I love handmade presents. I don’t care if it is a stick figure on a napkin. If it was made with love, I cherish it.
To this end, I present you with eight of my favorite frugal handmade gifts:
- Penny keychain. Great for a present for a husband or wife. Find pennies with the important dates of your life together – year you met, year you got married, year you had your children, etc. Make a hole in the pennies. String the pennies onto a nice key ring or a bracelet.
- Wedding invitation ornament.Get a clear Christmas tree ornament. Take a copy of the wedding invitation and cut it into strips of paper (like you would get from a single strip shredder). Make sure the strips are large enough that you can tell what the original document said. Fill the ornament with the paper.
- Personalized mug. Get a white mug from the 99 cent store. Write something clever with sharpie permanent marker. Bake the mug in the oven for 30 minutes @ 350 degrees. Note: I have done this project and it DOES work, however, these mugs should be washed by hand or the colors will start to come off. I am still experimenting to see if there are markers that are more colorfast. Also, unglazed porcelain may work better than glazed.
- Friendship bracelets. You simply can not go wrong with a friendship bracelet. It’s a great gift that says, “I like you. You are my friend.” Check out this new variation of friendship bracelet with beads.
- Balloons with memories. This is romantic. Get a helium balloon for every week/month/year you have been together. Tie a piece of paper with a special memory to the end of the string of each balloon.
- Decoupaged coat hangers. Cover strong wooden hangers with meaningful pictures. Use watered down white glue to make the hanger collage. Could be for a lover or a friend or a child.
- T-shirt quilt. Turn favorite t-shirts into a quilt. A gift to be treasured for a lifetime. You can also frame a beloved T-shirt using a low-cost acrylic frame from Target or a craft store.
- Anything with the special date on it. For our wedding, my husband and I were given a handmade vase with the date of our wedding and two cross stitched items with our names. I love them. They are special because I know how much time it took to make these. Plus, I remember my wedding anniversary!
What is your favorite handmade gift?
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Thank you for linking back to my beaded braid tutorial! You’ve got a great list of frugal gift ideas. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the T shirt blanket info.
Just what I was looking for!