puzzled for present ideas

Oh the joys of buying presents for people, we’ve all been there, there’s always that one person who seems impossible to get something for, either because you don’t know them that well or they have everything that you wanted to buy for them, or possibly another reason altogether, whatever the reason, it can be really stressful and quite frustrating, trust me, I know the feeling all too well. One minute you have plenty of time so you procrastinate and put it off and convince yourself you’ll come back to it later on, and the next, you’re panicking because the holiday/event you're buying the gift for is in a few days and you still have nothing. So for those situations, here are some different DIY gift ideas that are suitable for almost everyone! (note: most of these will be Christmas related due to the time of year, but a few can be adapted for different times of year)

Idea number 1: Chocolate Santa Sleighs
Price: £5-£10
Verdict: This has to be one of my favourite gifts to make personally because of how cute they look and how customisable they are, you can really cater this to the person that you’re making this for, I’ve experimented with this and every single time it looks super cute
Method: Gather the candy you’re using, for mine I typically use 2 candy canes ( for the runners) a 100g bar of Dairy Milk or Galaxy chocolate, 4 rolls of spearmint Mentos (to keep with the red and green Christmas theme) 2 Chomp bars or Fudge bars, a four finger KitKat, a small box of Skittles, some chocolate coins (3-5 per sleigh) and a chocolate Santa for each one. Then starting with the candy canes on the bottom, start to stack the candy in the order you want them to be in, it usually works best to go from the biggest things to the smallest things. Once you have everything where you want it, glue/ stick it down with double-sided tape and put the chocolate Santa at the front so it looks like he’s driving the sleigh. Attach a bow for decoration and you’re done! This is so quick and easy and has saved me on multiple occasions when I’ve needed a quick, easy gift at the last minute and it’s perfect for Secret Santa because of the price.

Idea number 2: Rudolph/Elf/Santa Candy Jar
Price:£5-£30 (you’ll see why I’m saying £30 in a few minutes)
Verdict: As much as I love this idea, I feel like it’s a bit too time-consuming for my liking since you have to pick out the correct coloured candy for the person you decide to do, for example, the elves would be green and Santa would be red, however, if you don’t mind that or you can get the candy in just the colour you need, this is a really fun idea
Method: pick out candy (M&Ms or Skittles work for all of them, I prefer to work with Maltesers for Rudolph because then you don’t have to separate out the colours) in the colour of the character that you are making and fill the jar with them. Decorate your jar to look like the character, so for Rudolph, googly eyes, and a red pom-pom for the nose, for Santa, black buttons a black belt made from paper and for the elf, black or white buttons with some fabric cut into a zig-zag pattern around the top of the jar for a collar. Then as an optional extra, push a gift card (this is why I said £30 earlier) down into the sweets and then put the lid on the jar. I feel like this is a great way to give a gift card instead of just handing it to the person since this adds a personal touch to the gift.

Idea number 3: An Emergency Kit
Price: £10-£50, it really depends
Verdict: I really love this idea because of how much you can customise it for the person you are giving it to and how useful it is to have, there is so much you can do with this idea depending on the person. My sister made me one of these last year and I’ve used it so much since then and I keep refilling the things I run out of so that I’m always prepared.
Method: buy a small bag such as a makeup bag or purse that is small enough to fit in a bag and fill it with things that the person may need in an emergency/when they’re out of the house such as painkillers, hand sanitizer, a small sewing kit pads/tampons (if applicable) toothpicks, dental floss, nail scissors/clippers, a nail file, some chewing gum or anything else you can think of. As I say, I really love how practical this idea is and how useful it is to have on hand.

Idea number 4: Hot Chocolate Set
Price: Roughly £5
Verdict: Personally not my favourite idea, but I have used this in the past and the person I gave it to did like it, but I’m just not too keen on the idea.
Method: Fill a disposable piping bag halfway with instant hot chocolate powder (the one you make with water) and then add an inch of marshmallows on top of the powder, twist the top, tie off with a brown pipe cleaner and fold the pipe cleaner into antler shapes. Cut off the excess piping bag and add googly eyes and a red pom-pom to make it look like Rudolph. Take a mug (choose one that is personal to the person, or you can decorate one with oil-based Sharpies) and place the bag of hot chocolate powder inside. You could also add in other things such as candy canes or other items as an added extra, this isn’t necessary though. This idea is super cute and sweet, however, I personally won’t be using it, but if you do, I’m sure whoever you’re giving this to will love it.

Idea number 5: A candle in a mug
Price: £10-£20
Verdict: I think this idea is great for older siblings or parents and is a great way to give someone a candle, since they are left with a mug that they can use afterwards, this to me is so cute and I love the idea so much, I would actually love to receive this as a gift myself (although this may be due to my slight obsession with mugs)
Method: melt down a few candles or some wax chips, add some essential oils to give the candle a fragrance, put a wick into the mug and pour the melted wax into the mug, leave to set and then cut off the excess wick and you’re done. I haven’t actually tried this out yet, but I’m planning to soon, I can’t wait to see how it turns out, I love how simple and versatile this is and you can basically use it for any occasion and in my opinion, the mug is an added bonus (again, this is probably due to my slight obsession with mugs)

I hope these gifts help you out and you find these ideas useful, I’ve used these gifts in the past and people always seem to love them. If you do decide to use them, let me know how they turn out, I’d love to hear what you think of them and whether the recipient liked them or not!
~Alex ❤️