Roundups

65 Inexpensive DIY Gifts for Everyone

By Samira Kazan

updated December 10, 2025

A round-up of 65+ simple, easy, and inexpensive homemade gift ideas . Including sweet and savory edible gifts, candles, sugar scrubs, and more. Perfect for inexpensive stocking fillers, Christmas gift baskets, hostess gifts, and as DIY gifts for other special occasions!

Perhaps you’re on a low budget? Or you love getting your hands dirty in the kitchen or crafting? Want to make present-making a fun activity for the kids? Or you simply love the thoughtfulness behind DIY Christmas gifts and handmade gifts.

If this is you, this post is for you. This is the perfect time to check out my DIY homemade gift ideas!

There are DIY gift ideas below for every level, whether you’re a first-time DIYer or a creative at heart. For many, you can even get your little elf helpers (aka children) involved.

Even better, most of the below DIY gift ideas are super inexpensive to make. Some are even entirely made with items already in your home. And most of them fall heavily on the side of homemade food gifts because food gifts are my favorite to receive!

Plus, between homemade preserves, hot chocolate mix, spice blends, or a homemade gingerbread house kit, there’s something for everyone and for every time of the year. Whether you’re looking for the perfect gift for friends and families, neighbors, colleagues, hostess gifts, etc., I’ve got you covered.

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• Why are homemade gifts so special
• How do you make your DIY gift more personal
• Homemade food gifts
• Crafty DIY gifts

Why are homemade gifts so special

I love DIY Christmas gift ideas (which work just as well for birthdays, Mother’s Day, Father’s day, and other special occasions) because they show you care. Anyone can go and buy something in a store. But taking the time to select and make something (especially if customizing it personally) shows the thoughtfulness the recipients are bound to love!

How do you make your DIY gift more personal

No matter which of the below DIY food gifts you choose, it’s very easy to make your gift more personal. You don’t even need any special equipment. You can easily package it as a jar gift or reuse a small box. Make sure to label and sign – you can even make a DIY card.

Handcrafted gifts are so meaningful and personal. Your creativity shows you care and the gift will be memorable.

Homemade food gifts

Edible gifts are a perfect way to show someone you care. You might want to share classic gingerbread cookies, dried homemade pasta, or even pickled and preserved foods. There are tons of ways to share edible gifts this holiday season.

Cooking Essentials

If you’re looking for easy handmade gifts for foodies, they’re sure to appreciate some kitchen basics. Especially when you go to the effort of preparing them yourself. All you need is basic pantry staples, a glass container (like a mason jar or mini spice jjar, and labels.

Dried Rosemary

You could also make dried thyme and dried mint . Or homemade dried ground spices, like ground onion powder , garlic powder , and ginger powder .

Herb Salt

Flaky Salt (Plain and Infused)

Pumpkin Pie Spice

Chili Oil

Lemon Pepper Seasoning

That’s not the only spice blend you can choose from either. Whether you want a single small stocking stuffer or to create a small set of seasonings, these useful homemade gifts are perfect for foodies.

Other spice options include:

Chicken seasoning , taco seasoning , cinnamon sugar , French fry seasoning , Egyptian Dukkah , Lebanese 7 Spice , Mexican Spice , garam masala , shawarma seasoning , Everything Bagel seasoning , Falafel spice , Italian seasoning , Lebanese za’atar , etc.

Extra-Virgin coconut oil

Avocado oil

Baking Essentials

Got a baker to cater to? They’re sure to appreciate any of the below handmade gifts. From homemade alternative flours to syrups, extracts, and sauces, you can pull together a little bundle as a gift. Or make just one for homemade stocking stuffing.

Homemade Almond Flour

When you think of edible gifts, flour probably isn’t what comes to mind. But for a specialty/free-from baker, it will be much appreciated. Other DIY flour options include oat flour , lentil flour , cornmeal , homemade rye flour , or chickpea flour .

Vanilla Extract

Vanilla Powder

Simple Syrup

Have someone who loves flavored coffees or cocktails in your life? Why not make a flavored syrup (or even a syrup gift set)? You can choose from coffee syrup , ginger syrup , lavender syrup , vanilla syrup , peach syrup , date syrup , lemon syrup , etc.

