12 Days of Blogmas: Day 6 🧵

On the sixth day of Christmas, GingerLeafLiving gave to me…………………………………………Homemade gifts!

We’ve reached the halfway mark of Blogmas 2024 – I hope you are all feeling festive and green! So far, we’ve covered gifts that support small businesses, and getting people gifts that they actually need, but today covers the best gift of all: something homemade. And the best part is, even if you are not a super crafty or creative person, everyone has something they can offer. Here are just a few ideas …

• Baking – Everyone loves a homemade treat, and especially if you are seeing friends and family over the festive period, taking something you’ve baked makes an excellent present. Whatever your specialism, be it biscuits, cakes or bread, home baking makes a delicious and minimal waste gift that can be shared widely. Maybe take a neighbour a batch of biscuits, or bring along a dessert for a family gathering – whatever you make, it will be greatly appreciated! 🍪
• Craftwork – If you do enjoy making, create handmade gifts for your loved ones. You might like to paint, or sew, or do woodwork, it could be anything! Share your passion with friends and have fun personalising your craft to each recipient. Whatever it is you like to do, there are plenty of ways to turn your craft into gifts that allow you to spend time enjoying making them too 🪡
• Preserves – If you stored berries from late summer picking, or produce from your garden at harvest, now is the time to preserve it and share with others. Options include making jam or cordial with fruits, or using vegetables to make chutneys and relishes. Research recipes for the produce you have and extend the life of your fruits and veggies by making tasty treats that can be enjoyed for longer 🫙
• Photo scrapbooks – I love this idea for gifting to people where you have so many pictures together on your phone that you rarely get to revisit. You can use online photo album makers to print it all together, or you can use a notebook and print off pictures for that person and stick them in, adding quotes, captions, stickers and relevant items to personalise it further. It doesn’t matter if your photos don’t fill the book, it leaves space for your recipient to add their own and for future adventures. Now your photos and memories can be enjoyed much more than just sitting in your phone gallery 📷
• Plans – Homemade gifts don’t have to be something physical that you wrap for Christmas. You could make a token from card and household materials and write on it something you’d like to do for that person, for example, planning a picnic date or hosting a dinner party. Making your own ‘ticket’ for future plans gives you flexibility for when you choose the meet up, but shows the other person that you are committed to spending time together. Personal and low cost 🥳

These ideas are not exhaustive, but hopefully give you some ideas of low-cost and homemade gifts you can give this Christmas to be generous, share with others and enjoy making. Whether you bake, craft or create, enjoy the process and your loved ones will appreciate the results!