Cheap and easy DIY Christmas gifts 2024 for everyone on your list. Save money with thoughtful, homemade presents that show you care.
This list of cheap and easy DIY Christmas gifts for 2024 will help round out your shopping list.Especially if you’re buying for children, their teachers, daycare providers, or your mail delivery person.
The holidays can be challenging for those on a budget. You want to show appreciation for all the wonderful people in your life while still sticking to your financial goals. This often means not overspending. Perhaps you didn’t save all year for gift-giving, or you couldn’t save much
Regardless of your small budget, gift-giving is an important part of our society. You deserve to participate if you choose. A smaller budget simply means you need to be more creative and play around with a bunch of cheap and easy DIY Christmas gifts in 2024.
Focus on making or buying frugal DIY gifts and conveying your affection through less-expensive means. The perfect gift isn’t always the most expensive; after all, it’s the thought that counts most.
Why Handmade Gifts?
1. Support for small businesses: Buying handmade Christmas gifts supports local craft stores and other small businesses, helps sustain traditional crafts and local economies.
When you purchase from them, you enable them to continue their craft while directly contributing to their livelihood. You’re truly making a difference in people’s lives.
2. It’s all about connection and stories: Each handmade gift carries a story and a connection to the artisan who created it. This personal touch adds emotional value to the gift and creates a bond between the giver and the recipient. Knowing the story behind a gift can make it even more special and memorable.
3. Creativity and inspiration: Making handmade gifts allows for creative expression and can be a rewarding experience. It also encourages creativity and inspiration in both the giver and the recipient, making the process of gift-giving more enjoyable and meaningful for all involved.
4. Quality and longevity: DIY gifts are often made with higher quality materials and greater attention to detail, resulting in more durable and longer-lasting products compared to mass-produced goods. Above all, they are a more sustainable choice in the long run.
What You Need to Know Before Buying Homemade Christmas Gifts
Personalization is super important: Great handmade gifts offer a special touch and can be customized to the recipient’s tastes or preferences.
For example, a college student might appreciate a personalized tote bag in their favorite colors or with an inspiring quote from a notable figure. A best friend might love a set of DIY Christmas ornaments featuring shared memories.
Practicality: Consider how practical the gift will be for the recipient. Homemade Christmas cards can be a heartfelt addition to any gift, while a carefully curated gift basket filled with dry ingredients for their favorite recipes can be a thoughtful and useful present.
A beautifully packaged jar of homemade Epsom salts with essential oils, along with a set of DIY bath bombs, can be a perfect gift for someone who enjoys relaxing baths. Or book covers for an avid reader,
Pay attention to your budget: Handmade gifts vary in price, but there are always options to fit your budget. If you’re looking to save money while giving something meaningful this holiday season, consider making personalized decorations, like homemade ornaments for the Christmas tree.
Below are a few ideas to get you started, along with some great places to find the perfect holiday gifts for your loved ones:
Go the minimalist route
Minimalism makes giving gifts to your children cheaper and easier than ever. You might have to lay some groundwork, to help them adjust to the new traditions you’re starting. Luckily, most kids are adaptable and just want to spend quality time with their families.
Minimalist Christmas Gift Ideas for Kids from Ginger Homemaking has tons of minimal gifts, as well as a bunch of cheap but perfect DIY gifts. She suggests redefining Christmas for your family members and focusing on the true meaning of the festive season.
Shifting away from a consumer-driven holiday can be a game-changer for both your wallet and your happiness. Redirecting your traditions towards a more family-oriented approach is a powerful way to embrace the season.
Give herbs
My Journey to Green has a great list of eco-friendly gifts, but there’s a great minimalist one at the end: herbs.
Not dried herbs or fresh herbs, but plants. Your recipient will be able to cook with fresh herbs for free (which is saying a lot – they’re expensive to buy from the grocery store!) and get some cute decor for the kitchen too.
For some reason, plants are cheaper than or about the same price as fresh herbs. Even better, helping home cooks grow their own will save them so much.
Make something
I am the least crafty or artistic person ever, but these cheap homemade gift ideas are legit options, even for the untalented like me. Making something is a great way to keep your Christmas frugal too.
My favorite cheap homemade gift idea from Ginger Homemaking is making a baking box for kids. This would be a great gift for a teacher, therapist, or daycare provider too, with a few modifications.
Basically, you gather kitchen basics and a baking book for kids and present it all as one of a limited number of gifts (read the full details here).
