Tis’ the season for creating! Whether you’re on a budget or want gifts that are a little more personalized, I wanted to share with you some of my favourite and relevant homemade Christmas gift ideas you can make this year. There’s something on this list for everyone!
I love the feeling of gifting someone something I made. Their face lights up as they open the present, and then you proudly say that you made it yourself. Then, their smile gets even bigger. Knowing that you put effort and love into a gift makes it much more special.
These homemade Christmas gift ideas range from simple to deluxe, so there’s something for every skill level here. And don’t worry! Everything on this is beautiful, useful, and something everyone would be thrilled about receiving.
Here are the homemade gifts I’ll be talking about today…
Preserve the beauty of your garden with these lovely pressed lavender candles. Lavender not only has a lovely fresh scent, but it also helps to promote relaxation and destress.
These are wonderful homemade gifts for those you want to treat with a little peace and serenity, all while gifting gardening eye candy.
For the person in your life who loves to smell good, there’s nothing more amazing than having their own custom, personal scent. Making perfume is quite simple and, with the right packaging, can be one of the most beautiful homemade Christmas gifts.
Follow these instructions on how to make your own natural perfume. You can either create your own custom blend or steal my romantic or fresh recipe. Both smell simply divine!
Pressed flowers are one of the best ways to preserve the beauty of a garden or a special bouquet. These resin coasters allow you to hold onto these delicate flowers and showcase their beauty in the home. They make for a heartfelt homemade Christmas gift for those obsessed with home decor and all things whimsical.
Another bath favourite, these bath melts are designed to leave the skin feeling ultra-soft and silky. The ingredients are so natural and smell so good, you just may want to take a bite out of them!
These are also the perfect gift for the chocolate lover in your life, as they smell like gourmet truffles. All you have to do to enjoy them is pop them in a hot bath and let the scent carry you away.
I’m a big fan of giving plants as gifts. For Christmas, I like to make my own terrariums for people like teachers or neighbours. Everybody gets a kick out of them, and usually, they’re simple to maintain, even if they don’t have a green thumb.
These sand art terrariums are a fun spin on the traditional terrariums and utilize the beauty of stacked, coloured sand. They always turn out so lovely!
If you need lots of homemade gifts for Christmas, I love making soap. One batch alone can give you ten bars of soap that you can then gift to pretty well everyone in your life. It’s one of those life essentials!
This oatmeal soap, in particular, is a favourite of mine for gifting because oatmeal is naturally soothing for dry, irritated skin. So anyone, even those with sensitive skin, can use the soap and enjoy its lather.
If you’re looking for unique homemade gifts, let me introduce you to living jewelry. Air plants are very cool in that they survive without soil, so they can follow you wherever you go! They’re perfect for the plant lover.
You can also find all of my personal picks from my own plant jewelry collection in this post for more plant-inspired pieces.
This is one of my favourites to include as a stocking stuffer for a partner or sweetie. You can include a coupon for one free back, hand, or foot massage, or even use it to hint that you’d like one, too!
This massage balm is infused with infused rose oil and smells just like the romantic flower. It’s the perfect way to soothe tired and sore muscles.
I love the mystical beauty of these crystal candles. So many people love crystals for their potential healing properties.
Personally, I just enjoy them because of how pretty they are! They look perfect sprinkled in the candle and are a super easy project for beginner candle makers.
This is a great gift for the gardener in your life or for anyone who appreciates a little bit of life in the house. If you’re on a budget, propagating your houseplants and making multiples of plants you already own can be a great personalized gift.
Once you propagate them, all you need is a little soil and a container for the new plant to call home.
This rose soap is one of the best DIY gifts for those who love skincare or a little pampering. Rose is one of the best herbs out there for skincare, and I include it in many of my DIY recipes.
Not only is this soap good for the skin but it is naturally coloured with madder root powder and creates beautiful swirls. Once topped off with dried rose petals, people will have a hard time believing you made it yourself!
