News

Top 5 Homemade Gifts | Christmas Ideas

The Christmas countdown has begun, and it’s time to start thinking about what presents to buy! If you’re looking to save a bit of money this year (and have some fun in the process) why not try making some homemade gifts instead?

We’ve had a look around online for ideas for Christmas gifts from the web’s best craft bloggers. Whether you’re buying for friends, family or even work’s Secret Santa, there are present ideas for everyone to enjoy!

1. Make your own cake gift selection

 

Cake is one of those gifts that is universally popular. Our cake selection offers flavours to suit every taste in your family.

Try mixing and matching our cakes to create a gift box, or even a hamper with a variety of different options. Custard is an excellent accompaniment for madeira cake, but if your tastes run a bit sweeter why not try cream, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce or some festive sprinkles?

What you need

  • A selection of the Regal cakes you want to gift
  • A cardboard box with some festive decoration (try using wrapping paper, or family pictures for a more personalised feel).

Cakes by favourite flavour

Feeling spoilt for choice? Check out our cake combinations to get you in the gifting mood.

Fruity cakes

A selection for madeira lovers

The choc-a-holic’s choice 

Don’t forget we offer next day delivery on cakes to make buying gifts as easy as possible.

2. Homemade Picture Frame Luminaries 

Cheryl of craft blog That’s What Che Said has come up with this super-personal, meaningful Christmas gift. Read on to learn how you can create a personalised picture frame full of cherished memories.

What you need

  • 4 picture frames measuring 6×4 inches (these frames from Wilko are a good choice)
  • Your favourite family photos
  • 2 sheets of vellum paper
  • LED candles
  • A square mirror (to serve as the bottom of the square)
  • Superglue

Cheryl has a more detailed how-to guide, but to summarise:

  • Print out your selected photos on the vellum paper
  • Remove the backs of the 6 x 4 photo frames
  • Glue the vellum photos on top of the glass (to avoid the paper being close to the light and being a fire risk)
  • Glue the four photo frames together in a square
  • Glue the mirror to the bottom of this square to serve as the base
  • Place the LED candle inside and voila! The perfect picture frame luminary

3. Share the gift of cake rusks

In addition to cakes, cake rusks go well with a variety of gifts. Whether you like our classic cake rusk, soonfi rusks, almond cake rusks or crunchy tea rusks, there are some charming extras you can add to them.

Cake rusk accessories

Regal’s Pink Chai Tea is a very popular choice with cake rusk fans right now. Mixing green tea with assorted spices, as well as cardamom and cinnamon, it’s the perfect rusk drink option.

If your recipient prefers other gift types, why not put together a tea gift collection for them instead? Assam and cardamom tea are good companions; ginger tea and peppermint tea also work well if you want to go more festive.

Got a friend who loves coffee? Cake rusks are a solid coffee companion. Look out for artisan coffee bean flavours to accompany your cake rusk gift.

What you need

  • A wide selection of delicious cake rusks
  • Rusk extras of your choice
  • A personalised gift box

4. Homemade Bookmarks

Bookmarks are a fun, useful gift for any bookworms in your family. A classic Christmas option is to embroider a lovely Christmas pattern, which you glue to a nice piece of card. A more modern option comes from Mama Miss, who uses complementary blocks of colour in a very elegant design.

Another, recent trend is to create a bookmark with an image of the giftee’s favourite pop culture character. 80s pop culture collages are especially in vogue at the moment.

What you need

  • Some nice and sturdy card to work well as the bookmark base
  • A tassel that matches your colour choice/design
  • Printed images/paint for the paint chip bookmarks/a festive embroidery pattern to follow
  • Some good glue

5. Homemade Coasters

Got a friend that’s moving house? Drinks coasters are ideal homemade gifts for new homeowners. There’s a variety of options you can try, like cork or wood painted with acrylics. If you’re feeling especially creative, why not sew a set instead?

Jen Woodhouse also introduced us to these colourful agate coasters. Her instructions are very easy to follow, and you can make your own with the following items:

What you need

  • Polymer or air drying clay
  • Acrylic paints (metallic colours in blue and green work well for the effect)
  • Acrylic gold paint (for the liquid gold leaf effect)
  • Gloss glaze
  • Rolling pin

How to make them

  • Roll out the clay into four matching circles with the rolling pin
  • Leave the coasters to dry (or heat in the oven if you’ve gone for the polymer clay)
  • Set out your agate metallic colours and recreate the circular pattern of agate stone. There’s no right or wrong with swirls or colour choices so why not flex your creative muscles.
  • Leave the newly painted coasters to dry
  • Paint the sides and bottom half of the coasters with the acrylic gold paint
  • Once dry, paint with the gloss glaze to protect your masterpiece

The gift that keeps on giving

As you can see, it’s never been easier to find the right gifts for your loved ones. Whatever they enjoy, you can create the perfect homemade gifts with a little planning ahead.

The Shop at Regal site has plenty of different gift ideas for you and your loved ones. If you’re not sure what to pick, remember that we offer next-day delivery on cakes (and other orders) placed before 1pm. You can even get free delivery on all orders over £25; why not get all your Christmas food gift shopping done in one go?

Whatever you decide, the Regal team wishes you a very happy holiday season!