If you’re groaning inwardly at the thought of how long your Christmas list is and how it’s going to bust your budget to bits, then you need to read this post. And before you decide that giving a gift that cost you absolutely nothing sounds awfully mean, think again. Although these ideas will not cost you money, they will cost you time. That’s way much more meaningful than money, and your family and friends will appreciate that.
Last but by no means least, if you’re worried that we’re just going to list crafty ideas when you’re all thumbs, don’t worry. You won’t be excluded. Crafts are not the only way to give!
Free Christmas Gift Ideas for the Non-Crafty
Are you the one who always sticks his or her fingers together with superglue by accident? Useless at needlework drawing, painting, DIY and all the rest? These free gift ideas will be cherished by your loved ones:
- Give a chores “gift certificate”. You offer to take over a certain chore your recipient usually has to do for a set period of time or on a certain number of occasions.
- Put on a little performance. You don’t have to be musical or good at dramatics. Write a favorite passage neatly on a piece of paper, place it in an envelope, and then recite the piece to your recipient before handing over the memento.
- Give a gift certificate committing to a fun, free activity like going for walks, playing cards or board games. You’ll both have fun with this gift!
- Commit to doing something special for a person once a month for the next twelve months. For example, you could commit to making them a favorite dinner, a dessert or cookies.
- Put together a cheer up kit. This can include anything personal that will bring back warm and happy memories. Photos, a story of a shared happy experience from your perspective, anything that will make them smile.
- Give a friend babysitting coupons. When your friends want to go out together, you’ll take care of their kids.
- Make a list of things you appreciate about a certain person and write it on a set of cards or pretty it up on your computer before printing.
- For couples: make a certificate for your significant other, offering to take care of the kids while he or she goes out with friends.
- Make a mix CD with your friend or loved one’s favorite songs.
- Who gets to pick movies when you watch as a family? Offering a family member a “trump card” that lets them get the final say for a set number of times could be a fun idea.
- Does one of your friends keep asking for your recipes? Put together a recipe notebook.
- Are you a keen gardener? If you happen to have some spare flower bulbs or fresh garden produce, it’s the season for giving.
- Find a free event in your town, and send an invitation as a Christmas gift. You’re promising to share quality time, so your recipient will appreciate it.
- Give a girlfriend a makeover. She picks when, and you become her stylist for a day. It’s girly, but fun!
- A box of love. That’s it. Just a box. Choose a small one. With it comes a card with a message asking the recipient to treasure the box, because your love for them is inside it. Simple, but beautiful.
Crafty Gift Ideas That Don’t Cost a Cent
- Fabric offcuts or pieces of still attractive fabric from old clothes can be turned into bags or purses quickly and easily.
- Try your hand at embroidery. All you need is colored thread and a piece of cloth.
- Hunt around for attractive buttons and use them to make jewelry.
- Use old denim to make a cool shopping bag.
- Decorate jars to make tea candle lamps.
- Plant cuttings of succulents in a glass jar to make a mini terrarium gift.
- Use wood offcuts, sand and pebbles to make a mini Zen garden.
- Wood offcuts are also great for making key hook holders. Try decorating the wood by scorching a design into the wood with a soldering iron.
- Make an IPad case: knit it or sew it!
- Use an old tee shirt to make a multi-strand scarf. It’s easy, and you don’t have to sew a stitch. All you need is a scissor.
- Make paper beads from gift wrap or even old paper bags. Now string them together and voila!
- Make a plastic bottle bird feeder. Once you’ve decorated it, it will look as good as anything you could have bought in a store.
- Use an old cereal box to make a useful magazine holder.
- Make crochet flowers and give someone special a whole bunch of them.
- Make Barbie clothes for little girls with scraps of fabric and yarn.
- Sew or knit cute stuffed toys. If you need gifts for several children, you can save time by producing them in bulk.
- Pot holders always come in handy. If you crochet, it’s a great way to use up scraps of wool.
- Old tin cans make pretty plant pots even just as they are. Alternatively, you can decorate them and give them away as pen holders.
By now, you’re getting the picture. Any scrap that can be reused or recycled into something pretty for gifts is fair game, and the only limit is your imagination. But will your friends be happy with your homemade gifts? They will! Something that you made with your own hands is a very special way of saying how much you appreciate them.
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