Go DIY this Christmas!
Do-it-yourself gifts are much-loved, thoughtful and uniquely you. And with some of us worried about the cost of gifts and sustainability, homemade Christmas gifts are more affordable. Not to mention a perfect opportunity to release your inner child while making a grown-up-quality gift.
Easy to make presents include biscuits, soap, sauces, calendars, scrubs, recipe books, and art. But let’s start with everybody’s favourite: chocolate!
TRUFFLES
Truffles are chocolate that’s been given a makeover from casual to classy. They’re far more impressive than your run-of-the-mill block or box of choccies, they’re easy to make, and wrapped in a cellophane bag or presented in a tin box with a personalised tag, they’re a great gift for any chocoholic or gourmand.
Truffles can be flavoured with just about anything. Experiment with your favourite liqueur, reduced fruit juices, and spices and essences to produce a signature treat.
GINGERBREAD
Delight the senses and evoke the taste of Christmas with a little gingerbread. You can also get creative with the cookie cutters and decorations to inject a little extra Christmas cheer. For coloured icing, add a few drops of food colouring before kneading and mix it in well.
200g butter
90g sugar
90g brown sugar
1/4 cup treacle
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 egg, beaten
450g plain flour
2 tsp bicarb soda
Pinch salt
500g ready-made white icing (sold at supermarkets)
Cream the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy. Add treacle, spices and egg. Mix well.
Sift flour with baking soda and salt. Add flour to butter and egg mix, a little at a time, stirring well after each addition.
Knead dough lightly, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for one hour. Preheat oven to 180C (160C fan-forced). Roll out dough thinly on a lightly floured surface. Cut out shapes and place on trays lined with baking paper. Bake for 10 minutes.
Remove from oven, place on wire racks and allow to cool. Remove the ready-made icing from the wrapper and knead (if the icing is hard, microwave on medium power for 20 to 30 seconds to soften). Lightly dust the work surface with icing sugar and roll out the icing thinly. Cut out shapes with a pastry cutter. Brush the cooled biscuits with water and place the icing shapes on top. Press down lightly.
SOAP
Want to make something other than a Christmas cake? Get creative and make a cake of soap. You can make a bunch of bars in one go for useful, sweet smelling gifts. You’ll need:
Boiling pot
Molding trays
Mixing boil
Wooden Spoon
Electric Mixing Wand
Wax Paper (required if using a wooden molding tray to prevent soap from sticking when hardened)
Rubber / cooking gloves
Plus ingredients.
Green Organics takes you through the process step-by-step.
RECIPE BOOKLET
Lifestyle doyenne Martha Stewart suggests making a personalised booklet of your favourite recipes, accompanied by a sweet sample, for a gift that will be appreciated for years. The personalised presentation adds to its appeal. Here’s how.
CREATE YOUR OWN CALENDAR
You can buy a blank calendar (Kikki-K does a smart, plain one) and then personalise it with your own photos, drawings, messages or prints. A simple idea that lasts throughout the year.
COCONUT OIL SCRUB
Inexpensive, but still luxururious. A beautiful body scrub is great for guys and girls and you can scent it any way you like!
Here’s what you’ll need:
salt or sugar
oil – organic extra virgin coconut oil is great, but you can use any type of oil
essential oils if you choose
a bowl
a spoon
a glass jar to store the scrub
About Beauty takes you through the process, step-by-step.
There’s no need for DIY gifts to be daggy either. Punchy packaging tips include:
Martha Stewart suggests using brightly-coloured cardboard postage tubes for packaging biscuits or using a CD envelope as an oversized cookie gift sleeve. For more of Martha’s tips www.marthastewart.com
Use plain butcher paper to wrap up gifts and adorn them with your own properly professional looking paper snowflakes. Click here for a how-to.
Recycled glass jars are an affordable, cute way to package up sauces, scrubs or even truffles. Simply tie a bow around the neck of the jar and hand write the recipe on a tag. www.etsy.com has a good selection of smart looking tags and stickers.
A simple glassine bag wrapped in ribbon is a sweet way to present soap. Find out how to pretty it up here.
Try prettying up a take away container or popcorn box. Curbly.com shows how.
