Calendar – Calendars are great cheap homemade gift ideas that are both practical, sentimental and creative. There are many ways you can make them, either from scratch using some kind of binding and photographs, using a calendar making kit (which can be purchased from most hobbyist stores) or online through various websites that will professionally publish the calendar for you and charge you only for the printing costs (this means you can order in bulk too for friends and family). Depending on the intended recipient you can make the calendar a romantic one of them and their partner (perhaps you), a nostalgic one of various friends and family, or a themed one featuring one of their hobbies or interests.

Ceramics – Many places allow you to purchase ornaments without their paint, which then allow you to colour them yourself with ceramic paint. The range of objects available is large – from dolls, to garden gnomes, to vases and ornamental dragons – which allows you to pick an item that will fit the recipient’s décor and the fact you can paint it means you can perfectly match it to the colour scheme and add a personal touch to the gift that shows time and effort.

Sketch/Painting – If you’re artistic then sketches or paintings make excellent cheap homemade gift ideas. The amount of time that goes into one of these makes it a particularly thoughtful gift that shows you care. You can either paint or sketch the recipient, you and the recipient or something else that’s personal to them. Alternatively you can turn your artistic skills to a handmade card, or if you’re not particularly good with a pencil or paintbrush you can always make it out of other things – such as a 3D cardboard model in that utilises different depths to create the illusion of a 3D image.

Potted Plant Arrangement – Another cheap homemade gift idea is to make an arrangement of potted plants. Here the gift is both the pot itself and the flowers meaning you have spent some money but have also taken some time and thought to arrange and pick the flowers. If you know the recipients’ favourite plants or flowers you can make it even more personalised.

Collage – A collage is another great gift that takes time and look brilliant. You can either cut out and stick photographs to a piece of paper, or use a photo frame with various windows. Then print out and pick some photos that compliment each other nicely and that features happy moments from the recipient’s life. In today’s world of social networking sites it’s easy to come across photos of people you know that you won’t necessarily have been around for (some of which can be nicely embarrassing for a humorous touch). Though it’s a bit stalker-ish they’re bound to enjoy the effort and the thought.

A Meal/Cake – Cooking a meal or cake for someone is a great gift idea that only costs as much as the ingredients but it bound to bring enjoyment. It’s creative but at the same time doesn’t involve having to display a strange contraption the recipient potentially won’t like. Get creative and try something they won’t have tried.

Mack LeMouse

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