When it comes to gifting this holiday season, try some DIY magic to make your presents feel more personal and unique. These 5 retro DIY Christmas gifts are sure to steal the spotlight in any gift exchange this season. The best part? They are as cute as they are budget-friendly.
Sharpie Flower Pots
These Sharpie Flower Pots are perfect for the green thumbs in your life. Creating these are super easy and only takes a handful of supplies, plus you can personalize them any way your holiday-wishing heart desires! All you need is a ceramic flower pot, letter stickers, and an oil-based Sharpie. The rest is up to you!
Recipe Box
This handcrafted recipe box will test your craftiness but the end result is SO worth it (plus it’s claimed to still be doable with less than $30). You’ll need some woodworking supplies like tablesaws, miter saws, a nail gun, air compressor, along with some stain and wax (full supplies list in the link). Once the box is crafted you have the freedom to stain it any way you’d like, plus you can add primitive (i.e. CUTE) personalized labels to the front of your new recipe box.
Sequin Pillows
I won’t be the first (or last) person to admit my love for throw pillows. For every occasion, there’s an adorable decor pillow to match. These DIY Holiday Sequin Pillows are no exception. Find a plain throw pillow (or pillow cover), a pen (be sure it writes on material!), a hot glue gun, and some sequin detailing (practice spelling or drawing out your new pillow design to measure the exact length needed). Lexy over at the Proper Blog mastered a gorgeous sequin Christmas tree partnered with a pink pillow spelling out ‘merry’. Get creative!
Marquee Light
This DIY Marquee Light takes the cake for retro DIY Christmas gifts. Nothing says retro like the fluorescence of neon lights. Pick out a marquee light ampersand, scrapbook or wrapping paper(because we all have plenty of leftover wrapping paper lying around!), and some glue. These lights will tie together any home office, dresser, kitchen counter, let’s face it...they’d go anywhere!
Pressed Plant Photo Frame
This DIY Pressed Plant Photo Frame is perfect for people stuck in colder climates for the winter season. Once you have your plant press you can pick out the plants for your new frames. The rest of the frame is really up to your creativity. Print photos, use scrapbook paper, add sequins, the options are endless! Finish up your frame craft by placing the pressed plants and decor in a clear glass frame. Voilà!
Looking for a simple Father’s Day card to surprise your loved ones? Here’s a 1960’s-inspired card you can print out and customize. Glue a personal photo and include a handwritten note inside to congratulate your favorite Father this year. Download the full-sized printable here.
Is someone you love having a baby soon? There’s no better way to welcome the new member of the family than with a gift box that shows how much you care. Boxes are easy to put together and don’t have to carry expensive items to wow your recipient. A thoughtful collection of small trinkets and useful, inexpensive objects can go a long way! Here’s an idea for an easy box you can put together for a relative or friend who is having a baby soon. This particular baby was number two for this family, so the gift included items for the (now) older sister.
Here’s an idea for an easy box you can put together for a relative or friend who is having a baby soon. Play around and replace any of the objects below with products that are accessible to you, or that you feel would suit the family best. This particular baby was number two for this family, so the gift included items for the (now) big sister.
You will need:
One or two simple shipping boxes, depending on whether you want to create a single package for the whole family or separate smaller packages for each member.
A cute journal of your choice for the mom-to-be. This will help her jot down notes, to-dos, and thoughts during her first days post-pregnancy. Marshalls and Papersource are both great places to find these.
An object that helps mom and/or dad relax. This gift includes a gel bead eye mask that can be heated or frozen to help soothe any facial strain or headache.
A coloring kit for the older sibling, to be used while he/she waits until baby number 2 is born. I got this one from Target’s dollar section.
Assorted clothing items for the newborn. This gift includes a tiny (really tiny!) pair of Gap shoes and pants. You can find the slip-on espadrilles here and the beige poplin joggers here.
Because there will now be a second baby in the family, one immediately becomes the big brother/sister and the new one will be known as the little brother/sister. To celebrate that, have tees or onesies printed with the words “Big Sister/Brother” and “Little Sister/Brother”. The gift box in this example was created using labels in German: “kleiner Bruder” and “große Schwester” → “Little Brother” and “Big Sister”. Both Zazzle and Printful provide great on-demand printing services, and they offer garments like onesies and playful shirts for babies and kids.
Once you’ve collected the objects, assemble the shipping boxes and organize items classifying them by recipient. Label the boxes with each person’s name. Ship them or deliver them personally.
Mothers make our lives possible and blissful, and any day of the year is a great opportunity to celebrate the shared memories that bound us together. Here’s an idea for a retro-inspired gift box that you can put together for her in minutes.
You will need
A box to store various small items and gifts
Shredded wood excelsior, which we’ll use as a gift box filler
Inkjet sticker paper to print the labels. Alternatively, you could glue regular cardstock onto each object.
Fresh flowers. Make sure you have different colors and leaves (in addition to flowers) to work with.
Assorted artisanal sweets like nougats and cinnamon rolls
Chocolate bars. I went for Toblerone, a classic Swiss chocolate bar with the advantage of having a box with three flat surfaces. Because we will decorate each of these items, having flat areas will make adding labels much easier.
A small scented candle of your choice. I chose a hand poured french vanilla and coconut candle.
Tea bags
A perfume or scent of your choice to spray the gift box filler.
Small wine or champagne bottles. I used Sutter Home’s White Zinfandel 4-Pack
Stamps, stickers, or confetti to decorate the box (optional)
Steps
Print out customized labels for:
The chocolate bar
The personal wine bottle
The candle
A tag to seal the box
Cut the labels and paste them onto each object.
I like to spray some perfume or home scent spray on the gift box filler (wood excelsior, in this case) to add a special aroma when the recipient opens the box. This is not necessary but adds a unique touch to the experience of opening your gift box.
Assemble the box as follows:
Wood filler
Larger objects like the candle, wine bottle, and cinnamon roll. Adding these first will help you identify spaces for the rest of the tiny objects more easily.
Smaller items like tea bags, chocolate bars, and nougats
Every girl needs a flower crown! These vintage headpieces remind us of simpler times, romantic flower fields, weddings, and floral scents. I’ve collected 8 of my favorite flower crown DIY projects so you can create one on your own.
I LOVE hand painted signs, and I feel that with so many fonts, graphic tools and apps out there people have forgotten this gorgeous form of art. The romanticism of a hand-written note, the nostalgic air around chalk signs inside stores, invitations with your name in script (as in “someone took the time” script)… I miss it all! So, considering I have no clue about calligraphy (would love to learn!), I decided to go at it with a bit of DIY and instinct. At the end, I think it looks a bit naive, but because the quote I used is naive too, I actually think it works! Though this is obviously a Beatles’ quote, I was actually inspired by the way Dakota Fanning says it in I am Sam. Best use of “All You Need is Love” ever!
Anyway, I hope you like it and feel inspired to do it on your own. I also created 2 desktop background freebies that you can download at the bottom of this post.
