What is it, 8 or 9 days until Christmas? I hope you all have your shopping and menu planning complete, or at least almost complete! I keep thinking that everything is ready and then I think of more and more things that I should pick up or do before Christmas. There is always something else I need to pick up or make! If you’re anything like me and don’t have all your gifts prepped and ready, you should check out these DIY Christmas gifts I’m putting together this year.
My mom, 2 little sisters and little brother are coming to visit next week and I decided to make the girls some gifts instead of buying everything (totally bought the little brother a Lego set). I’m making them these fizzy bath bombs and lemon face scrub.
Fizzy Bath Bombs
I found this tutorial from One Good Thing by Jillee. I love her site! I’m making these tonight in star shapes. I’ll make some with lavender and a few more for myself and Robert with eucalyptus for when we are sick. I had a hell of a time finding the citric acid for these. Hint: I found it in the gelatin section of Publix. I assumed it would be in canning or cleaning and had to ask 3 sales people for help before we finally found it. Oh, and Whole Foods did not have it which totally surprised me. Directions here: homemade bath bombs.
Lemon Face Scrub
I made this scrub over the summer and loved it! The glycerin is what really makes it for me. I’ve had other face scrubs without it before and they don’t work nearly as well. My sweet friend Kathryn just gave me a jar of her homemade scrub and it was so nice to use it in the shower. So often I make things like this for others and forget about myself which made Kathryn’s gift feel like such a treat! Full post and tutorial: lemon face scrub
Food is another one of my favorite DIY Christmas gifts. Here is a little gift basket I put together for a family member.
The basket contained these treats that Robert helped me make!
Cinnamon Sugar Pecans
The pecans were so easy! I used a fabulous recipe from Crème De La Crumb. Click here for the recipe: Cinnamon Sugar Pecans. These were the priciest of all the treats we made this year just because pecans can be expensive. I always try to buy mine in the baking aisle as opposed to the nut aisle because baking goods are on sale during the holidays.
Puppy Chow
This will always be my favorite treat to make during Christmas. Guess what? Chex cereal is BOGO at Publix starting Dec. 17th! I’m heading back to pick up more so I can make some with my little sisters when they get here. We will eat all 9 cups in a day. It’s addicting! Recipe here: Puppy Chow/ Muddy Buddies
Dark Chocolate Nut Clusters
This was my first time making these and I made up the recipe on a whim after looking through a few other ones on Pinterest.
Here is what I did: Combine 2 pounds of mixed nuts with 1 pound of dark chocolate bark and 1/2 C. of semisweet chocolate chips in a crock pot. Cook on low for an hour and stir every 20 minutes until nuts are coated. Scoop mixture into muffin liners and set in fridge until cool. They popped right out of my silicone liners! So easy and cheap since the majority of my nuts were peanuts.
I couldn’t help myself from making a little something for Robert’s play date friends. We made reindeer food! Once again, Robert helped. He loved mixing sprinkles with the oatmeal. That’s all it is, oatmeal and red sprinkles or glitter! So easy and fun.
I’ve used glitter in the past, but used sprinkles this year since they were cheaper and I assume they are a little more environmentally friendly in the yard instead of glitter. On Christmas eve, the kiddos can spread this in their yards for the reindeer to snack on while Santa is leaving presents.
I made the graphic in Photoshop and used cardstock I got on sale at Staples months ago. I had to mess with it a little bit to get the right size, but I think it turned out okay. One of my New Year’s Resolutions is to figure out how to make printables for blog readers. Sorry I can’t leave it here for you. Anyone know how to do that? Let me know!
What are your favorite inexpensive gifts to give during the holidays? Leave a comment and let me know!
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