10 Tips That Take The Stress Out Of DIY Christmas Gifts

Holidays are stressful enough, here’s how to have a low-key, homemade holiday!

Do Things You Enjoy

One year I had a great idea to collect recipes for a family cookbook – one for me, one for my mom, one for my grandma, and one for my sister-in-law. Great idea, right? I loved decorating the books themselves and making each one unique to the special lady who would receive it, but it turns out writing out the same 25 recipes over and over (and over and over) was a lot of work, and work that I didn’t particularly enjoy. I could have typed up the recipes but I wanted everything to be by hand and things just got out of control! Make sure to think about the steps involved in making your gifts a reality. If you know you get bored with a project easily, don’t commit to crocheting a blanket! If, on the other hand, you love crocheting or knitting, then making hats and scarves for everyone will be enjoyable and everyone will love their gifts. Win-win!

Think, “Would I Want This?”

This seems like a no-brainer, but for some reason, this slips people’s minds all the time when it comes to DIY gifts. I think we just get excited when we see something online or in stores that is just, “Soooo Taylor!” and we get caught up in trying to get all the details just right that we never think, “Wait. Would Taylor really like this? Would I like this? Would anyone like this?” (Full disclosure, this totally happened with a T-Rex head and arms wall hanging that I saw in stores and thought would be the funniest and most perfect gift to make for my husband. About halfway through the construction of said T-Rex head, I realized this was much better in theory, but in practice… not so much.)

Be Extra Cautious About Food Gifts

Unless you know for sure no one in the house has a peanut allergy or wheat allergy or dairy allergy or… all the other allergies out there, exercise caution when giving away baked goods or other food gifts. Also, keep in mind different taste preferences. While peach bourbon vanilla jam sounds amazing to me, probably not so much to my grandma. Simple is always better. (Are you sensing a theme yet?) Chocolate chip cookies, fudge, raspberry preserves, and hot chocolate mixes are great gifts that most everyone loves. White chocolate espresso caramel cheesecake fudge, tomato chili chutney, and lemon rosemary poppy seed cookies, not so much.