Five Last Minute Gifts from the Homestead

I am notoriously bad at holiday gift buying.  

The fact is that I don't really like to shop, especially these days.  I get overwhelmed at the store - at all stores, really, especially when I am trying to shop for someone else.  I'm just not very good at it.  There are too many choices, and most of it just costs too much.  

The truth is, I would rather give homemade gifts, anyway.  With a homemade gift, I have to spend time thinking about what I can make for THAT person, and price is never the final consideration, because a lot of the time - most of the time, really - when I'm making a homemade gift, it will be from things I have here at my house already.

I am actually quite thankful that I never fell into the Marie Kondo lifestyle.  While I do appreciate the idea of clutter-free, I also value the ability to make what I need from what I have.  The ability to do so is the basis of preparedness.

Sometimes, though, I need inspiration.  I need ideas on things I could make.  One of the problems, for me, with most of the articles featuring homemade gift ideas is that the gifts are usually food centric, personal hygiene items, or are tchotchke-kinds of gifts - especially the ones that upcycle or repurpose materials.  Those are all great things, except ...

These days, giving food is challenging.  Everyone has some dietary restriction or choice that limits what can be made for them. In just my family, we have vegans, locavores, several gluten-free folks, and a couple of people who don't eat sugar.  

It's the same deal for personal hygiene items.  Bath bombs would be great ... if I took baths.  I don't.  Most of the people I know don't.  Most of us shower.  I also have very sensitive skin, and I'm particular about the soap I use.  So, fancy soaps or bath additives just don't work.  

As for trinkets, honestly, I have absolutely no use for a snow globe made out of a baby food jar, and while that snowman made from an old pair of socks is wicked cute, for me, it just takes up space on my bookshelves that could be used for books.  

Since I wouldn't give something that I wouldn't use, most of the usual suggestions don't work, for me.  So, I tried to come up with some things that I would use, that I could also make.  Here's my list:

Storage Boxes

I actually adore storage boxes, baskets, and little wooden crates.  What I don't love is how much they cost, especially given that the storage boxes one can get at the craft store these days are made of cardboard.  

Just like a shoebox, right?

I've been keeping shoeboxes, because they're great for storage, and I thought, what a fun gift to cover the boxes in a snazzy paper.  One could use old maps, sheet music, pages from magazines or old catalogs, construction paper, actual wrapping paper, pages from old books, etc.  I mean, the possibilities are pretty limitless with regard to what one uses to cover the box. 

For my box, I used some fancy scrapbooking paper.  

I used regular old Elmer's glue and a paint brush.  Worked great.  Here are a couple of finished boxes.  These are mine.  If I were doing it for someone else, I would probably take a little more care to smooth everything out and take care where I put the seams.

Tin Can Safe

Back on my old blog, I wrote an article about hiding valuables in plain sight.  The idea is that most people take things at face value.  That's the idea behind this gift.  It's just another can in the pantry, right? 

Making this item requires a can opener that slices open the side of the lid rather than opening the top.  The lid will, then, fit back down on the can, and depending on how often one opens it, it could be sealed with a little bit of glue or rubber cement.  

Book Safe

In keeping with the hide-in-plain-sight theme, this gift can be a good place to store valuables.  Most people don't even look at the books on the shelf.  

Making the book safe takes a bit longer than the others, because it takes time for the glue to dry.  For this project, just find an old hard cover book, glue all of the pages together (for this book, I used a spray on glue, but regular white glue brushed on with a paint brush or even a glue stick would also work really well), cut out the center, et, voila!  Book safe.  

For a really special gift, it might be fun to find an ironic title, like Treasure Island or The Hiding Place.  

Seed Sprouter

I love sprouts, especially during the winter when I don't have fresh greens in the garden.  Sure, I can purchase lettuce at the store for salads, and I do, occasionally, but it's also nice to be able to make a salad with sprouts from my own kitchen. 

I have this sprouter from Johnny Seed, but just a jar with a lid would work just as well. 


This jar was from marinara sauce.  I just punched holes in the lid using a finishing nail.  One could also drill holes in the lid.  Then, I put a piece of cheese cloth over the jar and attached the lid.  The cheese cloth will keep the small seeds from dropping out of the openings in the lid.  

I added a tablespoon of seeds and filled the jar about halfway with water.  I probably added too much water, but it doesn't really matter.  What matters is: 1.  the seeds get wet; 2. the water is completely drained.   I had to shake the the jar to get the water out, and then, I laid the jar on its side on the counter.  I will add water to the jar, and then, drain the water every day.  I should have sprouts big enough to eat in three days.

If one were to add some seed packets (radish, broccoli, alfalfa, clover, kale, mung bean), it would be a lovely gift for a friend who wants to get into sprouting, but isn't 100% committed to the idea.  It will give him/her a chance to see if he/she likes sprouting before investing in a fancy (read: expensive) set up.

Oven Mitt/Pot Holder

I taught a sewing class at my homeschool co-op one tri-mester.  The first project we tackled was oven mitts.  It couldn't be simpler.  I used an old pair of blue jeans and an old towel.  I traced around my hand in a mitten shape.  I cut out two of each material for one mitt.  The blue jeans are on the outside and the towel serves as an extra insulative layer inside the mitt.    

I sewed each towel layer to the blue jean layer.  With right sides together, I sewed the blue jean layers together, and then, turned the whole thing inside out.  I used one of the belt loops for the loop to hang up the mitt.

Including stopping to take pictures, the whole project took about an hour.  

One could make a set with a pot holder, too, using the same technique, except with only one inside towel layer sandwiched between the blue jean layers.  

I love to give gifts, and I really love to make things, too.  It's nice when I get to be creative and give someone something that is useful and homemade - but also didn't take six months of planning and preparation to get done.  Nothing on this list would take more than a day - from start to finish - except, maybe, the book safe.  

What are some of your favorite last minute gifts to make?