20 Free Homemade Gift Ideas That Will Help You Out

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Why spend wads of cash on gifts when you have the benefit of the following free gift ideas? These gift ideas will certainly make your family and friends happy because your personal stamp of love is etched into each one. You can choose from among these 20 free – or at least, almost free unique homemade gift ideas – for any occasion, be it for birthdays, Christmas or Mother's Day.

1. Say It with Family and Friends

This is one of the best free homemade gift ideas – a group card or video scrapbook. Collect his family and friends’ anecdotes, wishes and messages as well as their photos. Compile these thoughts and pictures into either a group scrapbook or a video slideshow, whichever is your choice. I'm sure your giftee will be touched from this gift.

Give his friends and family at least 4-6 weeks' notice and set reminders. You have some work to be done after you'll receive all the materials so don't leave things to the last minute.

2. Make a Dedicated Blog

There are many sites that offer free domain and hosting services (like www.blogger.com, www.wordpress.com and others). Give your gift recipient a blog (or a website). Use the homepage to honor her with a well-chosen words and photos. You can use the blog to upload the photos and wishes that you collected from friends and family in the previous idea.

If your honoree has no computer skills you can give her a couple of private lessons as a part of your gift.

3. Adopt a Pet

Of course, this is only advisable when you are both pet lovers. We suggest adopting a cat, dog or other pet animal of his choice from an animal shelter. Truly, you have one of the winning free homemade gift ideas – you have done a good deed while also making your man happy.

4. Loving Slave for a Day

Yet another of the best free homemade gift ideas is becoming his slave for a day – a willing and loving slave, of course. Treat your man like he is the king of the hill for the day – serve him breakfast in bed, run errands for him, bring him cold beer and give him control over the remote control. Better yet, ask him repeatedly what he wants you to do for him and do it; you might even like it, too. You can add some fun and humor by giving a toy crown and scepter for him to wear.

5. Coupon Queen

Among the easiest to make and yet the most fun free homemade gift ideas is the coupon book. It’s a fun way to inject love and appreciation into your everyday life without trying too hard or spending too much. List down fun things you'll do for him or things you'll do instead of him (like his chores…) – think of IOUs. Print these IOUs, bind into a small notebook, and give it as a gift. Be prepared to do the tasks as you have written on the IOUs although we can surmise that you will be a willing participant.

6. It’s a Surprise

Plan a surprise party on her birthday. Invite her friends and family to your home and ask each of them to bring a drink, a cake, a dish or a snack of some kind. You will end up with a house full of her closest friends and family, plenty of great food and lots of fun. And… It is almost free on your end!

7. Record Stories

Kids love to hear stories, especially before they go to sleep. Record yourself reading children book and give it to your child to listen whenever he/she feels like. The kid can listen to your recorded story before going to sleep, on the road or whenever he misses or feels like.

You can record a whole book (usually a short one) or record each chapter separately and let him hear one chapter at a time. That way he will have something to look for.

This is a great gift from grandparents, from a parent who is on the road a lot or from a divorced parent.

8. Burn the Music

One of the best free homemade gift ideas for music lovers involve burning his favorite music - into a disk, of course. Just make a list of his favorite artists, record these pieces on a disk, and paste a special dedication on its surface. If music is not his thing, then record the last season of his favorite TV series or some of the latest movies on disks and watch his joy at your gift.

9. Calendar It

This is one of the best, yet free homemade gift ideas you can give your family and/or friends for Christmas. Print a blank calendar template, which can be found online. Fill the special dates with photos, reminders and thoughts so that your recipient will not forget. You can use your child's art work too. Such a calendar is definitely better than a digital calendar because it has your love stamped all over it.

