Now That's Thrifty!

Do you want to give meaningful Christmas gifts? Sometimes it can be hard to come up with gifts that are special, but we have some great ideas for you! We even have ideas for people that you don’t know well. Everyone can receive a meaningful gift this year! You don’t have to break the bank to give a great gift with our creative DIY Christmas gifts on a budget.

 

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Creative DIY Christmas Gifts for anyone!

You don’t have to be super creative to make these DIY Christmas gifts. We have come up with the ideas for you, so you can go ahead and make the perfect gift!

 

1. Mug Cakes

Mug cakes might not be the first gift idea that pops into your head, but they are a fun gift to give to people that you don’t know so well.

One year for Christmas, we bought an assortment of mugs from thrift stores.

We started buying them in September. By December, we had about 30 of them.

We washed them all in the dishwasher and found microwave cake recipes on Pinterest (there are so many of them!).

Although we tried multiple recipes, we decided on 3 to use for presents—chocolate, lemon, and cinnamon.

The day before we had people over, we made all the mug cakes. Since we chose 3 flavors, we just made an even amount of each one.

We created little flags out of tape and toothpicks to label the flavor of each mug cake.

At our Christmas celebration, we sat the mugs on our table and let people pick out their own mug.

When each person ate the cake for dessert, they took the mugs home with them.

This allowed everyone to choose a mug that they liked and a flavor of cake that they would enjoy.

 

2. Game Board Boxes

Another year for Christmas, I cut up old game boards like Monopoly, Clue, and Sorry and taped them together with colored masking tape.

Each box was about the size of a cigar box and opened the same way.

Some boxes were a little bigger and some smaller.

I used game pieces for knobs to open the lid on each box.

Inside, I put homemade cookies (inside of plastic bags).

You could put anything in these reusable boxes.

I allowed people to take the box that they liked best, so they at least could pick one that they enjoyed.

 

3. Refurbished Games

Our family gives out white elephant gifts for the extended family like cousins, aunts, uncles, etc.

We have a price limit and each person brings one gift to exchange with an unknown person.

One year, we made a Guess Who game with all the characters being family members. It was well liked!

You could make your own Guess Who game, or any number of DIY games.

You could make your own version of Monopoly:

DIY Harry Potter Monopoly Game with Printables & Instructions

Or, you could make a Mystery Date game:

DIY Star Wars Mystery Date Game with Printables

DIY Harry Potter Mystery Date Game with Printables

 

4. Homemade Candy

My children used to make candy for their teachers because we have a recipe that makes about 250 pieces of candy per batch.

We like to make chocolate creams because they can be many flavors (lemon, mint, strawberry, banana, maple, vanilla, and orange).

You could make any kind of candy or multiple kinds of candy and place them into little containers.

You can even purchase candy wrapper cups if you want to make it look fancy!

There are lots of recipes on Pinterest for different types of candy such as:

• peanut brittle
• glass candy
• chocolate candy

5. Decorated Chairs

For a nicer gift, you can decorate an old chair.

Our local Goodwill store sells dining room chairs for $3.99 or $4.99.

If you aren’t very good at hand painting, you can spray paint the chair.

You can purchase material with all kinds of characters at a store that sells fabrics like JoAnn Fabrics or Walmart.

I usually wait until I have a coupon if I purchase it at JoAnn Fabrics so I can get it really cheap.

See our tutorial for recovering a chair: DIY Wooden Chair Makeover

 

6. Christmas Tree Ornaments

Sometimes at Christmas, I give everyone an ornament with their presents.

I look for unique ornaments at garage sales during the summer.

Last year I went to an estate sale that had a lot of vintage ornaments for $1 each.

This year I didn’t really find any special ornaments, but you can always make your own.

 

Clothespin Ornaments

I made these Star Trek: Next Generation ornaments out of the round wooden clothespins.

They are small, so they are a lot easier to paint.

I hot melted silver thread to the top to hang them with.

 

Napkin Ornaments

Another way to make ornaments is to decorate Styrofoam balls with napkins.

You can use any napkins with pictures on them.

I tear the napkin into small pieces except for the picture (it stays whole).

Then, I use modge podge to glue it to the ball.

While it is still wet, you can roll it in clear glitter (like the tiny bead kind).

When it is dry, add some ribbon to the top for a hanger.

 

Felt Ornaments

I made my daughter some felt Harry Potter ornaments for Christmas one year.

I used special printing paper from JoAnn Fabrics that allowed me to copy pictures and then iron them on fabric.

Then, I sewed the faces onto felt.

The bodies of the ornaments were all about the same—they looked like a gingerbread man.

Then, I sewed the appropriate clothes on each one.

You could make your ornaments family members or other characters.

 

7. Recipe Binder

You can scrapbook your favorite recipes or family recipes that have been passed down for generations into a binder for a gift.

If you have the original copies of recipe cards, you can always make copies to use in the gift.

See our tutorial to make your own recipe binder: Make Your Own Recipe Binder: Scrapbook Style

 

8. Family Tree Binder

One year for Christmas, I received a binder with pictures and information on my relatives from several generations back.

It was a nice gift since I didn’t have the information or photos.

It was printed out on regular computer paper and put into page protectors in a binder.

You could easily make this as fancy or plain as you would like.

 

Share with us your favorite Creative DIY Christmas gifts! Tag us on Instagram or Facebook @nowthatsthrifty.

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Have you made any of these gifts before? What is your favorite DIY Christmas gift that you have gotten?

Related Post: Unique Christmas Gift Exchange Ideas for Family