Have you been struggling to find a perfect pressie for a loved one? Don’t stress! We’ve put our heads together here at YES HQ and come up with some of our favourite homemade pressie ideas that are simple to make, sure to please and easy on the bank balance too. What’s not to love?
Homemade chilli oil
You can easily buy a glass stop-top decanter (usually used for water) from supermarkets or homestores. Then just fill it with olive oil (extra virgin), some chilli flakes, dried chillies, pepper corns, rock salt and an optional sprig of rosemary or dried garlic. All quantities can be changed depending on your personal taste. Pop a ribbon on the bottle and voila! All in all it should cost around £5-10 depending on what you’ve already got at home.
Tasty biscuits
Any homemade bakes are always appreciated, and are simple to make look pretty. Gingerbread’s a classic (they even sell ready-made mixes in the supermarket where you just add water, butter and golden syrup for those who aren’t a dab hand in the kitchen!), and shortbread is super easy to make from scratch. Why not try this quick shortbread recipe? It’s simply 300g flour, 200g butter, 100g sugar – then bake at 165C for 20 mins. You can buy craft paper bags, or cellophane sweet cones and print off a small photo of yourself (or your children) making it to use as a label! These make lovely pressies for your children’s teachers too.
Luscious lavender bags
With a remnant of material, a little ribbon, and some dried lavender, you can make delightful little bags to keep clothes drawers smelling fragrant, quickly and cheaply.
Prepare your stuffing: You’ll need dried lavender, which can be bought for a few pounds. In a bowl, combine two parts lavender with one part rice to fill the fabric pouch. The rice gives your bag a bit more body.
Take your fabric: Cut a rectangle. The long side about 12 cm, the short side about 5cm. Fold the rectangle so the good sides of the fabric are on the inside. Sew the two longer sides, either by hand or with a sewing machine. Finish off the open edge by turning over the top and sewing. Turn the pouch out so the good side is on the outside. Fill the bag half full.
Tie a narrow ribbon around the bag to keep the lavender in place, put a few stitches through the knot to stop the ribbon coming undone, and decorate further if you like.
A month of memories
It may be a bit late to start an advent now, but how about creating a month of memories to cheer up a loved one’s January instead? After the excitement of Christmas, January can sometimes be a bit of a downer, so brighten their day by printing out a beloved picture for each day of the month. This is a great pressie for grandparents, and you only need a bit of time and the photos on your phone.
Most supermarkets have an instant photo-printing booth that you can sync with your phone and get your pictures printed within minutes, at very little cost. Pop each one in an envelope and write the date on it. You could even include some colourful string and small wooden pegs so they have a ready made washing line of lovely memories to get them through the winter blues! Alternatively, use the same idea next year in place of an advent calendar to count down the days ’til Christmas.
Have you got any great ideas for last-minute pressie ideas you can make yourself? We’d love to hear them! Pop them in the comments below so we can all share your crafty Christmas cleverness!
