These days, when a birthday rolls around for someone special in your life, it’s pretty easy to hop online and buy a little gift. You can get that shopping scratched off your to-do list in about 45 seconds. But whatever trinket or gadget you buy is almost surely going to be relegated to a forgotten drawer (or regifted or perhaps even tossed out) in short order. That’s not gonna cut it for all us crafters out there.
We crafters are a creative lot — that goes without saying. But we also tend to be thoughtful givers, as well. So we aren’t taken in by the accessibility of online shopping. We aren’t the kind of folks who simply hop online and buy something so we can scratch it off our list. Nope. We plan and create so we can present birthday gifts that the special people in our lives will cherish for years.
Let’s get those creative juices flowing and craft some plans for all those birthday people we are about to hook up. We’ll come up with something that will suit everyone — from your nieces and nephews to a beloved grandparent. So grab that cutting mat and let’s get down to the serious (and joyful) business of creating birthday gifts that will actually mean something to the people we love.
Of course, you can follow these ideas to a T or let them inspire variations on the theme. But without further ado, let’s get creative!
Art That Captures Their Favorite Moment from Their Last Year
This one will be easier to pull off if you have true skill at drawing or painting. But if you can make it happen, you can be pretty certain whoever receives this gem is going to cherish it for the long haul. For that crucial first step, you need to do a little reporting. Don’t make it too obvious, but see if you can get that special someone to really open up about their favorite moment or two from the last year of their life.
Maybe you’ll hear about big games, gorgeous hikes, an especially delicious dinner with great company. No matter the moment, see if you can’t bring it to life on your sketchpad or on canvas. Render that moment and stick it in a frame.
This is a little bit of personalized art that will pack more meaning than anything you can buy. You may need some serious lag time here, too, so plan ahead!
A Personalized Cape for That Little Superhero
Two things every little kid is sure to love: Their own superhero logo and a cape with that logo emblazoned smack dab in the middle.
Depending on your time and the skills you have in your quiver, you can make every component of the cape or take a fair number of shortcuts along the way (trust us when we say the little one isn’t going to like the cape any less if you didn’t make it from scratch).
You can sew the cape yourself and design the logo, too. Or you can take an easier route and order a cape online. You can find options all over the place, including these capes from Amazon. You can bust out those tools and create your own patch, or if you want to leave that craft knife on the shelf and take the easy route, you can use a patch/logo service like TheStudio com.
A Journal for Your Grandparents
If you’re lucky enough to have a grandparent you’re really close with, is there truly anything better than hearing them talk about those glorious moments from their lives? Well, why not help gram and gramps dive deeper into story time? How do you do it? Well, encourage them to plump their memories and start writing the good stuff down!
You can get traipsing down memory lane with a journal that all but implores them to get started.
Simply snag those craft scissors and decorate that journal with a collage of old photos from their life! Go heavy on the cover, of course, but pepper some fun photos throughout the interior of the journal, as well.
They’ll get swept up in a rush of nostalgia in no time. And you’ll benefit handsomely when story time comes back around!
Something Special for the Plant Lover in Your Life
Everybody loves plants, but not everybody is great at taking care of them. So whether you’re dealing with a true green thumb or a certified plant killer, you can trust that your plant gift will be a smash hit when you give it in terrarium form. Yes, terrariums are the foolproof plant gift!
And, crafters, they are as easy to create as they are to care for. These little self-sustaining environments will add year-round good vibes to any home — not a bad outcome for a little DIY birthday gift! It’s certainly a world better than whatever hunk of plastic you may have bought if you simply hopped online and took the birthday gift path of least resistance!