With Christmas so close, there’s a lot of pressure nowadays to buy gifts for friends, family, and other loved ones.  I love getting my friends fun, meaningful gifts, but as a busy teenager, I don’t have a lot of extra money to spare to buy gifts for everyone I love.  So I’ve come up with 5 fun, homemade gifts that your loved ones are sure to appreciate.  Check them out:

1.  Origami

Origami may seem really complicated, but it’s actually not!  There are loads of great tutorials on YouTube, and you can learn how to make pretty much anything.  I especially love this tutorial on how to make a tiny origami elephant.  It’s cute, fun, and actually really soothing to make.

2.  An Adventure Book
Last year, I made my mom an adventure book, full of pictures and little notes from all of the hiking adventures we’ve been on so far.  All you need to do is find an empty journal book, get some pictures printed of your favorite adventures or memories with your loved one, and put it all together!  Be sure to leave room for you to add more memories and adventures to the book together.

3.  Minimalist Painting/Drawing

I’ll be the first to admit that I am not particularly gifted in the painting/drawing area.  However, it can be really easy to give your loved one a super simple piece of art: if you know of a picture they have that they really like, try to paint or draw it yourself!  You can always pull the picture up on your computer, put a piece of paper on your screen and lightly trace the picture.  For this painting, I simply found a picture of my dog, traced the outline, and painted the outside in purple (my mom’s favorite color!).  Be creative and don’t worry if it isn’t perfect: they’ll appreciate the effort and consideration anyways!

4.  A Coupon Book

I’ve actually been making this gift for my parents since I was a little kid, and it hasn’t gotten old!  For each month of the upcoming year, pick either a date or fun adventure you want to do with your loved one, or offer to do a chore or small favor for them throughout the month.  Get creative!

5.  A Story Book

This gift is super fun and thoughtful: simply write a short story about your loved one and make a little book for it!  If you know your loved one has a specific goal or dream they want to accomplish, include that in the story – or just make it completely random and fun.  The book itself is really easy to make, and you don’t have to worry about drawing anything if you’re not very good at it: simply print out a bunch of different pictures of your loved one, you and them together, or other things or people that are important to them, cut them and out, and include them in the book along with your handwritten story.

I hope you find these homemade gift ideas helpful and are able to try some on your own this year.  Just remember: get creative, don’t worry about it being perfect, and most importantly, let your loved ones know they are loved.  Have a very merry Christmas!