Rose Water

Rose Extract

Vegan Dandelion Honey

Creamy Homemade Caramel Sauce

If you think the recipient would prefer a vegan option check out this vegan caramel instead.

Sauces, Preserves, and Condiments

Pickled and preserved foods are perfect for a thoughtful, often low-budget edible gift for family and friends. Some of these DIY presents may need refrigeration. But there are also ways to “can” or “water bath” many to make them shelf-stable!

Red Chili Paste (Water Bath Canning Optional)

Turmeric Honey

Homemade Miso Paste

Simple Rose Petal Jam

Homemade Blackberry jam

A trio/selection of homemade jams makes for a wonderful homemade Christmas food gift. Present them alone or alongside crackers and other nibbles. Plus, there are plenty of jam recipes to choose from. Like raspberry jam , strawberry jam , fig jam , ginger marmalade , or even onion jam .

Creamy Almond Butter

Check out my guide to nut and seed butters for the full list of recipes you could make, including options like hazelnut butter , pistachio butter , sunflower seed butter , etc. I’ve also shared recipes for granola butter (oat-based).

Coffee Peanut Butter Spread

Homemade Nutella

Choose from any of the spreads found in this category to make a homemade DIY gift basket. Combine 3-4 spreads with crackers, cookies, nuts, olives, cheese, etc.

Honey-Fermented Ginger and Lemon

Honey Fermented Garlic

Preserved Lemons

Pickled Red Onions

I love gifting pickled ingredients at Christmas and any other occasion. They’re simple to prepare and can be flavored in dozens of different ways. Make more of a DIY gift set by pairing the pickles with other ingredients to make a meal. I.e., the above pickles paired with a homemade taco meal kit – tortillas, taco spice blend, and recipe.

Here are some other great pickles to make: Pickled Green Tomatoes , Pickled Asparagus , Quick Pickled Garlic , Pink Pickled Turnips , Pickled Jalapeños , and Pickled Cucumbers .

Pumpkin Preserves

Other Homemade Food Gifts

Homemade Floral Pappardelle Pasta

Homemade Vegan Pasta

You might also enjoy this naturally-colored rainbow pasta , red lentil pasta , green pasta , chickpea flour pasta , or oat pasta .

Black Garlic

Sun-Ddried Tomatoes

Cookies

While there are more sweet homemade DIY gift ideas below, I thought cookies deserved their own category as a great gift to bundle and even post. Christmas cookie boxes are simple to prepare, can be made as beautiful as you like, and are never not appreciated.

Christmas Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Vanilla Pinwheel Cookies

Easy Gingerbread Cookies

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

Looking for more cookie ideas to add to edible gifts or create a Christmas cookie/treat box? You might also enjoy these homemade digestive Biscuits , almond pistachio thumbprint cookies , or maamoul cookies (Middle Eastern cookies).

Other Snacks and Sweet Treats

For all the sugar and sweet treat lovers in your life, here are some great ideas to curb their cravings most deliciously with these simple DIY holiday gifts.

Homemade Milk Chocolate

Not a big fan of milk chocolate? Perhaps you’d like to make dark chocolate or white chocolate instead?

Homemade Granola

Homemade Almond Paste (Vegan Marzipan)

Vegan Coconut Bliss Balls

Hazelnut Truffles (Vegan Ferrero Rocher)

If you want to create a selection of different bite-sized treats as a DIY food gift, you might also enjoy these Cacao & Almond Protein Balls .

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Vegan Chocolate Candy (Filled)

White Chocolate Peppermint Bark

Easy Candied Pecans

Candied Ginger

Candied Orange Slices in Syrup

Homemade Caramel Fudge

Also check my Chocolate Fudge recipe for those chocolate loving individuals!

Dried Strawberry Slices

Homemade Muesli

Fun Baking Mixes and Kits

Sure, you can pick up baking kits as a cheap stocking filler or gift fairly easily. But I love to make them from scratch and adapt them to my guests’ dietary and flavor preferences (i.e., gluten-free, sugar-free, etc.). These DIY gifts show the recipient you care, PLUS gives them a fun activity to do.

