The Maker's Gift Guide

handcrafted gift ideas

To be clear: this isn’t a guide about what to give the maker. That list would be endless. This is for makers who want to create handcrafted gifts for people who appreciate such things. Some people mysteriously don’t, so choose your recipients wisely.

Everything here is something I’ve made many times, use myself, and have gifted to others—often repeatedly.

Note: several links below lead to Ravelry, which requires a free account. It’s worth it. Ravelry is a genuinely excellent resource for knitters and crocheters.

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Whipped Body Butter

I make a big batch of whipped body butter annually to use throughout the year. If I double or triple the recipe, I’ll make enough to give some away to friends and family. I skip essential oils in my body butter, so the cocoa butter scent comes through. It’s subtle and cozy.

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Fancy Cookies in Cellophane Bags

Never underestimate the power of presentation. I make white chocolate-dipped ginger molasses cookies every year, and it’s a labor of love—even when I don’t add the holly details. I think I’d be voted off the island if I ever tried to switch things up. So to honor the effort it takes to make this cookie, I like to package it up in cellophane bags. They nestle in nicely at the top of each Christmas gift bag.

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Dehydrated Herbs from the Garden

I dehydrate the herbs from my garden almost every summer, and sometimes the harvest is plentiful enough that I can give some away. I especially like making tea blends, which can be packaged easily in small jars. Doesn’t even have to be a mason jar.

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Hand-Dipped Beeswax Candles

This project takes all day, but it’s become something of a tradition to make hand-dipped beeswax candles with my kids once every year or two. You’d be surprised how many candles you can get out of, say, 10 pounds of beeswax. I always have plenty to gift to friends and family, and it’s fun to make smaller birthday-sized candles too. I love how imperfect and knobby they are.

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Soy or Beeswax Candles in a Jar

Candles in a jar are simple to make and take far less time than hand-dipped candles. Most people add essential oils, but I’m a little sensitive to scents and prefer to leave them out. That’s why I tend to make candles with beeswax more often than soy. They have a lovely natural honey scent.

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Hot Water Bottles with Handknit Cozies

Hot water bottles with wool cozies are one of my most well-loved gifts. They’re quick and simple to knit, and the perfect project for using up yarn scraps.

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Mini Knit Dish Scrubbies

I often like to knit these dish scrubbies in Christmas colors and gift them in three-packs. They’re small and thick like a sponge, so they make perfect scrubbers. I use them all the time at home, especially for things like cleaning dirt off potatoes. I just chuck them in the washing machine when I’m done.

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Homemade Preserves

There’s almost always a bumper crop of something to preserve from the garden each year, and that’s usually when I’ll experiment with a new canning recipe. If it turns out well, I’ll gift my extras. Last year, I made apple-maple jam and it was a hit. I also like to can shelf-stable or freezable holiday preserves, like cranberry sauce.

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Seasoning Salts

There are tons of recipes for different salt blends you can find online, but one of my favorites is this mushroom seasoning salt. I use dehydrated wild mushrooms and blend them with one of my favorite salts. They’re delicious and store well.

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Quick Knits

I’ve been knitting for a while now, and sometimes I forget how much people love simple, chunky hats. When I first started knitting, I practiced on Autumn by Jane Richmond. I made everyone I knew a hat out of Lion Brand Wool-Ease Thick & Quick, and would get requests to make more every year. Now that I’m a more seasoned knitter, I could probably finish a couple hats in a day.

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Knitted or Crocheted Ornaments

Every year, I make a few more knitted ornaments in the form of these little gnomes, or these baubles. Sometimes, if I’ve made enough and have a few extras to spare, I’ll attach them to gift bags as part of the gift.

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Simple Handmade Ornaments

Unlike ornaments that are knitted or crocheted, there are tons of simple ornament ideas that can be made en masse in a matter of hours. These are great projects for supervised kids. For example, last year my girls and I made these yarn-wrapped star ornaments. I helped cut out the cardboard stars and hot glue the yarn, but they did the wrapping.

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Fire Cider

If you’re giving fire cider as a gift, you’ll want to start preparing it at least a month in advance because it takes at least four weeks for the vinegar to soak up all the goodness from the ingredients. It’s worth the effort, though, because it’s the perfect remedy for winter. A shot of this in the morning will get your digestive juices flowing, increase your circulation, support your immune system, and clear the sinuses. I like to pour mine in flip-top bottles, and gift it to someone who I know won’t shy away from the inevitable steam coming out of their ears.

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Vanilla extract

Vanilla extract has been on every DIY gift list since the early days of blogging, and that’s because it’s truly the best. I make my own vanilla extract every year because I bake often enough that it’s (usually) cheaper to make than buy. And I typically have enough left over at the end of the year to give some away for Christmas.

What I like to do is buy vanilla beans (usually ¼ lb) when they’re not too expensive. Some years are better than others for pricing. Then I stick them all in a half-gallon mason jar and top it with vodka. I do this in January when I still have enough left from the last batch to get me through another month or two.

I’ll leave the jar in my cupboard all year, pulling the extract whenever I need it for recipes, and topping off the vodka if it starts to get low. When I package my extract for gifts, I pull one of the vanilla beans from the steeping jar and tuck it into the smaller gift bottles. Then I pour in the vanilla extract over it, top it with a lid, and add a tag.

If there are any remaining vanilla beans after I package my gifts, I’ll dehydrate them and then do one of two things: 1. Put them in a jar of sugar to add vanilla aromatics, or 2. Process them directly in a food processor with sugar to make vanilla powdered sugar. Sometimes I’ll gift jars of that too.

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That’s it (for now). If you’re a maker and have any tried-and-true handcrafted holiday gift ideas, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below. Happy Holidays!