Ok. You need to get Christmas presents for your friends and your family and probably for the people in your office, too, but you don’t have a lot to spend. You’re absolutely not alone! The economy is really bad right now, and it doesn’t matter whether you live in the UK, the US, or somewhere else. Whatever kind of currency you use just doesn’t stretch as far as it used it. If you want to make sure that your pounds go further this holiday season, why not try giving homemade Christmas gifts?

Before you roll your eyes and think that all your friends will hate you, think about the money you could save. If you make presents that are thoughtful and kind and, well…good, you’ll be appreciated and you won’t be broke. A lot of these require no real skill, very little money, and can often be made from things you already have. Some of them even use rubbish as their main ingredient, although we wouldn’t recommend that for the food items!

Here are twenty-five of our favourites:

1. Stand-up, 3D reindeer Christmas cards – Everyone loves a Christmas card that they can display without it continuously falling over.

2. Potpourri Bundles – Who doesn’t want their house to smell great for the holidays?

3. Christmas cards you print yourself – You can design them through a Website or on your own, print them at home and send them out. Nothing says you care like taking the time to do that (and it really doesn’t take that long, either).

4. Chocolate Christmas Fudge – Yum. Everyone likes sweets, and around the holidays people tend to eat a long more of them.

5. Christmas Toffee Treats – These are great for the toffee lover on your list. Why buy them some expensive toffee when you can add a personal touch and make your own.

6. Christmas memory album – Give them a place to store those pictures from the wonderful Christmas that they had. It’s something that they can enjoy for a long time to come.

7. Novelty Tea Cosy – A cup of tea is a great way to relax and to warm up when it’s cold outside – or just to enjoy with friends. Give your friend of family member a smile by giving them a cute little handmade cosy to cover their teapot with.

8. Hand-decorated pot for a plant – It’s so easy. Get an inexpensive pot and use paint, glitter, fake gems or anything you like to make it beautiful and creative and unique.

9. Festive Christmas notepads – You can get some regular notepads and with a little imagination and some craft supplies you can make their front covers look like St. Nickolas, his reindeer, and more.

10. Recycle a bottle to make a fun and funky lamp – An old bottle can be cleaned up given a new life when you put an LED light kit in it. It will glow whatever color the bottle is, or you can use a clear bottle for a brighter light.

11. Christmas tea-light candleholders – You can find tea-light candles and their holders all over the place. With a little creativity and some supplies you can make them reflect the spirit and joy of the season.

12. Kid’s skittles and Christmas pudding bowling ball – Lots of people love to play skittles. You can make your own set that looks like St. Nick and friends, and the ball can resemble a Christmas pudding. If that idea isn’t what you think your recipient would like, you can make your skittles into favorite movie characters or almost anything else.

13. Paper Mache Christmas Dishes – Why have that fine china out to get broken? No one feels like doing dishes on Christmas anyway! Make some paper mache dishes that can be used for the feast.

14. Peg art teapot stand – If you know your gift recipient likes tea (and who doesn’t?) you can use pegs to make a beautiful and functional teapot stand that he or she can use all year round.

15. Mini Christmas stockings to hang on the tree – Cute! And they can be used as decoration or a way to hide tiny presents like jewellery.

16. Cinderella slipper jewellery box – Another jewellery idea is to craft a jewellery box in the shape of a shoe. Some fancy but inexpensive decoration, and you suddenly have Cinderella’s slipper!

17. Decorated Candles – A little bit of craft paint and some imagination can produce candles that are much more beautiful than they were when they left the store.

18. Dried Flowers – Most people have these somewhere in their home. They add a beautiful touch to a lot of different decorating schemes and you don’t have to worry about watering them.

19. Scented stuffed animals – You can make your own stuffed animals with patterns on the Internet or in craft books, and if you put some scented oil or other similar products in their stuffing they’ll smell great for a very long time.

20. Peppermint sweets – Just about everyone likes peppermint, and around the holidays it would be strange not to have some around. Store-bought is good, but homemade usually taste better.

21. Safety pin jewellery – Ever make jewellery from safety pins? It’s easy to do. You can fasten them together in all kind of ways to make intricate shapes, and you can also add ribbon, beads, or other small items into the mix to make something beautiful and unique.

22. Cute monkeys made from socks – It never fails that people seem to get socks at Christmastime from at least one relative. If you don’t want to give boring old socks, turn them into monkeys! They’re cute, they’re easy to make, and they definitely aren’t boring.

23. Handmade recipe books – If you know that a friend or family member really likes your cooking, or just really likes to cook, you can make that person a recipe book of their own. Similar to a memory album, it can be designed and decorated any way you like, and you can fill it with recipes and leave some space so they can add more later.

24. A personalized calendar with photos and birthdays or the recipient’s family – It’s great to see those that we love, and with this gift the recipient can see different loved ones all year long.

25. Homemade art work – Can you paint, draw or do something really creative? A lot of people can, and if you’re one of them why not paint, draw or create something to give as a gift. It costs very little other than your time, and will probably mean more than something store-bought.

There are hundreds more, but these should be enough to get you thinking. There are always creative ways to offer something thoughtful and still save money. If you take the time to think about those you’ll be giving gifts to, you should be able to base their gift on who they are and what they really like – and how much they mean to you – rather than go out and spend money for something just so you don’t feel guilty. Have a guilt-free and joy-filled Christmas season!

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