Homemade Pancake Mix

Homemade Gingerbread House

Homemade Hot Cocoa Mix

Golden Milk Powder

Homemade Kombucha/ Scoby

Crafty DIY gifts

Finally, here are non-edible easy handmade gifts perfect for including as stocking stuffers or part of a homemade gift set. I quite often make bundles of similar items to make a mini kit (I.e., several homemade soaps with the skin balm).

Hair and Body Homemade Gift Ideas

All-Natural Soothing Skin Balm

Simple Homemade Soaps

Coconut Oil Sugar Scrub

Other Easy Homemade Gifts

Beginner Candles

Homemade Coconut Bowls (Food Safe)

Natural Non-Toxic Citrus Cleaner

Filled Glass Ornaments

With these homemade filled tree ornaments, you can hang these cute stocking stuffers directly onto the Christmas tree. Better yet, this simple gift is super versatile. Load them up with some of the DIY Christmas gifts we’ve already mentioned above. Like hot chocolate mix and mini marshmallows and homemade seasoning blends, or perhaps sprinkles or bath salts, etc.

Personalized Apron

If you’re looking for an easy but thoughtful kitchen gift for mum (or dad), why not make them a personalized apron? Using iron-on transfer letters, you can monogram the apron with their initials or find other iron-on transfer options to add the words/design of your choice.

You can use this same method for beautiful personalized tea towels!

Recipes › Desserts

Almond Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies Recipe

By Samira Kazan

updated September 21, 2020

Delicious gluten-free, vegan bite-size almond & pistachio thumbprint cookies. Not only are they easy to make- they can either be baked or kept as a no-bake cookie recipe!

These almond pistachio thumbprint cookies are a delicious vegan and gluten-free cookies recipe using almond flour and pistachio butter. Unlike your generic shortbread thumbprint cookies, these vegan bite-size snacks have a delightful crumbly almond base and can be cooked or kept as a no-bake cookie recipe.

Depending on whether you want these as raw snacks or baked cookies, they are delicious. However, it’s worth noting that there will be some textural difference.

For the raw version, these pistachio thumbprint cookies are a little more gooey and moist. In comparison, when baked, these cookies are more crumbly.

I always love to switch up classic recipes and decided that rather than using the usual choice of jam filling for this thumbprint cookie recipe, I used some homemade pistachio butter .

Pistachio butter is one of the most delicious, decadent version of all nut butters and yet can be made at home with just pistachios, salt and a blender or food processor. Plus the pistachio flavour compliments the flavour of the gluten-free almond cookies.

These cookies are then an excellent healthier cookie snack option. They can also be displayed in mini cupcake cakes, in a gift box, for a delicious homemade edible gift at Christmas (or any time of the year!).

If you’ve been following me on Instagram, you’ll know that I’ve been cooking up a storm this festive period, with a new recipe posted every day. Honestly, I couldn’t wait for the day to share these pistachio thumbprint cookies though because they are one of my favourite treats so far.

I’ve very recently compiled a post for the ultimate guide to homemade nut & seed butters, so I have spent a LOT of time this year in the kitchen blending up delicious nut butters and nut butter recipes. As much as I have a soft spot for good old almond butter, pistachio butter has taken my heart.

While it’s not a nut butter you’d want to eat by the spoonful every day (or rather you would – but your hips wouldn’t like it!), pistachio butter has an incredible luxury element that works well in so many different recipes. Check out my pistachio butter post for some inspiration.

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• Variations on these thumbprint cookies
• How To Make The Thumbprint Cookies
• Other great snack recipes you may like
• Pistachio Almond Cookies Recipe

Variations on these thumbprint cookies

Obviously, my filling of choice is my homemade pistachio butter. However, you can experiment with various fillings including a delicious vegan homemade Nutella , the classic choice of jam, or even some vegan chocolate chips (that will melt from the heat and be heavenly!).

For a sweeter pistachio creme style filling, melt some white chocolate in a heatproof bowl then mix in some pistachio butter with a dash of homemade vanilla powder .

You can also make a delicious chocolate version of these pistachio thumbprint cookies by adding some cocoa powder into the base almond cookies recipe. If the biscuit mix feels too crumbly after adding the powder, add another tsp of coconut oil to offset the powder.

Plus, you can experiment with additional toppings for the pistachio thumbprint cookies. For example, a drizzle of melted white chocolate is a lovely dessert-like touch.

