DIY tips for the holidays

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Anyone who knows me very well knows I have a severe case of I can make that syndrome. I do enjoy making things, but sometimes it gets me in a little trouble. This article features some great tips to successfully do it yourself.

Do It Yourself Gift Ideas for Christmas

By Aurora McCausland

The Holiday season is definitely one of the best times of the year. The weather gets a little, or a lot, colder and makes you want to stay inside with a cup of hot chocolate with mini marshmallows, snuggling under a warm blanket with your loved ones. It’s also the season of giving. Planning the holiday season and the gifts you’ll give to the most important people in your life is one of the best, and most exciting, parts of the holiday season. Having a lot of people to love is such a blessing, but it can end up being a bit of a financial burden when the holiday season comes around. The impending financial investment can put stress on a lot of people and take a lot of the joy out of the season.

Do it yourself

If you find yourself falling in the category of people that are struggling to find a way to afford all of the gifts you want to give the people that you love, consider a do it yourself route for some, or all, of the gifts you’ll be giving during the holidays. When people think of a “DIY gift” they often think of refurbished gifts that are lopsided and wonky that will gather dust in your basement from going unused, until you throw it away a few years later. Or they imagine the infamous “love coupons”, redeemable for back rubs and coffee runs. That isn’t the way that do it yourself gifts have to be, though. You can easily create something that will last a long time, will be cherished and appreciated by the recipient, and will bring you a great amount of joy during the process. Making something yourself makes it mean a lot more, and the people that receive your gifts will feel the same way upon receipt of their diy gifts.

Repurpose what you already have

Perhaps the most inexpensive diy gift idea, can also be one of the most difficult to figure out how to do effectively. We tend to think of the things that we already have as “junk” or unusable. This just isn’t true. The beauty of repurposing something that you already have is that you’re giving something a new life. Great things that can be repurposed include any sort of hardware or wood leftover from projects that have either gone unfinished. Or perhaps, you bought a little bit too much wood when you fixed your fence over the summer, leaving you with the perfect materials for a diy gift for someone that you love. The things that you can create with wood are endless. If you’re particularly ambitious, you can try and create something like some simple furniture, such as a new bed frame or a small coffee table for the living room. These are gifts that don’t take very much experience or knowledge to make, but are incredibly useful and will be loved for a long time. If you feel like choosing something a little bit more simple, go ahead and try your hand at making wooden wall decor.

Restoring antiques

One great resource for DIY gifts, is antique shops, thrift stores, and yard sales. You can often find unwanted gems that you can restore into something new and beautiful. Think things like reupholstering old and dingy furniture, painting over old and ugly canvas paintings, or using old bedding for the fabric, if you happen to be handy with a sewing machine. It’s important to keep in mind who you’re making a gift for. Your husband may not appreciate a new sign for the kitchen, but your mom or mother in law would. Knowing your audience is important when preparing gifts for the holidays, whether you’re making the gifts yourself or not.

Take care of their chores

Is there a task that’s been lingering on your loved ones’ to-do list indefinitely? It might be a matter of cleaning out the garage, getting new tires on the car, or fixing a dilapidated fence. Taking care of something like that might seem obvious and mundane, but for many people it’s an amazing gift. It shows that you cared enough to invest some time and effort. It also shows that you notice what they do and what they need, which makes it beautifully personal.

Think about what your friends and family really need

One of the best things about do it yourself gifts is that you can really cater to exactly what the recipients of your gifts need. If you have a family member who needs a new tv stand, you can make one much more inexpensively than you could purchase one. If you have another member of your family who is crafty, finding some vintage fabric that they could repurpose themselves could prove to be an invaluable gift.