3 Easy Last-Minute Holiday Gifts to Make for the Hard to Buy For

Author:
Michele Kelsey
Updated date:
May 23, 2014

Have you run out of time this year for your Christmas shopping? Are you on a tight budget? Do you want to do something special for someone this year? Well, it’s not too late! You can still make a homemade gift for your loved ones this holiday. By making the gifts yourself this year, you can save money, and show you care. Then, if you pick up a hobby like photography, cooking, or knitting by making these gifts, you can use the money you save this Christmas to buy supplies for your new hobby!

Each of these gifts does not take long to make, and the person will be delightfully surprised on how much they mean when they see the gift! When tailoring a present for that special someone you show how much you really know about them, and they will see how much you cared by how much effort you put into their gift.

Picture of my boyfriend enjoying his homemade gift - the personalized binder present!
Michele Jones

3 Last-Minute, Special Presents

I will introduce you to three great gifts you can make:

(1) Sweet Tasty Homemade Bread

You can make it in one day.
It works for a guy or a girl who is hard to buy for.
It’s very inexpensive to buy the ingredients.

(2) A Homemade Set of Knitted Coasters

You can make something useful for a businessman or woman.
You can make 4 coasters in less than 2 hours.
Yarn is typically less than $3.00.

(3) A Personalized Binder or Bundle of Goodies

You can put together the items with things you have around the house.
It may take a couple days to do proper research, but it’s a very special gift.
This is the perfect gift for your special someone.

Bread Machine

Sweet Tasty Homemade Bread

This is the perfect gift for any male or female. Everyone loves tasty bread! This is special too, because you made it at home. It is more meaningful than a store-bought good.

Ingredients:

10 to 12 ounces of Water
1 ½ teaspoons of Salt
2 tablespoons of Butter or Margarine
4 cups of Flour
2 tablespoons of Dry Milk
1 ½ teaspoons Cinnamon
2 teaspoons active dry Yeast
1 cup of dried Cranberries

Step by Step Directions:

1. Measure all of these ingredients into the bread pan in the bread machine.

Scroll to Continue

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2. Select the “Basic” setting.

3. Press the “Start” button.

4. When the bread machine beeps, finish by pressing “Stop” to end the cycle.

5. Allow the bread to cool for about 10 minutes. When removing the bread pan, use oven mitts.

6. Remove the bread from bread pan. If you need to, lightly press a butter knife around the sides of the bread where it is stuck to the pan so that it comes out pretty. It should come out relatively easy.

7. When the bread is cooled off, wrap it well with Saran Wrap. Tie it with thin ribbon into a bow.

A Homemade Set of Knitted Coasters

If you do not know how to knit, you can easily pick it up. Just follow the excellent instructional tutorials at the end of this article, and pick a pattern to start!

Heart coaster from the set I made my boyfriend for Valentine's Day.
Michele Jones

Heart Coasters

Equipment:

US 7 Needles
Your favorite color of a worsted weight yarn (I like red or pink)
A Tapestry Needle
Scissors

Measurements:

Approximately 5” X 5”

Length of Time to Create:

Approximately 45 Minutes

Pattern:

Cast On 21

Knit two rows. After that, at the beginning and end of each row - Knit Two.

R3: *P*

R4 and all even rows: *K*

R5: P8, K1, P8

R7: P7, K3, P7

R9: P6, K5, P6

R11: P5, K7, P5

R13: P4, K9, P4

R15: P4, K4, P1, K4, P4

R17: P5, K2, P3, K2, P5

R19: *P*

R21: *P*

R23 - R24: *K*

Cast off and weave in the ends. Block.

This is a picture of the Half and Half coaster being blocked. Once flattened, it looks really neat!
Michele Jones

Half and Half Coasters

Equipment:

US 7 Needles
Your favorite color of a worsted weight yarn
A Tapestry Needle
Scissors

Measurements:

Approximately 3.5” X 3.5”

Length of Time to Create:

Approximately 40 Minutes

Pattern:

Cast On 15

Rows 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12, 14, 16, 18, and 20: K3, P9, K3

Rows 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, 11, 13, 15, 17, and 19: P3, K9, P3

Cast off and weave in the ends.

This is a strong and sturdy coaster. Make four, and create a great set for that man in your life!
Michele Jones

For additional knitting coaster patterns, check out these articles and websites.

Window Boxed Coasters

Equipment:

US 7 Needles
Your favorite color of a worsted yarn
Tapestry Needle
Scissors

Measurements:

Approximately 5” X 5”

Length of Time to Create:

Approximately 40 Minutes

Pattern:

Cast On 22

R1: Knit Across

R2: K1, *P* K1

R3: K1 (K1, P8, K1)X2, K1

R4: K1 (P1, K8, P1)X2, K1

R5: K1 *K1, P2, K4, P2, K1* K1

R6: K1 *P1, K2, P4, K2, P1* K1

R7: Repeat Row 5

R8: Repeat Row 6

R9: Repeat Row 5

R10: Repeat Row 6

R11: Repeat Row 3

R12: Repeat Row 4

Repeat Rows 1-11. Knit 2 Rows.

