Five DIY Christmas Gifts That Won’t Break Your Budget

It’s the gifts season and we have a treat for you: 5 beautiful and healthy “do it yourself” ideas for Christmas gifts that will cheer up your loved ones, give them something personal, and develop your creativity. No worries, they won’t break your budget either.

There is nothing more beautiful than surprising people with gifts we made ourselves. We also made sure that just about everybody will be up to these tasks. So, what are we making today?

Breakfast in a jar

We are pretty sure you cannot miss with a gift that the recipient can eat. However, in order not to be a part of a “chocolate overdose”, it is a great idea to give something healthy and tasty as a present. Breakfast in a jar is an original and useful idea that can be gifted to anyone.

What will you need? Basically, an empty glass jar with a lid or container, three tablespoons of oatmeal, one tablespoon of protein with chocolate or vanilla flavor, half a spoon of cocoa powder, one tablespoon of coconut flour, and two tablespoons of any dried fruit.

Carefully stuff all the dry ingredients in layers into a jar. Choose a suitable glass depending on the number of ingredients and fill it almost to the top. Close it well with a lid, you can also decorate the neck of the glass with a string, add a leaflet with instructions or some nice thoughts. Breakfast on the go is ready and thus a convenient and healthy gift for your loved ones. All the gifted person will have to add before serving this delicious breakfast is a cup of vegetable milk.

Sounds like a lot of work? You can always go with ready-baked cookies, or, even better, gift your loved ones jars with a mixture of ingredients from which the gift recipient will create his or her own cookies.

Water Marble Mugs

Looking for something even simpler yet impactful? Coffee or tea mugs were very popular gifts years ago, then we forgot about them a bit. Now they are returning in great style, as can be seen by the sheer number of mugs that can be found in stores. But you don’t want the store-bought ones if you can create your own cup yourself. Our favorite technique requires very few ingredients, actually only two! You need a white cup, nail polish, and a plastic container with warm water (which you will throw in the trash after you’re done creating). Drizzle a little nail polish of any color on the surface of the warm water and dip the cup in the water. The color will spill all over the cup and create beautiful patterns. With a black felt-tip pen, you can write different messages for your gift recipients making it even more personal.

Ginger-scented body scrub

Christmas is also about smelling nice. One of the most beautiful and useful gifts that you can easily make at home is a body scrub. Purchased peeling solutions can be unpleasant for the skin and contain various chemical additives that our skin does not like, so a homemade peel is a great solution. It is natural – we know exactly what we made it from – and our skin will be grateful.

So how do you make one? Mix brown sugar (1 cup), cinnamon (1 tablespoon), ginger (1 tablespoon), and cloves (1/3 tablespoon) in a large bowl. Add the coconut oil (¼ cup) and molasses (1 teaspoon) and mix everything together again. You can also knead with your hands to mix the ingredients really well and combine them with each other. Fill the resulting mixture (peeling) into jars and close them with a lid. They can be stored at room temperature for many years.

The peeling is applied to damp skin and massaged into the body with gentle circular motions. Exfoliation successfully removes dead skin cells and makes the skin soft and supple, scents it, and gives it a pleasant scent. Finally, the scrub is completely washed off the skin with water.

A natural face mask

The combination of baobab and orange is perfect for facial skincare. Due to the cold and wind to which our skin is exposed during winter, redness and skin irritation often appear on the cheeks. Baobab contains a lot of antioxidants, vitamin C, and polyphenols, which prevent skin aging, rejuvenate it and make it fresh and radiant, meanwhile, orange has regenerative abilities, soothes irritated skin, and helps with acne-prone skin.

The recipe is straightforward. Get one tablespoon of baobab powder, grate peel two oranges, and prepare some clean water. Mix and mash the orange peel with a blender, then add the baobab powder and gradually add a little water to form a homogeneous mixture. Fill the prepared mixture into small jars with lids, decorate them with colored adhesive tape, and a leaflet with instructions for using the mask, stating something like this: “Clean your face with clean water and dry it. Apply the orange mask on the face of any problem area of the body. Leave the mask on the skin for 20 to 25 minutes, then rinse with water and dry your face with a soft and gentle towel. Your skin will be clean, fresh, and nourished.”

Semi-professional tip: if you add fat (coconut or cocoa butter) instead of water, you can also prepare a homemade lip balm.

Decorated candles

Even a simple decorated candle can be magical. Once the flame illuminates the pictures on the sides and reveals the depicted snowy landscape Christmas spirit will enter the household. How can you make one? Take an empty glass jar and wrap it in places with adhesive tape to create different patterns. Alternatively, you do cut out patterns from paper or stickers as well. Once attached, turn over the glass or container and paint over the entire surface. Wait for the selected paint to dry, then carefully remove the adhesive tape or stickers. Finally, use a spray for a shiny look or a matte spray, apply it to the jar, and wait for it to dry again. The last thing to do is put a small candle inside.

Therefore, go, be creative, and above all, be the greatest gift to your loved ones.