By making your own Christmas presents, you take back the power, in a way. You decide what to make and how it should look. It can be a very liberating feeling, not being bound by what is availiable in shops and online.
For centuries, the Japanese have practiced the ancient art of origami, the art of napkin-folding, if you will. The most advanced practitioners of origami can make virtually anything with it. You don’t have to be that good, though, to learn how to make paper ornaments for the Christmas tree. It’s all in the attitude, it’s not harder than you make it. If you don’t want to work with paper, you can still give someone an ornament that they will treasure for years. Buy a transparent glass ball and some glass paint, and go crazy. Make someone a whacky christmas ball or a sombre one, either way they will love to get a christmas ball that you made, for them to hang in their tree for years to come. If you are feeling particularly creative, you can even doll them up with pearls and feathers, the sky’s the limit.
One of the best things in life, for many of us, is good food and drink, and making someone a nice basket of edible gifts, is a wonderful way of showing you care. It’s not that difficult to make your own chocolate pralines or homemade fudge, but it’s a gift that is always much appreciated. You can also make your own mulled wine and give a bottle to someone you love, or bake them cookies. All these things are fairly easy to make and the ingredients are not terribly expensive, which is always a plus.
If you’re into working with your hands and putting a little more effort into the gift, you might want to take up pottery. Making someone their own coffee mug or fruit bowl may not be as unexpensive as some of our other suggestions, but we are sure it would be a very welcome gift. This gift also gives you total artistic freedom, so you can let your imagination go to town.
Scrap-booking is a sensation that’s sweeping the nation, not to mention the whole world. Everyone is doing it, at least that’s the impression you get if you’ve ever watched Martha Stewart. But although her scrap-booking is made with expensive paper and accessories, yours don’t have to be. Just use a pretty piece of paper and buy your decorations at any stationery store, and make someone a photo album that they’ll think was made by professionals. It’s not that hard, crafting someone a Christmas present. You just have to find your craft. After that, it’s a piece of cake.