Handmade Cards
So simple, yet so effective. Get out the construction paper, or just scavenge in the recycling bin! They'll marvel at the care and consideration you took to send them something personal. Take a piece of colored paper and fold it either in half or into quarters. Old-fashioned markers and pencil crayons will suffice to decorate the card with greetings and well wishes. If you want to make it particularly festive, try cutting out motifs from Christmas wrapping paper and gluing them on the front or inside. Going for that personal touch? Cut your friends out of some old photographs and glue them on in interesting positions, or add speech balloons featuring some of your personal in-jokes. The sky is the limit with this simple cut and paste project!
Baked Goods
The most un-commercial present to give is a home-baked tasty treat. It encourages family time in the kitchen, doesn't clutter up a friend's cupboard with useless junk, and can be enjoyed over a cup of tea while indulging in some friendly gossip. Stock up on the essentials like flour and sugar, cinnamon and sprinkles, and scavenge your favorite cook-book (or search engine!) for those special Christmas cookies you remember from childhood. Dedicate a Sunday afternoon to baking, and make a big batch of your favorites to distribute on Christmas day. If you want to really exercise your creative brain cells, try gingerbread figures in the shapes of your best friends, using candies for hair eyes, or accessories.
Fridge Magnets
Everyone has a fridge covered in thin, junk magnets advertising everything from local pizza parlors to carpet steam cleaning. Put those useless advertisement magnets to a new use! Cut out pictures of your favorite celebrities, books, or even old photographs, and glue them over top of the gaudy ads! Trim the edges, and they're ready to go. Make your mother a set of vintage Johnny Cash pictures, or your father a set of tools from the hardware store catalogue. Your fridge will be unique!
A Holiday Mixed Tape
Remember when you were a kid and mixed tapes were the way to cement a friendship? Relive those days by making your friends a mixed tape of your favorite contemporary music. A cut-and-paste collaged cassette art and track-list sheet will be a perfect personal touch. Be sure to choose songs that you both have shared special times with, or ones that have a particular meaning to you…. So you can play it on New Years and sing along! If you've said goodbye to cassettes without looking back, mixed cds are, of course, the new era.
The Personalized Coupon Book
The epitome of personal, anti-commercial gifts, and the perfect craft for the kids. Give your loved ones a coupon for one of those things you've been promising them all year, but haven't gotten around to lately. Create a personal Receive-One-Free Coupon book. Your gift recipient can cash in each coupon for a free hug, massage, or home-cooked meal, whenever they decide. They'll love being in control!