10. Gift of Yourself

If you have little to no time in following any of the free homemade gift ideas discussed here, you can always give another gift – yourself. Gift your time and effort in providing your skills for your recipients. This is a big gift in itself because it speaks of how much you care for them. Think of babysitting, tutoring the kids and even just walking the dog. Give your knowledge as a gift – do something for the honoree or teach him how to do it. Here are some ideas:

• Cook him dinner or teach him how to bake cookies
• Redecorate his living room
• Paint a wall mural in his child's room
• Design a business card for him
• Teach him how to use the computer
• Build a web site
• Write his resume and help him prepare for job interviews
• Sew something or fix something around the house
• Give a paint you drew

11. Recipe Book

Cooking is a gift. You may not have the time to cook breakfast, lunch and dinner including snacks for your loved ones so a recipe book is your next best gift. Ask your recipients about their favorite dishes and desserts whenever they come into your dinner table. Make detailed recipes (i.e., full ingredients list and step-by-step instructions, perhaps with photos) of these dishes and desserts. Compile into a booklet and give as gifts.

A variation of this recipe booklet is to make a food blog, which will further lessen your costs. Each week, post something new for your family and friends to experiment with in their own home. This may even be one of the moneymaking free homemade gift ideas you will have!

12. Seasonal Cleaning

Clean the house. I mean really clean the house. It's a great surprise to your mom or to a friend who has just became a new mom.

A great variation of the IOUs will be a coupon booklet about cleaning specific parts of the house on certain days of the year. For example, you have a “debt” to clean the garage during summer, tidy up the attic in spring, and perform general cleaning procedures during spring.

13. Costume Trunk

This is one of the free homemade gift ideas that can be used the whole year-round but most especially during Halloween. Gather all the fun and funny clothes, hats and shoes you can find in your closets. Fill an old trunk, a large suitcase or a big box with these things. Your kids can play dress-up with these clothes and personal accessories at any time while you have an emergency go-to kit for neighborhood and school costume activities.

14. Taxi at Your Service

Give your taxi services for someone who doesn't have a driver's license or doesn't own a car – for a day or two take her from anywhere to any place she wishes. If you want to upgrade this you can be her concierge too and run her list of errands.

If you're into gifts that give back you can find somebody who needs a driver, in a manner of speaking. Be his/her driver! For example, a disabled individual, an elderly person, or a new mother is a good prospect to chauffeur around for a day or two. This is certainly one of the feel-good, do-good free homemade gift ideas that you must do at least once a year.

15. Laundry at Your Door

In lieu of becoming the neighborhood taxi driver, you may choose to be the laundry person. One of your relatives or friends will appreciate your efforts in washing, ironing and folding his/her laundry. Think of a new mother with older children in tow, a single man settling in to his new apartment, or an elderly individual living alone. You may even want to organize his/her messy closet, too, if you will be allowed.

16. Photographs and Memories

This is related to one of the above-mentioned free homemade gift ideas but with a twist. Instead of a group card, you can make a photo collage of your recipient. For example, the photos show his/her development from being an adorable baby to a lovable adult. It may also be photos from a certain phase in his/her life, say, high school or college. Or you make your parents a photo collage of their lovely family.

17. Date of The Month Club

Plan 12 fun things to do with your honoree, preferably new experiences for her. The idea is to do something fun and enjoy some quality time together – Camping, makeover at the mall (imagine a 5 years old girl having a makeup – that can be a big fun thing for her…), see the sunrise on the beach, have a road trip, Night swimming… Put each experience in a sealed envelope and give it to your honoree – one for each month. Now all that's left to do is to set the date of your date in the beginning of every month. This is a great gift for kids (but not only).

18. Gift of Home Cooked Meals

Let’s say that you have a relative or a friend who cannot make delicious home-cooked meals at present. He/she may be too sick, too busy or too distraught to plan, much less, cook meals, at home. You can pitch in by cooking delicious meals that can be refrigerated and then later heated in the oven or microwave. Just place the dishes inside plastic microwaveable boxes, store these in your recipient’s refrigerator together with instructions on how to reheat, and voila! You have one of the most thoughtful free homemade gift ideas implemented.

19. Do a Home Makeover

Give your mom/sister/friend a real makeover at her/your home– Dye her hair, remove her eyebrow hair, wax her, give her facial treatment (clean + mask), do her nails, make up, do her hair… This is a great gift before her birthday party or a big event or just for fun.

20. Family Games

Last but not least in the list of free homemade gift ideas is spending quality time with your beloved family members via games. Use family photos to make memory games, trivia games, foursome card games, puzzles and other games you can copy from store-bought materials.