Note* For vegan cookies use dairy-free white chocolate and chocolate chips.

How To Make The Thumbprint Cookies

This pistachio thumbprint cookies recipe is super simple and can be made in just five minutes if you’re keeping them raw. Or around 20 minutes, if baking- which means they’re an excellent option for a last-minute edible gift idea or to whip up on busy days when you don’t have much time to spare.

The almond cookies base is made up of almond flour, coconut oil, maple syrup, coconut flour and cardamon.

Don’t fret if you don’t have almond flour to hand though as this can be whizzed up in a couple of minutes. Blitz some raw almonds in a high-speed food processor for a couple of minutes and you’ll get homemade almond flour, which is a great gluten-free flour to have to hand at all times.

This recipe is also a great way to use leftover almond pulp after making homemade almond milk . Simply allow the pulp to dry out, and it’s ready to use as almond flour.

Note* For this particular recipe the ground almonds don’t have to be too fine, which is why any of the above options will work fine for the almond cookies recipe.

The method

To begin, mix the almond flour with the other base ingredients and then form small, one bite-sized cookies. If you want you can measure these out and use around 1tbsp per cookie. However, I eyeballed it and made 14 of them.

To make them into thumbprint cookies, the process is precisely what it says. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, and then you can use a finger/ thumb to make the indentations. You could also use the rounded back of a spoon. In fact, I used a small 1/2 tsp measuring spoon for an even indentation in each cookie.

If you’re in a hurry to enjoy these delicious cookies, then you can have these as a no-bake cookie recipe by simply adding some pistachio butter to them now and decorating with some pomegranate seeds and chopped pistachios.

Note* Due to the gluten-free nature of these cookies and the lack of dairy, these cookies are more crumbly than general cookie dough so cracking around the edges when pressing your indentation is perfectly normal.

However, if you want to bake the cookies, then you can now bake them in the oven either in mini cupcake cups or on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.

These only take ten minutes to bake in the oven and will turn a lovely golden colour around the edges.

If you want to use some chocolate chips as a filling, you’ll want to add these to the cookies while they’re still warm, so they melt into the thumbprint.

For the pistachio butter-filled cookies, allow the cookies to cool down a bit before filling them.

Again you can decorate the pistachio cookies with pomegranate seeds and ground pistachios or even a sprinkle of desiccated coconut. Also, feel free to experiment with other fillings and toppings of your choice.

For a sweeter, dessert-like version you can drizzle some white chocolate over the cookies at the end. Or, for a chocolate thumbprint cookie version, you can add some cocoa powder into the base almond cookie recipe.

Other great snack recipes you may like

For another delicious no-bake snack recipe, you may like these healthy cacao & almond protein balls or these coconut bliss balls . These 4-Ingredient Stuffed Dates: with home-made almond butter & Chocolate are always a winner too!

IngredientsUS CustomaryMetric1x2x3x

• ▢ 2 cups almond flour
• ▢ 3 tBsp coconut oil
• ▢ 1 tsp ground cardamom powder
• ▢ 2 tBsp maple syrup
• ▢ 2 tBsp coconut flour
• ▢ 1/4 cup pistachio butter

Toppings (optional)

• ▢ ground pistachios
• ▢ pomegranate seeds

Instructions

• To begin, mix the almond flour* with the other base ingredients and then form small, one bite-sized cookies. If you want you can measure these out and use around 1tbsp per cookie. However, I eyeballed it and made 14 of them.
• To make them into thumbprint cookies, the process is precisely what it says. Roll each piece of dough into a ball, and then you can use a finger/ thumb to make the indentations. You could also use the rounded back of a spoon. In fact, I used a small 1/2 tsp measuring spoon for an even indentation in each cookie.**
• If you’re in a hurry to enjoy these delicious cookies, then you can have these as a no-bake cookie recipe by simply adding some pistachio butter to them now and decorating with some pomegranate seeds and chopped pistachios.
• However, if you want to bake the cookies, then you can now bake them in the oven either in mini cupcake cups or on a baking tray lined with parchment paper.
• These only take ten minutes to bake in the oven at 160ºC (fan-assisted) and will turn a lovely golden colour around the edges.
• Once cooled down, add the pistachio butter and decorate.***

Video

Notes

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.