Easy Homemade Christmas Gift Ideas | ~ Texas Homesteader ~

by Texas Homesteader ~

We all know that homemade gifts are special. But how do you come up with homemade Christmas gift ideas they’ll actually LOVE?

I’m sharing various gifts we’ve made over the years that have been very well received. Come see!

(Note: Some links in this post will take you to other related articles for further information. But links preceded with * are affiliate links. If you click and buy something I could receive a tiny commission.)

Deciding To Give Homemade Gifts Instead

One year I just got completely frustrated with all the consumerism associated with the holidays. Every year we were struggling to equal or top last year’s gifts. Then there was the shopping, the crowds and the mounting EXPENSE!

Now don’t get me wrong I’m not against gifts. They’re a fun way to share our love with those around us.

So RancherMan & I had a heart-to-heart talk with each other that year & decided although it would take more effort on our part, we wanted to give more personal homemade gifts.

We’ve now been doing this for several years – way before I had this website. So I don’t necessarily have pictures of everything to show you. But I thought it would be helpful to know some of the gifts that we’ve given that were well received.

Click on the titles for more information on each gift.

~ Pretty Wax-Dipped Pinecone Fire Starters ~

Whether your gift recipient has a wood-burning fireplace or is a camping enthusiast, these wax-dipped pinecones are a great gift idea. And they’re super easy to make. You can even use old candles for the wax!

~ Homemade Beeswax Candles ~

It’s easy to make all-natural Beeswax Candles using repurposed jars.

All you need to make homemade beeswax candles are:

*Beeswax Pellets

*Candle Wicks

*Glass Candle Jars (I often use heavy repurposed jars or mason jars instead)

~ Repurposed Denim Pocket Warmers –

This gift has been wildly successful with all our family members both old and young. Just warm the hand-warmers in the microwave for a few seconds and place ’em in your pockets to keep you warm when you must go out on a cold day.

My dad is probably the biggest fan EVER of these pocket warmers. He once asked me “Does everyone else know about these? If so, why doesn’t everyone have one – they’re AMAZING!” LOL. Thanks dad…

~ Pasta & Pasta Sauce –

One year we planted extra paste tomatoes in our garden. When they were harvested we cooked and canned pasta sauce. We also made homemade pasta and packaged it all in stainless-steel colanders with stainless steel spaghetti utensils.

~ Homemade Tamales ~

We’ve also made homemade tamales to give as Christmas gifts. They were presented in a small glass casserole dish so there were no disposable plastic wrappings included.

~ Homemade Food Gift Baskets –

We’ve given food gift baskets where we shared Pumpkin Granola packaged in a huge reusable hinged glass jars.

The dried fruit in the granola might be dehydrated plums, or perhaps dehydrated apples shared from my aunt’s trees. Some years I’ve dehydrated jujube from our own trees.

~ Apple-Themed Gift Basket ~

One year our gift basket was entirely apple themed. Included in our food basket was:

- - Apple-pie filling
  - Creamy apple butter,
  - Cinnamon/Vanilla Applesauce,
  - Apple Fruit Rollups
  - Apple slices in light syrup
  - Dehydrated sugar-cinnamon apples

~ Homemade Jelly, Jams & Preserves –

A fun thing to include in a food gift basket is homemade jams & preserves. Our favorites are:

- - Pear preserves
  - Honeysuckle Jelly
  - Grape Jelly
  - Clover Blossom Jelly

~Beeswax Lip Balm ~

One year we decided to make beeswax lip balm for our grandbabies.

~Candy Snowman & Gloves (with CASH!) –

How do you present a gift of cash. I mean, you hate to just hand over the dough. Surely there’s a cute way to present money as a gift.

This candy snowman gift comes together quickly and costs precious little to assemble.

~Gifts Packaged Beautifully –

I often make these oh-so-cute denim baskets using repurposed denim from RancherMan’s worn jeans to present our homemade canned goodies to a neighbor or friend.

~ Homemade Jerky ~

RancherMan’s a skilled hunter. Sometimes we gift homemade wild-game jerky using venison and elk meat. You could just use ground beef if you wanted.

All you need is

- - Ground meat
  - * jerky gun
  - * flavoring kits

Dehydrate strips in oven or *Dehydrator.

~ Wild Game Summer Sausage –

This was in the days before my blog, so I have no link to share. But one of the wild hogs that RancherMan harvested right here on the homestead was processed by a wild-game meat processor.

Some of the meat was made into summer sausage and jalapeno-cheese snack sticks for gifts. We presented our gifts in a new small soft-side cooler with reusable ice pack.

~ Dehydrated Salsa In A Jar –

One year I dehydrated diced tomatoes and onions, garlic, even cilantro from the garden to make dehydrated salsa.

I measured each dehydrated ingredient along with my homemade seasoning mix into a mason jar and BOOM! Dehydrated salsa in a jar.

My gift recipients only needed to add hot water & allow everything to rehydrate to enjoy.

~ Homemade Cold-Press Soap ~

Some years we gift homemade soaps:

Morning Motivation Mint Soap using home-grown mint.

Rosemary/Lavender Soap using botanicals grown right here on the Homestead.

Vanilla-Scented Shampoo Bars – great for travel.

~ Soapberry Infusion & Soap Boxes ~

The homemade soap a few years ago went over so well I had family members asking for them for gifts again. So we obliged, yet expanded upon the gift idea. This gift would be a box of various soap/cleaning items.

The homemade soaps were packaged in boxes I made from Repurposed Christmas Cards.

I added home-grown luffa and also harvested soapberries and made Soapberry Infusion. The gift recipients could either use the infusion for shampoo or general cleaning. It’s all natural!

