10 DIY Gift Ideas

I posted some DIY gift ideas on my Instagram story (@niqjames) and wanted to share some more ideas and details. Homemade gifts are easy ways to show someone you love them and usually you can use repurposed items. Let me know if I missed something.

1) Cookies! Michaels usually has cute tins for super cheap. I’m a chocolate chip girl myself, but any cookie would be cute. Here’s the recipe I use as the base for my chocolate chip cookies. I’ll share my full recipe later ;) Colored tissue paper and ribbon will make your cookie tin, Tupperware, or grab bag even more festive.

2) I love giving whipped body butter as a present. My basic recipe is 70% by volume Shea butter and 30% coconut oil. I do 50/50 I’m using cocoa butter. Shea butter is easy to spice up with fragrance or essential oil. This website has a bunch of recipes to use. I love using old jars and cleaning them out and making a cute label.

3) Aromatherapy spray! Here’s my recipe I posted. You can customize the scent to the recipient.

4) I love making setting spray for my makeup people and dewy folks. This is the recipe I use as my base, I’ll post my own soon. It’s a great dupe for MAC fix plus.

5) Handmade cards are a super cute way to say I love you. You can get beautiful paper for the low at Michael’s. You can also get real fancy and make a scrapbook.

6) This isn’t entirely DIY, but I love buying vintage picture frames from the thrift store and getting a picture printed at the drugstore.

7) I’ve made some paintings with quotes before. You just paint the canvas a pretty background and paint the text on it. If you’re not comfortable with a paintbrush, you could use a paint marker or paint pen.

8) My bae loves the Trader Joe’s chocolate covered pretzels but they definitely changed their recipe recently (I see you 🧐) so I want to make a tin of these to give as an I love you. Chocolate covered anything is pretty simple but here’s a detailed recipe. I usually buy a big bar of the pound plus from Trader Joe’s.

9) Also, you can make cute jar of anything lol. Decorate it with a label and some ribbon and you’re good to go. I love making infused simple syrups (my favorite are mint and lavender), salted caramel, and Nutella. You could also do jam or a nut butter. The simple syrup is great for lemonade or coffee!

10) I also love to give out body butters. You can make a lot really quickly and easily. You can get creative with the molds if you don’t have one already. I’ve used cupcake liners in a cupcake tin. This recipe is great and simple and if you use it, it makes exactly one cupcake liner full.

Bonus: I’m excited to make these homemade dog treats for the dog lovers in my life and my own canine pal.
Bonus bonus: Especially if funds or time are running low (but even if not), acts of service coupons are a great option. You can hand write them or design it digitally and email or print. I love adding coupon specific language like a far off expiration date or “substitutions allowed” to make it cute and funny.