Whether it’s your BBF’s bday, mum and dad’s anniversary or your dog’s puppy school graduation, you need to show you care, but you’ve already spent your present pennies on pizza… Not to worry, here are some easy-to-craft pressies that will wow the crowds.
A Photo Book
- Head down to Wilkos and grab a cheap exercise book (£1.50), some felt tips (25p) and some glitter glue (£1.50).
- Pop over to boots, print off your favourite pics of you and your bestie (60p) and you’re almost there.
- Do a creative title on the cover of the book, with a feature photo of your best pic together.
- Write a ‘Story of Us’ and jot down your favourite bestie memories with plenty of poignant words, glitter and photos of the two of you.
- Voila! The perfect budget bday bestowal.
Birthday Bunting
- Back to Wilkos you go. This time chuck a ball of string (90p), some coloured paper (£1.25) and those trusty 25p felt tips into your trolley.
- Cut your pretty paper into 14 isosceles triangles (perfectly acceptable if step 3. is actually googling what an isosceles triangle is, it’s been a long time since maths GCSE).
- 14 triangles gives you one for each letter of HAPPY BIRTHDAY with a space in-between, so get writing (make sure you’re writing with the point downwards).
- Poke little holes in the 2 top corners of the triangles.
- Thread the string through the little holes in the triangles (with the letters in the right order!!).
- Hang on the wall with pride and wait for your lucky pal to walk in!
A Bookmark
- Snip a bit of coloured card into a long rectangle.
- Go crazy with decorations, glitter glue (£1.50), feathers (£1), anything you can stick on there to make it fun.
- Poke a hole through the top and tie a little ribbon or a bit of string on and you’re done!
A Friendship Frame
- You can grab a plain frame for only £1 in Wilko’s, but have a look around local charity shops too, as you might find something more fun for the same price.
- Take a piece of plain paper (or card, if you’re feeling boujee) and get to work.
- Start with your names written as prettily as you can manage.
- Add some cute memories or significant things, maybe the date you met, or the longitude and latitude of where you met if you’re feeling really soppy.
- Use different colours and glitters, maybe even stickers. Wilko’s unicorns and rainbows stickers come in at a criminal 75p.
- Put the paper in the frame and you’re sorted.
A Cushion Cover
- Find a baggy jumper/ t-shirt you no longer wear and don’t mind donating to this good cause.
- Cut a square as big as the width of the jumper/ t-shirt will allow from the front.
- Cut a rectangle of the same width, but at least 2 inches longer from the back.
- Cut this rectangle in half.
- Lay the two halves of the rectangle onto the square, with the material you want to show on the outside facing inwards, allowing the halves to overlap in the middle.
- Fold back the edges where the halves overlap, so that a cushion will be able to slide in, but you won’t be able to see the raw edge or the cushion itself.
- Grab a needle and thread and sew (as messily or neatly as you like) along all four sides, remember to tie the thread when you’ve finished.
- Turn it inside out and voila – a perfect cushion cover.
- Now is the time to go wild with decorations – maybe applique (sew on) their name or draw a pattern with permanent markers, or if in doubt: glitter glue.
Hopefully, these easy craft-able gifts are enough to keep your friends and family happy on their big days.
Make sure to tell them how much of your blood, sweat and tears went into the creative process!
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Molly Wilsonon 23 August 2018
