Hello my favorite Steem Peeps! This is Echo Cadence wishing you warmth and fluffy blankets!
The holiday seasons are here, and ya know what that means! It's the season of throwing your hard earned monies at overprices presents to give to your friends and family.
Granted, they are totally worth giving gifts to and if you're anything like me, I so wish I could give them the world, or at least a Nintendo Switch. The problem that I always have at this time of year is that I never have enough funds to give them the gifts that they clearly so deserve; but never fear! I have found a great solution! (insert evil Christmas cackle here)
DIY gifts will be your savior this Christmas season... no pun intended (God have mercy on me). How can anyone say no to a sincere handmade gift that you painstakingly crafted for them? It's a perfect trap! If they give you shit about it, you can throw it in their face that you took the time to make something from scratch for them. They will have no choice but to love it.
But what kind of DIY gift should you make for your beloved humans? I gotcha covered! Listed below are a few points of really simple DIY gifts that are utterly fail proof and seriously cheap:
1.) For The Beach Lovers - Sea Shell Jar
If you know that one person that loves the beach or if you randomly have a shit ton of seashells in a tin can sitting in your apartment like I do, this is the perfect gift to make for them!
To craft, you need a jar (can be a empty pickle jar or a empty Preggo jar), hot glue gun, hot glue, twine (optional) and sea shells (not optional). If you do not have a tin can filled to the brim with sea shells sitting in your apartment, never fear! You can pick up a small bag of them at Walmart or at Hobby Lobby for five dollars or what not.
If you choose to use twine, start from the bottom of the jar up and hot glue the shit out of the jar while wrapping the twine around it. DO NOT CONTINUE AROUND THE JAR LID! ABORT! ABORT!
Once that's done, hot glue some of the larger shells towards the bottom of the jar with the sides touching each other. Then hot glue four shells in the North, South, East, Directions. If you decided to opt out from the twine, just go crazy and hot glue all the shells onto the jar. Get wrecked.
Once that's done, you can fill up the jar with fairy lights, which are not so cheap, or fill it up with tiny cookies or chocolates. Which are cheap.
2.) Write a Short Story with Your Friend/Family Member as the Main Character
If you're a writer at heart, then you will have no trouble at all with this DIY gift. There are almost no limitations on this gift! You can be as creative and wild as you want with it... so long as you don't write a explicit lemon scene or a terrible angsty thing.
If you would like some great short story ideas to write for that special someone, here are some great pointers:
- Write about them meeting their anime crush or somehow joining the world of their favorite anime
- Write about them going on a crazy as fuck date with their fictional crush. I did this once by starting my friend out in a bar and somehow getting into a gun fight in Chinatown. BE CREATIVE!
- Write a short piece about where you see them ten or so years into the future. Is your friend into music? Write about them being a rockstar and singing at a concert!
- Is your friend really into yaoi or yuri? Write a short, fluffy one shot about their OTP. Trust me, they will love it no matter what.
3.) Draw a Handmade Christmas Card
My best friend did this for me during college and I absolutely adored it! If you have a knack for drawing, painting, digital art, ect. then I highly reccommend that you do this as a gift.
Draw a card with your friend's favorite character wishing them a Merry Christmas, or draw your family member as a kawaii chibi.
I promise you, if they don't like it then they are feral.
4.) Write on a Plate and Serve Christmas Cookies on It
We're entering the realm of pinterest here. These are seriously simple. If you have plain glass plates that you don't really care about giving away, use those! If not, you can buy a few at the Dollar Store of buy some at Walmart for $5.00. While you're at Walmart, make sure to buy black permanent markers. MAKE SURE THAT YOU ONLY GET BLACK, IT WILL NOT WORK WITH ANY OTHER COLORS!!!
Write on the plates. Say Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Peace, Joy, I HATE YOU, I LOVE YOU, MARCOxJEAN, whatever you think you're family or friends will like. Wait maybe 20 minutes for the marker to dry before sticking it in the oven.
So, when baking your plates, be sure that the oven is at 425 degrees F and bake for 30 minutes. After the plates have cooled to the touch, it's recommended that you stick the plates in the dish washer for a wash to see if the ink stays. But I don't run your life. You do you.
Anyways, if that works, then get to baking those cookies. Cover that beautiful plate your worked so hard to make up with edible goodness. Now, give it to your friend.
5.) Dollar Store Stockings and Sparkle Glue
We're back with the $5.00 budget! Do you have $5.00? I'm going to pretend that you do. Now, you're going to go to the closest dollar store you can find and buy a cheap Christmas stocking, a bag of chocolate (or coal) and SPARKLE GLUE!
Now, you're going to write or draw something kawaii on that stocking. Be creative!
Or be lewd. Now, wait for that shit to dry and then stuff that stocking up. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOUR FRIEND!
There are seriously so many grand DIY ideas out there to make for those awesome peeps that are in your life; the trick is to let your creativity roam free and have fun making the gifts. If your friends are as amazing as you are, then they are bound to love whatever you give them. It is the season of giving after all. :)
Let me know how your stuff turns out! Do you have any grand DIY ideas that you think peeps would like for the holiday season? Share it with us in the comments! I'd love to see what you have to say!
Image Sources:
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442408363368282373/
http://www.laughinggif.com/gifs/f0u1lkotop
https://chrismast.colafw.com/decorating-christmas-stockings-with-glitter/
https://www.teepublic.com/t-shirt/331752-kawaii-christmas-tree