenter uses InDesign to make her graphics, but you can use Canva. Alternatively, you could also simply get an image online and print it instead.
When you have printed your design onto the transfer paper, it’s time to iron it onto your t-shirt. Follow the step-by-step guide in the video here and make your tees. Of course, the exact instructions you need will come with your transfer paper. For that reason, you should always make sure that you read it before you get started. Happy printing.
Buy iron-on transfer paper here
4. Homemade Chutney in Jars
Are you something of a whizz in the kitchen? If you’re short on cash, why not share some of your fantastic cooking with your loved ones? One of the simplest Christmas presents you can make is a jar of chutney. This Mary Berry recipe is easy-to-follow and will help you make a batch of classic chutney super quickly. What’s more, you can adapt the recipe to suit whatever ingredients you happen to have in the kitchen right now.
After you have made your chutney and left it to cool for a while, you can dish it up into jars. Make sure that these containers are well-sealed when you’ve put the condiment in them. You should also give the recipients advice on how long the chutney will keep and how they can store it. Let’s face it — this is a thoughtful and delicious present.
Buy chutney and jam jars here
5. DIY Snow Globes
There are few things as Christmassy as a beautiful snow globe! If you’re looking for a cute, personalised present you can make easily, you’ve just found it. As this video tutorial shows you, you can use any container to make your snow globe. Recycling something from your kitchen will typically work well. For example, you can use a jam jar or glass water bottle.
When you’ve decided what container you want to use, it’s time to figure out what to put inside your snow globe. There are loads of options here. The smartest thing you can do is choose something that is unique to the person you’re giving the present to. So, if the recipient likes cats, you could put a small plastic cat in the globe. Alternatively, you might want to put pictures of you and your loved ones in the snow globes too. Done!
Things you will need: Jam Jars / baby food jars etc, ideally use items that were destined for recycling to cut costs and reduce waste, super glue, glycerin (optional), distilled/boiled/filtered water, interior decorations (e.g. glitter) and that’s about it, obviously if you were to buy all these items just for one snow globe it’s probably not cost-effective but if you make 2 or more it will soon start to become ‘cheap’.
Get Started Now!
What are you waiting for? Now that you know how to make your own Christmas presents, give them a whirl. In this guide, we’ve given you five smart ideas. However, it doesn’t have to end there. You can look online for some more inspiration too. Give it a go!
