Can’t manage to get time out to go shop for your friend for Friendship Day? Just can’t buy another mug, can you now? And flowers and chocolates might just get thrown back at your face.
So how about you get inventive this time and whip out a snazzy handmade present for your friend? I guarantee a lot of “Awwww” will follow. That or a fist bump!
Here’s a list of things you can cook up and get creative with:
1. How about some Lemon Sugar Scrub for the friend who loves her beauty products?
- Put sugar in a large bowl and set it aside.
- Measure out 1/4 cup of coconut oil and place it in a microwave safe bowl. Heat coconut oil in the microwave for about 30 seconds, or until the oil is melted. Pour oil over sugar and mix to combine.
- Add in lemon drops. If desired, add lemon zest for extra color and scent. Using a zester or small grater, zest the rind of one lemon. Stir to combine and you have yourself a brand new lemon scrub!
2. Pasta frame for the one who you have the best food memories with
- Paste the picture you want to frame onto a cut out cardboard. You can paint the base cardboard or you can paste some colored paper on it before pasting the picture in the centre.
- Cover the frame with strong glue and go on to paste pasta on it as you please, try doing it in attractive patterns. Let it dry, overnight if you aren’t horribly late.
- If you want, you can paint the pasta with acrylic paint.
3. Coasters for the Monica Geller friend
- Take some old bathroom tiles, spray paint them with your choice of color.
- Now get some acrylic paint, or glitter, and get artsy on the tile.
- If you want you can also paste small paper cut-outs onto the tiles. Or paste the cut outs first, spray paint on top of them and then peel them off to reveal shapes on the tile.
- Paste tiny felt squares to the four sides of the tile on the base so it doesn’t scratch the table.
4. Arrow Bookmark for the friend who loves reading
- Take an ice cream stick and cut it into three pieces, one longer than the other two. Fashion an arrow shape with the pieces & glue, make sure the longer piece is the shaft. Color it as you like, or paste glitter onto it.
- Get an elastic piece and stitch both ends to make a loop.
- Stitch or tie the arrow onto the elastic strap. Now you can tie the elastic where you want to bookmark a page and point the arrow to where you left off reading.
5. Beer Crate for the one who loves his pints and mugs
- Get one of those old wooden fruit boxes, or a an old wooden box enough to hold four pints of beer.
- Paint it dark brown or white with a rugged finish. Add some straw to fill the gaps between the bottles.
- To personalize it, find a piece of leather and fashion a tag out of it to be screwed onto the front of the crate. Stamp or write either the person’s name or something classier onto the tag.
6. Memory Trunk for the chaddi buddy
- Get one of the those old aluminum trunks from an old scrap shop or buy a fresh one. Spray paint it as desired.
- On the lid, write down memorable dates or milestones that you two have shared; you can also pen down quotes from your favorite songs or poems.
- Inside the trunk, put everything memorable: pictures, postcards, greeting cards, old gifts, letters, dried flowers.
- Add new gifts on top of the old ones. Nothing beats a nostalgic gift now, isn’t it?
7. Passport Holder for the friend who is struck by the #Wanderlust arrow
- Lay out your passport and draw with chalk around the leather piece leaving two inches on each side to fold over. Cut it out. Fold sides over and sew around rectangle using nylon or polyester thread and the big needle.
- To decorate the outside, use q-tips to make a polka-dotted pattern. You can be as creative as you want and stamp out words on the leather. Easy, right?
8. Wine Holder for the friend who loves his vino chilled.
- Got an old sweater which you don’t wear anymore? Good. Bring it out. Cut out the sleeves.
- Turn the sleeve inside out and stitch the cut edge closed with a bit of thread or craft floss.
- Invert the sleeve, slip in your favorite bottle of wine. Add a pretty bow around the stem, and you are good to go!
9. Wine bottle lamp for the romantic one
- Or it can be a beer bottle too. Take an empty glass wine bottle. Take some sparkle tubes and go full art on the bottle; draw patterns, paint squigly stars, you decide.
- Take a jute string and tie it around the mouth of the bottle with two loose ends to be tied so that the bottle can be hung.
- Now add some fairy lights inside the bottle and voila!
10. The happy jar for the one you will always be there for!
- Take an old spice jar, or a jam jar and decorate it with ribbons, stickers or draw on it.
- Fill it with notes, quotes, memories, but more importantly with to-dos, plans, for you and your friend to do. On the sticker on the jar, mention that the jar is to be used each time your friend needs a pick me up or mood changing.
Get workin’!