Making Handmade Gifts — 15 Very Cool Projects

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: wooden spoons

Let’s talk handmade gifts. My tendency to focus on handmade gifting seems to wax and wane over the years. Sometimes I’m really into it — gathering ideas and supplies for weeks and then setting aside several days to work on the projects. Other times I’m perfectly content to buy something ready made.

For those of you who like to make gifts for the holidays, I’ve collected 15 really good ones that I think you’ll love. It’s a wide range of projects, and so many of them are great to make with kids. Especially 4, 5, 9 and 10.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: painted plates

1) Recycled Mismatched Plates — Painted into a Set. For a gift, I think a set of dessert plates would be fun. Maybe for the holidays with red and green paint? Or Silver and gold?

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: succulent planters

2) Tree Branch Succulent Planter. Gift a little set. They would look so good on a desk or windowsill.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: clay earrings

3) Cute Clay Earrings. Two other designs in this post as well.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: coding jewelry

4) Coding jewelry. Spell out messages or names or special words using beads to write coding language. Click through to see it in black and white beads too. 

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: recycled jar planters

5) Color-blocked Recycled Jar Planters. All you need is colored twine and jars from your recycling bin!

Half-Moon Pendant Necklace | Design Mom | Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: half moon pendant necklace

6) Half-Moon Pendant Necklace. It looks so luxe. I would totally wear this. And it’s made of hobby clay!

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: citrus sugars

7) Citrus Sugars. Fun to gift and easy to make. And they smell so good.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: cement pencil holder

8) Cement pencil holder. It makes such a substantial gift. I like it with and without the dots.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: wood bead hair twist

9) Wood Bead Hair Twists. Really cute stocking stuffers. Or your kids can make them for their friends — put 2 or three in a jewelry box or small gift bag to make a sweet, very useable gift.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: custom fish bowl

10) Custom Fish Bowl. You make it with a sharpie! It comes with 3 different drawing guides too.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: etched wooded spoons

11) Etched Wooden Spoons. Invest in an $15 wood burning tool and we have tons of projects that you’ll use it for.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: DIY pom pom bookmark

12) Pom Pom Bookmarks

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: DIY bleach tees tshirt

13) Bleached-Out Tees. The possibilities with this project are endless.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: hand stamped dish towels

14) DIY Hand Stamped Dish Towels. I love these so much.

Gorgeous Handmade Gift Ideas featured by top US lifestyle blog, Design Mom: easy monogram mugs

15) Easy Monogram Mugs. These are great-looking. Pick up mis-matched white mugs at Goodwill and make a collection for a family — or gift the mugs to individuals.

Your turn. Do you have a handmade gift policy? Maybe you make handmade gifts for your neighbors? Have your kids ever made handmade gifts for each other?

What handmade gift ideas are you making this year? 

P.S. — More handmade ideas.

14 thoughts on “Making Handmade Gifts — 15 Very Cool Projects”

  1. The half moon pendant necklace link does not work, any way you could possibly attach the correct one! I would love to see it, thank you!

  2. I’ve ALWAYS loved your handmade gift ideas and do this with my three kids. They are 4, 7 and 9 and YES, it’s SO much work! I have to be flexible and really plan ahead. Have used a lot of your lovely ideas over the year and wanted to say a huge thanks for the inspiration to help create a culture of giving and creativity in my little ones in a season where it’s so easy for them to think only of themselves. You rock!

  3. Hi Gabby,
    Thanks for the cool ideas.
    I know this is a post from last year. But I was searching for some DIY ideas for this Christmas season and found this post.
    I like the engraved wooden spoons. I am gonna try engraving on wood.

  4. The only handmade gifts I’m making this year are edible ones- Christmas Crackle, Pumpkin Bread, and Gingerbread Cookies, to be left on the doorsteps of friends and family I can’t be with up close.

  5. Not this year, but in years past I’ve forced bulbs (paperwhites and amaryllis) in cute little clear containers and given as gifts. It takes a little planning, but is inexpensive and unique. Hmm, maybe I’ll do that again next year?!

  6. This year, I’m going with two of our old standards: Vanilla Extract and Sugar Scrub. My three kids and I made bottles of the extract that we’ll give as teacher/staff gifts at the end of the school year after it’s had time to develop great flavor. For winter holiday teacher/staff gifts, we made sugar scrub. I know they’re washing and sanitizing the daylights out of their hands and all the furniture, so a nice moisturizing scrub will hopefully be a welcome treat.

  7. One year I made 3D scherenschnitte angels for my colleagues (all 40 of them). They were fun to make and 20 years later, people still bring them out to decorate their desks. It’s such an inexpensive but beautiful gift.

  8. You should have argued the case against the abortion ban in the Supreme Court. Honestly your arguments are better than any others I’ve heard. BRAVO!

  9. Hi! Great gift ideas, thanks! You should also try sewing some decorative baskets with cotton or jute rope – not so hard to learn and the results will surprise you. Merry Christmas and happy new year!

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