~ Hummingbird Feeders & Nectar –

Again this was in the days before my blog so I have no link to share. The old house that was previously on this property burned over 50 years before we purchased it. In a back pasture there was a large area discards from the previous inhabitants.

Some of those glass jars were so cool and obviously old. We took some of the more interestingly-shaped ones and washed them up and made hummingbird feeders with them.

Our homemade hummingbird feeders just needed:

- - Old interesting glass jars with small openings
  - *Glass Paint Pens for decorating the jars
  - *hummingbird feeder tips

We included a package of homemade hummingbird nectar along with the instructions so they could make more homemade nectar when it ran out.

~ Something For Fido ~

Can’t forget those pups! Many of our friends & family have dogs and these healthy Homemade Dog Treats were fun to include in our gift baskets for their fur babies.

~Solar Light Feature –

RancherMan & I made this gorgeous solar light feature from Bois d’Arc trees on our property as a gift for our daughter.

It was personalized specifically for her and her love of elephants. She loved it! And the cost to make it was minimal.

~Pure Oak Cutting Board

One year we made homemade Oak Cutting Boards. We even personalized them. It was easy and they turned out beautifully for a fraction of the cost of new.

So there’s a list of some of the fun homemade gifts we’ve presented over the years. What are your favorite homemade gifts to give or receive?

~TxH~

This post categorized in

Tagged in

Gifts Of Food

Easy Homemade Gift Ideas

Other Gift Ideas

Low-Waste Gift Wrapping

Holiday Cooking Tips

Holiday Cooking Shortcuts, Tips & Recipes
Quick Ingredient Substitutions (Eliminate a run to the grocery store)
Easy Trick To Fill Resealable Bags

Christmas Season

All Posts Tagged ‘Christmas’

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13 thoughts on “Big Honkin’ List Of Homemade Gifts They’ll Actually Love!”

Keri at

I wish I were on your gift list! 😉 These are awesome gift ideas!! I love that so much of you and rancher man’s time and efforts went into these gifts making them that much more special to the recipients.

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shelley at

I’d much prefer any of the gifts on this list than something from a store! Thanks so much for sharing your ideas – perhaps I’ll get inspired for next Christmas.

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Julie Bagamary at

What practical and wonderful ideas. I particularly like the hummingbird feeder and nectar!

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Lady Locust at

Another great thing(s) about gifts like these is that they don’t have to be eaten right away, and you aren’t decorating someone else’s house – you know, like the pink crocheted toilet seat cover:)
Merry Christmas.

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Bobbie at

Love Your Blog!
After reading your Homemade Gift ideas and seeing your Homemade Cold-Press Soap, I was wondering if you have made anymore soap. I’d love to learn to make cold-pressed soap for next year as Christmas gifts. You’ve truly inspired me to get crackin’ on this for next year. I plan on printing out many of your recipes and ideas and putting them in a 3-ring binder. I’m seeing all sorts of possibilities through your generous blog. Christmas now is only a few days away, so I’m collecting (and most likely will be practicing on a few of these) for next year. I hope my family catches-on like yours have. I love this idea of dropping the rat-race-shopping for the Holiday Season and sharing the love through homemade gifts.
I sure hope to hear from you about the cold-pressed soap. Sounds perfect!
Happy Holiday and Many Thanks!
Bobbie

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Rachel at

Homemade gifts are the best and everyone loves good food and little treats. These ideas sound delicious. I want to keep the pear preserves and pumpkin granola all to myself, haha. Thanks for sharing on Merry Monday!

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Terri Presser at

Great post, great ideas, thanks for sharing. Blessings

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Jayleen @ How Do The Jones Do It at

What awesome gifts! I would love that pumpkin granola or homemade sauce! My hubby looks forward to the homemade barbecue sauce he gets every year from a co-worker. My favorite gift to give is homemade flax seed heating bags. Looking forward to seeing your post on how to make soap!

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Patti at

Wow, your homemade goodies look like great gifts. I would love it if someone gave them to me.

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Amy at

In our family, homemade is always best! You’ve put out many sweet and attractive homemade gift ideas, and I thank you!

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Pat @ Mille Fiori Favoriti at

There is nothing as nice as receiving a wonderful home made food gift for Christmas like the ones you’ve made. I particularly like the tomato sauce!

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Terry at

Home made gifts are great, I know I have received several. I also make some home made ones. This year many are getting Christmas pillowcases, and one grandson is getting a Christmas quilt. It is really fun to make gifts for others too.

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ColleenB. at

I feel by giving and receiving homemade gift baskets are the Best as they are given from the heart and made up of love. Nothing pleases me more than receiving a homemade gift item cause I know great thought had gone into it. My daughters where younger they would always make me a homemade card for Christmas and for my birthday which always meant a lot to me and I still have them items that they had given.
It is so much fun; yes time consuming, making up gift baskets so each individual on their likes from homemade baked goodies ; seasonings, meat rubs, different varieties of Chex Mix party mixes, right down to a homemade ornament of sorts. I even sit down and make All homemade cards for anniversaries, birthdays, holidays and everything in between. I haven’t bought a store bought card in years. The nice pretty store bought cards are getting so expensive and I can make them cheaper and make them more personal and meaningful.
Yesterday in fact I made 2 batch of homemade Ritz Bits candy; one chocolate and one vanilla flavor.
I had always told the girls, cause they would always ask what I would want so I would tell them; if you’re going to get me something, make it homemade; even if it’s a plate of cookies. Over the years I haven’t had to mention that fact cause they automatically know .

Going to Christmas Eve candlelight services as a family is one of the greatest gifts of all. Just being together and then coming back to the house afterwards for some good, down home, homemade soup supper.

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