Cast off and weave in the ends.

Make your binder gift special by adding lots of color! Use crayons or markers to spruce it up!
Michele Jones

A Personalized Binder or Bundle of Goodies

This is the ultimate personalized gift for that special person in your life. Basically, if you have a person on your gift list who you want to do something special for, you can think about the things that are most important to that person. You can create a special gift tailored to their interests.

Depending on the person and what their interests are, the following examples should give you an idea of how to carry out this plan. Just think about the person and what their interests or passions are. If you need to, ask them what they are into right now. Make sure they love it! Think of yourself as the creator of a personalized magazine for that person!


The Interests of the Person	What to Make Them
Crocheting	Put together a notebook full of free patterns you printed from the Internet
Football	Print this season’s College and NFL game schedule for them, and put it neatly together in a folder
Cooking	Put together a binder of family recipes you have or recipes from one of your cookbooks. Find entrees they like.
Shooting	Subscribe them to a gun magazine or put together a homemade booklet all about their local gun ranges.
Cars	Subscribe them to a car magazine or put together a portfolio with car facts and the latest car news.
Gardening	Cut out some gardening articles and paste them in a notebook for them to enjoy.
Motorcycles	Put pictures of the latest gadgets for motorcycles in a folder for them to “shop around.”
Pets	Write down advice about pet care that you copy down from the Internet. Copy down some great pet jokes.
Crossword Puzzles	Make up crossword puzzles for them in a steno notebook. Put the answers in the back of the notebook.
History	Find some inexpensive history videos or stories and bind them together in a bin or notebook. Print in black and white to show the “historical” affect.
Photography	Print information off the Internet about the latest cameras, and write down in a notebook some great websites on photography.
Movies	Find a see-through sleeve for a notebook, and put free movie passes in it. Print the show-times for what is showing locally and directions to their local movie theaters..
Roller Coasters	Put together a travel notebook full of famous roller-coasters - where they are, how much the admission is, and what kind of rides they have.
Spirituality	Print the most inspirational scriptures off the Internet. Use funky scissors so that you can cut them with style. Use a glue stick to paste them onto construction paper or scrapbook paper.
Traveling	Write down famous places that the person would like to visit. Put historical site information from the Internet with fun facts.

A Great Place to Get Recipes for the Cooker

Allrecipes - Recipes and cooking confidence for home cooks everywhere
Allrecipes is the #1 place for recipes, cooking tips, and how-to food videos—all rated and reviewed by millions of home cooks. Allrecipes makes it easy to find everyday recipes for chicken, make the perfect birthday cake, or plan your next holiday di

An Extraordinary Example

Here is an illustration of how I created an elaborate binder notebook for my boyfriend for his 40^th Birthday. Included is a video on how to best save ink when printing lots of pages of information.

Boyfriend's Homemade 40th Birthday Gift with a Love Poem and Video
A homemade present for your special someone is a fun and exciting thing. A do-it-yourself gift can be more meaningful. Read about my experience with my unique gift for my love's milestone birthday.

It’s not too late to make a meaningful gift for someone you love for Christmas or any occasion. These are inexpensive gifts that do not require many supplies. For the “hard to buy for” person, you can make yummy bread. For the men or women in your life who work in an office and need a coaster set, show how much you care by making them a knitted coaster set. Finally, for those you are closest to, illustrate your love, and show how much know about them by making a personalized binder full of their favorite stuff! Be creative, and make something special for your family and friends this year!

How to Tie a Slip Knot

How to Cast On

How to Knit

Disclosure

Pictures: The pictures used in this article were taken by Michele Jones.

Videos: The provided videos were from youtube.com.

HubPages: Feel free to ask a direct question regarding this article in the comment section. If you found this article to be useful or interesting, please:

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Comments

Michele Kelsey (author) from Edmond, Oklahoma on November 21, 2013:

Thank you. I was hoping those ideas would help someone!

Devika Primić from Dubrovnik, Croatia on November 21, 2013:

3 Easy Last-Minute Christmas Gifts to Make for the Hard to Buy For awesome suggestions and so helpful too.

Michele Kelsey (author) from Edmond, Oklahoma on November 21, 2013:

I agree! And they aren't expensive. It shows you put some thought into that person. No more fighting crowds at Walmart! Lol

John Coviello from New Jersey on November 21, 2013:

Great ideas for last minute gifts. A good variation for the homemade bread is to make banana bread. It tastes good either plain or with chocolate chips mixed in. The nice thing about these gift ideas is that they are personal, so they mean more.

Michele Kelsey (author) from Edmond, Oklahoma on November 20, 2013:

Well I just made the binder for my boyfriend's birthday and I may make coasters for Christmas. I'm most certainly making bread this year. We are on a budget so I thought I'd share my ideas. I'm glad you liked them!

Bill Holland from Olympia, WA on November 20, 2013:

I love your suggestions. Actually, I love any suggestions that do not involve spending tons of money during the holidays. I was smiling at the coaster....I used to crochet toasters when I was a kid for Christmas presents...I was so proud that I had made those by hand. :)