Thoughtful Gifting For Christmas!

It’s easy to throw money at something, especially when it comes to gifting and making your life easier. Absolutely, sometimes that’s necessary but when it comes to the people we really value and want to make to feel special, it’s often the thought that counts over the money spent.

Time given into making and creating someone’s perfect present is valued so highly that I always like to try and go above and beyond in this way wherever possible. But… How do we make and create perfect presents for our family and friends if we’re not particularly artistic or creative? Well… There are ways and here are some:

Bake a gift:

Baking gifts is pretty simple to do when you follow a recipe. It doesn’t mean you have to be Mary Berry in the kitchen to be able to whip up a batch of Nutella stuffed cookies for example, and yet these are just the ticket for a really great present, Christmas or otherwise. I like to make smores boxes for people. Whip up a batch using the Jane’s Patisserie recipe and actually, a top tip is that once the raw dough balls have been stuffed they can be frozen, ready to pop in the oven for a last minute gift another time. Create once, bake on demand! Add them to a basket with marshmallows and wooden skewers and you’ve just made someone very happy indeed!

Or cook:

If baking isn’t your thing but you can face the thought of cooking then batch cook some fruits and veggies into chutneys in the autumn, ready for winter gifting. Chutney is such a brilliant present, it means you may have not only made, but grown the present before that – now can you get more thoughtful than that?!

Craft:

I’m a big crafter and use my crafting skills to make presents for people all the year round but at Christmas time I like to make hand warmers for my friends. They’re easy to knit and sew up because they’re all just square shaped, no matter how intricate the pattern. And when I say intricate knitting patterns, please don’t be shy! Knitting is actually incredibly easy but the patterns make it seem hard. In fact, they are all just abbreviations that you can look up the meaning of, “K2Tog” for instance, simply means “knit two stitches together” and you can find tutorials for everything for knitting, from casting on to how to knit every stitch, on YouTube!

Use your digital archive:

Even if you’re not a keen photographer like me, you can use your phone snaps (or those of your friends) to make wonderful presents for your friends. A great Christmas present for my Mum is always a photo calendar of the children ready for the next year ahead. I also love photo books and a new one which looks ace is split canvas prints! We have a giant photo wall in our stair way leading up to our loft room and I love to have a mis-match of different photos in frames, canvas prints and tiles there!

Fill a hamper:

While technically this is buying a gift, the reality is that if you create a hamper yourself you will be choosing bespoke items for the person you are gifting and I love how thoughtful this makes the present. You can buy inexpensive hampers from places like Hobbycraft and then spent time choosing lovely bits and bobs to fill them. Crackers and chutneys (home made or otherwise), cheeses, chocolates and a bottle of something fizzy always go down well with me!

Hopefully this has given you some ideas for a really thoughtful present to give this Christmas and if you have any other great ideas then please do leave a comment!