DIY Affordable Christmas Gifts

December seems to have gone by in a whirlwind. One minute it was time to open our advent calendars now, it's a mere few days away. If you've just finished work, or just not really had time to get ready for Christmas, it can be a stressful last few days leading up to the 25th, especially when money is a little tight.

I'm a firm believer in that you don't always have to spend a lot on presents to make them good ones, I always think thoughtful presents are worth so much more than fancy brands, and it's usually the thoughtful presents that you remember for years onwards. If you're struggling with funds but still want to give lovely presents this Christmas, I've been compiling a list of ideas that you can do for gifts, which btw are totally amazing and not scroogey at all.

Jar Of Quotes: This is a perfect present for you BFF. I remember a colleague at my old work did this for her best friend who moved to Australia and I thought it was a lovely idea. You buy a jar of any size you like and then you fill it with inspirational quotes and lovely messages for the recipient to open. You could do it as a 'Jar To Look At When You're Sad' or 'A Message A Day' or whatever you fancy. You could buy coloured paper and then hand write your quote or print them off if you have messy handwriting like I do. I'd include quotes from your recipients fave films/TV shows, and things to make them smile. There is loads of stuff like this on Pinterest if you want some more ideas.

DIY Hot Chocolate: Last year, Tash (Henry's Sister) got me a hot chocolate DIY kit which I loved. She knows how much I love hot chocolate and as I work from home she thought it would be something I'd enjoy for cold wintery afternoons. She bought me a mug, hot chocolate, marshmallows, nutella and fluff spread. She put this all in a box and then included a couple of pounds for me to go buy fresh squirty cream. It was a really cute present and you could personalise your box with whatever flavour and sweets your recipient would like; think coloured straws, chocolate sprinkles, a little bottle of Baileys perhaps?

Big Chocolate Block: I haven't tried this but I've seen this idea on Pinterest and thought it looked cool. If you know someone with a big sweet tooth who maybe has a particular taste in chocolate then why dont you make them their own personalised chocolate block. By this you could buy blocks of chocolate but then melt them, when they're melted spread it out onto a tray and then add sweets that they love; think Reese peanut butter cups, M&Ms, Smarties, marshmallows, pistachios, absolutely anything. Then pop it into the fridge to set, then wrap up in some cellophane and tie with a cute ribbon and write out a label. Voila, a cute chocolate block that is suited to their personal taste! You could probably make it for less than a fiver depending on how big you want it/how much you want to add but it's a lovely present that's a little different.

Printed Quote: I feel that 2015 has been the year that we've all gone a bit crazy for printed quotes. If you know anyone with a home office, I bet thy have one and they're a great present for someone too. However places like Etsy sell prints for about £4/5 a pop, and tbh you can make your own pretty easily. I would hop onto Da.Font and choose and install a cute font. Look at my free fonts post here for inspiration, then I'd go onto PicMonkey/Photoshop and write out a quote of choice - inspiration - think their fave films (mean girls- You Go Glen Coco) , fave quotes (What Would Blair Waldorf Do etc) , a memorable date (maybe they got engaged or married this year perhaps), a memorable place (new york is always a good idea etc..) fave song lyrics etc...and then buy a frame from somewhere like Wilko's/The Range/cheap homeware shop and then print out your quote on some card, pop in the frame and voila. You have a cute personalised present! Again probably will cost you less than a fiver depending on how big your frame is, but we bought some great a4 frames from Wilko's last week for £1.50 each! They also had copper frames in places like B&M's for just £2.99 so just saying there's lots of things to choose from! Though if you can't think of anything, check out this shop on Etsy which sells cheap prints that you download yourself!

Fairy Lights Jar: One of my fave homeware pieces at the moment is my jar of fairy lights. A really cute present that again doesn't cost too much. Buy a jar from anywhere, I got a nice one for £3 from B&Q but all supermarkets sell them, then buy a set of fairy lights, from somewhere like Primark/supermarket/etc that are battery powered. Pop the fairy lights into the jar, with some batteries and you have a really cute little present for someones house.