Do-It-Yourself Holiday Gift Ideas for Everyone on Your List

Christmas is known as the most wonderful time of the year. For many, it can also be stressful if you want to give gifts on a college student’s budget. Your family and friends will definitely understand if you can’t buy extravagant gifts, but you do have a chance to put your creativity to work if you want to give gifts to loved ones without racking up debt or stressing yourself out. Chances are, with the below gifts can be spiced up and infused with the personality of the recipient. If you play your cards right, these gifts might become a bigger hit than anything that can be bought at a holiday sale.

Coupon Book
The sky is the limit with a coupon book, no matter who it’s for. You only need some simple art supplies and paper to make it pretty. Figure out five to ten things that your loved one would like to have someone do for them, and make coupons out of those chores. You can go from a massage for mom to hand washing dad’s prized corvette. Offer to prepare a romantic dinner for your parents one night when you’re home from school during the holidays or in the summer. Once you’ve decided what you want to offer on your coupons, take some time to jazz up the coupon book with pretty paper, creative writing and glitter, if necessary. Use the favorite colors and style of the person you are giving the book to in order to let them know this gift is specifically for them.
2. Hand Painted Photo
Take a photo of you and the recipient together and put it in a frame that you decorate. Find a simple, cheap frame and choose your loved one’s favorite colors, flowers, object of interest or animal to decorate the frame with it. By adding personal elements and doing the painting yourself, you can be sure the recipient will treasure this gift forever because they know it came from your heart.
3. Mani/Pedi for Mom or Sister
It’s more than likely that your mom and/or sister would love to have a manicure or pedicure. They would also love to spend time with you while you’re home from school. You can go to any drug store and buy some nail polish, grooming kits and any other supplies you might need. You can shape, trim and polish their nails and have lots of laughs and quality time while doing it. This is a great gift for some girl bonding time.
4. Cooking Lessons
If you have friends or even family members that love a particular dish you make, invite them over while you’re home and show them how to make it. If there are several people who want your prized recipe, invite them all over at once to have a small social gathering while you give your cooking lesson. You’ll be sharing yourself and a special dish with people you love and who love you. At the end of the lesson, you can all eat together by tasting your creation. This also works if you don’t have a special dish, but want to get together with friends to cook. You can allow everyone some input on the menu and select a time to get together and prepare it.
These are just a few ideas of gifts you can give during the holidays that will cost you very little, but offer lots of heart. Your family and friends will love these ideas and appreciate the amount of thought you put into them.