Homemade gifts – thoughtful and thrifty or tight and cheap?

I want to know how you really feel about homemade presents – is it really the thought that counts or would you feel a little disappointed getting a homemade gift from someone.

I think that in some camps there’s a bit of a misconception that by giving a homemade gift, you’re being a bit tight and trying to save money by doing so (I’m in no way referring to a rather aggressive Facebook thread I read a few days ago here ;-)) whereas in my experience, homemade gifts can, and often do, cost more than a smellies set that you can pick up randomly in the 3 for 2 at Boots.

Here’s where I’m at….

I love the idea of giving a homemade gift but I’m only comfortable doing that if it (a) doesn’t look homemade or (b) if it looks homemade but I put another present with it that’s not homemade.  I struggle with making something look like it isn’t homemade as I’m not all that crafty and adding a shop bought present to my homemade offering kind of defeats the object doesn’t it?

On the flipside, I love getting homemade gifts because it shows that someone has cared enough to put time and thought into what they think I’ll like.  I would much rather have something like that than something they randomly picked up in a rushed shopping trip, although a smellies set is always appreciated round here too as long as I can keep it from Miss Frugal long enough to actually use it.

I think what I’m saying is that any gift is lovely – whether it’s homemade or shop bought – because someone has thought about me and taken the time to buy something for me.  It’s cost them money and time regardless of whether it’s homemade and shop bought and I would never judge someone for their choice of gift.

I’ve started on my homemade gifts for Christmas this week by gathering the items and ordering a couple of boxes to make a couple of my ‘Happiness in a Box‘ gifts:

These are my favourite ever homemade gifts and they went down a storm last Christmas with the people I gave them too.  They can be really cheap to make too which is a bonus and you can personalise them as much as you like. I made mine at the last minute so it wasn’t as perfect as I wanted it to be but this year, I’m starting to gather things together early so they’re going to look amazing.

I’ve also been planning a bit of a sewing session so I can make one of these little beauties to go in a sewing hamper that I’ve been putting together for a lovely lady I know who spends a lot of time sewing.

I picked this one up at the Festival of Thrift where they were being sold off for a pound as I wanted to see just how it was made to make one myself.  This one isn’t nice enough to give as a gift as you can see the dried glue at the bottom of the cup but I’ve bought a beautiful little teacup and matching saucer for 50p (again at the Festival of Thrift) to make my own with.

I’m going to carefully glue them together taking care to keep the glue away from the edges of the cup’s base so it doesn’t spread out and look ugly when it dries.  I’ve then got some fabric off-cuts that I’m going to use to make a pincushion and I’ll glue that inside the tea cup.  I’m not a fan of the button in the centre as it might look pretty but it’s not necessary really so I’ll skip that too.

I’ll take a photo when I’m done and show you after Christmas when it’s been unwrapped but hopefully she’s going to love it!

So, back to you.

Where do you honestly stand on homemade gifts?

Don’t miss out on future posts like this – receive updates directly to your inbox by email by adding your email address to the box on the top right of this page and hitting subscribe. You can also find me on BlogLovin, Yummly and Networked Blogs and I’d love to see you over on my Facebook page and on Instagram.