It’s Christmas Eve and there’s a large chance you may have missed the memo on the whole presents thing. Well, if you’re being honest, you just totally forgot you were doing presents because you were so into watching Home Alone yesterday... twice. So you’re short on time and, let’s face it, even shorter on cash. There’s only one thing for it: you need to get your Blue Peter on, stat. Your best option is to strategically raid your house and whip up some homemade gifts that will conveniently make you look way more thoughtful than you actually are.
Festive candle
Remember when you bought loads of candles in an attempt to bring some ‘ambience’ to your room, but never used them? Well get ready to remove them from your miscellaneous drawer, as those guys are about to come into their own. Find a glass (preferably non-chipped but you can’t afford to be choosy), whack in that candle and voila, you have a homemade gift, ish. Admittedly at this stage it’s just a candle in a glass, but hey, some people pay good money for that kind of thing. Take it to the next level by decorating the glass with some festive patterns painted in nail varnish. If you’re really confident in your artistic skills, try some holly leaves or a snowman. Failing that, use some sparkly nail varnish and paint some dots - you’d have to try hard to mess that up, right?
Coffee scrub
Who needs to splash out on expensive exfoliating products? Not you, my friend. Use a cup to measure out one cup of ground coffee, one cup of sugar, half a cup of olive oil and, if you have them, a teaspoon of some festive spices, like cinnamon or nutmeg. Mix together and you have a handmade exfoliating coffee scrub. Are you a great friend or what? Now you just need something to put it in. If you happen to have a mason jar lying around, this could look really fancy. If not, a jam jar will do. If you’re really scraping the barrel, raid the fridge and use that mouldy jar of pesto. But give it a good rinse first, obvs.
Mug cakes
Bake Off may be long gone but you can still channel your inner Mary Berry and get baking. And by this I mean, make a cake in a mug. Minimal effort and max results make this a winning formula, because why spend an hour in the kitchen when you could spend a mere three? Also everyone loves cake, and if they don’t then you should probably re-evaluate your friendship with them. Luckily, we’ve got you covered with a whole load of mug cake recipes here.
Lip balm
This is a perfect way to use up old eye shadows; particularly that bright pink number that you know full well you’ll never use. Use a cotton wool bud to scrape out the eyeshadow and add to a tin of vaseline. Mix together and you’re done. Ideally you want a nice pot to put this makeshift lip balm in, but if you’ve only got an old vaseline tin, just say you were going for the rustic look and hope for the best.
Sharpie mug
Another use for the humble mug - the gift that keeps on giving. Remember those parties when you were younger where you all got let loose and could paint whatever the hell you wanted on a mug? (Seriously hope this wasn’t just me btw). This is like that, but with less screaming children. If you've got a sharpie pen and a white mug, you’re halfway there. Give the mug a good rinse, and go wild with the coloured markers. To stop your masterpiece from smudging, put the mug in the oven and turn it up to 350 degrees. Bake for around 30-40 minutes and let it cool.
Vinyl bowl
If you’ve got an old vinyl you’re willing to part with, all you need is an oven and a mug (seriously is there no end to the mug’s talents?) to transform a very flat object into a bowl-shaped object. Magic. Pre-heat your oven to 100-120°C. Place the mug upside down in the oven and position your vinyl on top of it, so that the label part lines up with the base of the mug. After a few minutes in the oven it will soften - at this point take it out and shape it however you want and let it cool. If you mess it up, just whack it back in the oven and start again. FIY, according to Google, shops are selling these bad boys for up to £30, so you can feel pretty smug too.
Sock snowman
Exactly what it sounds like: a festive twist on the classic sock puppet. Only half joking with this one. Because no DIY gift guide is complete without a shit sock related present. You will need: an old pair of white socks, some rice, elastic bands and ideally some old buttons to decorate. Basically, you cut the toe off a white sock, turn it inside out and tie the end with an elastic band. Turn it back the right way round again, fill with some rice and tie some elastic bands around it to make a snowman head and body shape. Stick on some old buttons, and if you really want to push the boat out, make a scarf from another old coloured sock. For more detailed instructions, try this tutorial.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.