When decorating gift bags and packages, I like to add a homemade clay gift tag. It doubles as a decoration and gift, as it can be used as an ornament, key chain, or decoration.
They’re also amazing stocking stuffers and are the perfect homemade Christmas gift to give out as a little token of thanks to acquaintances, coworkers, teachers, and others in your life.
I also pair them alongside gift cards sometimes just so that they also get a physical item that is a little more personal.
Do you have a pet lover you’re looking for a gift for? Or perhaps you’d like to make something for your own pooch! This is one of the more unique homemade Christmas gifts that could be perfect for the right person.
Dog paw balm helps to soothe and moisturize the pads of a dog’s foot that become cracked and dry. It’s a lovely sentiment for someone who loves their dog like family.
Alongside the Christmas cactus and poinsettia, the amaryllis has become a symbol of the holiday season in the plant world.
For the person who has everything, try gifting them an amaryllis plant. To turn it into a homemade gift and make it more personal, find yourself a nice vase or pot to plant it in, add some decorative rock or other features, and decorate it with ribbon or twine.
Plan this one in advance so it’s blooming just in time for gift-giving season!
When it comes to the overload of presents and all of its packaging, Christmas can be incredibly wasteful. Doing DIY Christmas gifts can really help to mitigate this, but you can take it one step further by repurposing items into gifts.
From using natural dyes to sun printing, you can upcycle textiles into unique, personal gifts in many ways. I have a whole list of ideas for upcycling clothes for you to try out!
How to Wrap Homemade Gifts
Part of the joy of gift-giving is wrapping it up! The key to making homemade gifts look artisanal or store-bought comes down to the packaging. Customize your gifts by adding your own labels, tags, ribbons, and other decorative elements.
In most of my recipes and crafts, I include some creative ways to wrap homemade gifts. You can also find more ideas in this post about natural and recycled gift wrap ideas.
Frequently Asked Questions About Christmas Gifts
What is the four gift rule?
The four gift rule is where parents or partners only give away a total of four presents: one thing they need, one thing they want, one thing to wear, and one thing to read. The gifts above could easily fit into the “need” or “want” categories!
What can you do instead of gifts at Christmas?
Besides gifts, experiences are the way to go. You can choose to gift experiences instead of presents or do the experience together as a family. For instance, you can look at Christmas lights while sipping hot cocoa or head to a Christmas-inspired performance. Hosting a game or movie night is another great way to get the family together for the season without spending money on gifts.
Another fun Christmas tradition I’ve enjoyed is making a Christmas wreath with my neighbours instead of exchanging gifts.
You can also still include gifts but in a more minimalized way. For instance, everyone can make their own homemade Christmas gifts like these ideas above or do a white elephant or secret Santa where everyone only buys one gift with a pre-determined limit.
Which homemade gifts are easy to personalize?
When I want to personalize a gift, I usually create something that I can customize the scent and the colour for.
This can mean making a candle in their favourite colour, adding eucalyptus essential oil to their bath salts because I know they love fresh fragrances, or decorating a soap with their favourite flowers. Almost all of these homemade Christmas gift ideas can be personalized for the special person in your life.
You can also personalize most of these homemade Christmas gifts from the packaging. Make custom labels with the person’s name on them or in a style you know they’ll love.
What are practical homemade Christmas gifts?
Practical gifts are anything that people will use in their everyday lives. You want to avoid any novelty items and instead think about an item that would fit into their daily routine.
What one person would find practical, another might not. But here are a few practical DIY gifts I turn to often:
Soaps (bar or liquid), jams or jellies, candles or wax melts, air fresheners, customized napkins, houseplants, lotion bars, sugar scrubs, lip balms, and bath salts.
What foods make good Christmas gifts?
Food can be one of the best homemade Christmas gifts because it’s something everyone enjoys. Rather than gift something people can get from the store, it’s always nice to gift something you’ve made yourself.
Baked goods are always a popular option, but so are preserves from your own garden or stash like jams, sauces, spice blends, and syrups. I have a whole post dedicated to ideas for last-minute gifts you can make from the kitchen.
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