Jamie said it best: “The beauty of this gift is that everything is either consumed or kept in the kitchen, and you are adding built in quality time into this gift!”
1. Make a Baking Box
My favorite low-cost homemade gift idea from Ginger Homemaking is making a baking box for kids. This would be a great gift for a teacher, therapist, or daycare provider too, with a few modifications.
You gather kitchen basics and a baking book for kids and present them all as one of a limited number of gifts (read the full details here). Jamie said it best: “The beauty of this gift is that everything is either consumed or kept in the kitchen, and you’re adding built-in quality time to this gift!
2. Make a Potpourri Light Jar
I’m tempted to make some of these jars for my oldest’s therapists and my youngest’s daycare providers. They’re super cute and pretty affordable, especially if you can buy supplies in bulk. Plus, they require minimal crafting skills.
How to Make the Potpourri Light Jar from Linen and Wildflowers lays out exactly how to make these jars. What’s great about this project is that you can customize the colors and scents to match the recipient’s home decor. Alternatively, you can choose neutral colors and lightly scented potpourri to suit any home. For safety, be sure to remind your gift recipients not to leave the jar lit and unattended
3. Make Beauty Products
I would only make beauty products as homemade gifts if you know the recipient well, as they might have allergies or intolerances to certain ingredients or scents.
However, if you have the all-clear, DIY beauty products can be frugal, easy to make, and thoughtful gifts. With a wide variety of products, ingredients, and scents available, you can easily create something perfect for your gift recipient.
Five Beautiful Eco-Friendly Holiday Gift Ideas from My Journey to Green has five different recipes to get you started. There are also 5 natural personal care product recommendations if you have money to spend.
4. Make an Iced Coffee Gift Box
I asked a friend who works as a pediatric speech-language pathologist what kind of gifts she’d like to receive from her clients… and her answer was “caffeine.”
Although The Cheapest Homemade Iced Coffee Recipe from Harbor Home isn’t laid out as a cheap homemade gift, it can be converted easily.
All you need to do is buy instant coffee and a small container of cinnamon and print out this recipe card. If you can find individual-serving-size maple syrup, even better. You could also add an inexpensive mug or stirring spoon to round out the gift, but those aren’t necessarily required.
Bake something
Remember that baked goods are no longer a safe bet—many people are gluten-free, dairy-free, have allergies, or are eating low-carb. However, if you know the recipient can enjoy the treats you’re preparing, baked goods and other food gifts can be excellent, budget-friendly homemade presents.
If you don’t have traditional family recipes to bake, try one of these:
German Lebkuchen: similar to gingerbread, this recipe is easy to make.
Orange cranberry cornbread cookies: this recipe convert to gluten-free easily, plus they sound delicious.
Gluten-free ginger molasses cookies: yes they’re gluten-free, but you could probably use regular flour too. Ginger cookies are my favorites during the winter!
Christmas puppy chow: although this recipe doesn’t technically involve baking, it sounds too good to pass up – it’s a combination of regular puppy chow and salty vanilla pretzels.
Write something
Honestly, the most meaningful and cheap homemade gift you can give is a written note expressing your appreciation for the recipient or detailing how much they mean to you.
I’m a big believer in telling people what they mean to you, while you still can. Saying those things face-to-face can be a little awkward, but a written reminder is pretty special.
After birthdays, I save cards my kids have received if they have personal notes. I throw out the ones that just say “love so and so,” but anything with a special note is saved. I would absolutely save a similar card received during the holidays.
The ultimate cheap homemade gift: a handwritten note
For mere pennies, you can give a gift that really makes an impact. Write a meaningful note on a holiday card, and maybe include a $5 coffee gift card, to give a special teacher gift.
With dozens of students every year, I’m sure teachers get overwhelmed with little trinkets. Instead, tell the teacher how much they mean to your child & your family and give a consumable or monetary gift to reduce the amount of junk in their life.
If you don’t have the time or nice handwriting, use a service like Handwrytten. It’s not free, but prices are reasonable for a few cards. You upload addresses and messages, and then this service mails beautifully written cards with your words.
No matter which cheap and easy DIY Christmas gifts you choose in 2024, the thought and effort you put into it will be greatly appreciated. The holidays are highly commercialized, but genuine gifts always stand out. The exact gift matters far less than the sentiment behind it, so don’t stress too much about what to buy or make.
