a gift is a gift

Whether it is store bought or homemade, a gift is a gift. They both put a smile on someone's face.. and that is the point isn't it? I love giving presents to my family and friends but let's face it, I'm a kid and I don't exactly get paid to be a student. Here are a few gifts that anyone can make for next to nothing. In fact, I made all the gifts here with things I've found around the house.

Homemade Lei

Every time we pick up someone from the airport we like to adorn them with a lei. Since we are not in Hawaii anymore we can't buy them at any store and there are no tropical flowers to be found. But it's easy to make a pretty paper flower one any time of the year. Aaand they last forever!

1. Measure a piece of ribbon, yarn, or string to fit loosely around your neck, but add an extra foot to it. I used curling ribbon.

2. For the "flowers" I used gift wrapping tissue in different colors. You can use any colorful, decorative paper. (Wrapping paper, scrapbook paper, magazine pages, crepe paper etc.) If you have a flower paper cutter that would work perfectly! I don't have that so I cut the paper into little rectangles. For each flower I stacked a couple sheets of each color. Fold the stack accordian style, longways. Starting from one end of the ribbon I tied a knot in the center of each stack, scalloped the edges with scissors, and then crinkled each paper to form a blossom.

3. Repeat this for each flower until you have filled up your ribbon. You can make a full lei with a lot of flowers. Here, I just made a simple one with a couple blooms.. but you can be as creative as you'd like.. Experiment with different color patterns. String beads, cut straws, or painted macaroni between the flowers. Easy and definitely pretty darn cute!

Homemade Scrapbook

Another inexpensive gift is to make a memory book. It is personalized so it is sure to touch their heart. I made this book as a gift for my friend so she can remember the awesome summer she had while visiting Connecticut. I got a blank paper book at the craft store. It was around  $3. I printed off some of my favorite pictures that we took and simply decorated around the photos with stickers and scrapbook embellishments. The best $3 I ever spent! hahaha

Homemade Chocolate Covered Pretzels

My favorite treats are those dipped in chocolate! So looking in our pantry I found 3 simple ingredients to make the perfect, tasty gift: Pretzel rods, white chocolate, and sprinkles! Melt the chocolate, dip the pretzels, and roll in sprinkles! Once dried I bagged them up and attached a little note made of cardstock. Even my 5 year old brother can make this! So easy, yet so gourmet! Ooh lala!

It doesn't take much to make someone happy. It's the simple things that people remember the most. Hope you are inspired to make your own homemade gifts.

Love, Lana