Gifts that don’t break the bank
DIY presents anyone can make for this holiday season
Albina Khouzina
Features Editor
You don’t have to spend hundreds of dollars to give great gifts to your friends and family. Often the best gifts come from the heart—and don’t even have to cost too much. After all, it’s the thought that counts.
Gift-giving can be tough, but it’s hard to go wrong with handmade presents. Give gifts geared toward to your recipient’s hobbies and interests—this shows that you pay attention to what they want and can often mean more than any gift card or store-bought item. And you don’t necessarily have to be crafty to make a great gift. Just take some time and plan out what you want to make. Here are some gift-giving ideas for the special people in your life.
For the TV junkie:
Photo: Albina Khouzina
Breaking Bad “hard candy”
You need: corn syrup, sugar, blue food coloring
Mix water, sugar, corn syrup and food coloring in a pot. Keep mixing everything until the water boils and becomes thick like syrup. Pour the syrup into a pan and let it harden. Shatter it with a hammer or spoon and you, too, can be a meth-dealing tycoon.
For the diva:
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Sugar body scrub
You need: oil (olive or coconut works best), raw sugar
Mix equal parts raw sugar and oil until it creates a thick mixture and pour into a glass jar.
For the baker:
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Mason jar cookies
You need: dry ingredients (depending on what you want to make), a Mason jar
Mix all the dry ingredients needed for any given recipe and put them into a jar. Create a set of instructions and attach them to the jar for the recipient to follow. You can use any recipe from any cook book.
For the inner child: Adorable teddy
Photo: Albina Khouzina
You need: sock, stuffing, marker, thread and needles.
Use the marker to mark the inside of the sock where you need to cut. Create the design and cut out where it’s indicated. Sew it up from the inside so you don’t see the stiches and put the stuffing inside. Decorate the eyes and nose with a marker or cute buttons. Google “sock teddy” to find specific instructions.
For the coffee lover:
Photo: Albina Khouzina
Personalized coffee mug
You need: mug, markers or paint
Get a mug with no design on it and make it unique by colouring it with permanent markers or paint. Try to tailor it to the person your giving it to by decorating it with things they like.
