low-budget gift ideas
we live in a capitalist society that distributes wealth and resources incredibly unevenly, and that is deeply unfair and fucked up. history has shown that societies often fall when the gap between rich and poor grows to a certain point, and right now that might feel pretty relevant as inflation drives up the cost of literally everything for the average person while profits balloon for the execs of those same amenities (grocery stores, utility boards, banks…). i don’t know about you, but i’m tired.
luckily, i am also a double dose of sagittarius in my big 3, so i’m ultimately an optimist at heart, even when i’m exhausted. i also get a lot of pleasure out of fucking the oppressive systems, so instead of focusing on how everything is expensive and we can’t derive joy during the holiday season because our normal ways of doing things (whether that’s cooking certain dishes, or driving around to look at holiday lights, or attending certain large indoor events while a trio of viruses float merrily through the air) are being stomped on very rudely by things we can’t easily control, let’s focus on what we can control. allowing some flexibility into our definitions of what’s “normal” or “tradition” can be a helpful practice for life in general.
so, let’s make some sweet and easy gifts for ourselves and our loved ones with low-cost and/or everyday household items.
naturally dyed cloth napkins
gather 3-4 onions’ worth of outer skins and a set of undyed cotton or linen napkins (usually very easy to find at secondhand shops if you don’t have some stashed at the back of a drawer). wash the napkins using a strong detergent so any oils or residues are removed (if you’ve got soda ash on hand, a tablespoon in your wash water will work great as a scouring agent!), rinse them, and keep them wetted through while you simmer the onion skins in a pot of water over medium heat for an hour. then add your napkins, cook them for another hour or so, remove them from heat, and give your napkins a rinse while you compost your onion skins (save the liquid for #4 below!). dry your napkins, iron out an wrinkles, fold them, and tie a piece of twine around them for a lovely gift for a new home-owner/renter on your to-gift list!
you can also use this method to dye old shirts (as long as they’re made from natural fibres), cotton pillowcases, or heirloom doilies and tablecloths for an extra touch of beauty in your home. while this method isn’t going to be super colourfast because we haven’t gone through the steps of scouring, tannining, and mordanting, the golden colour should remain for several washes, and then you can dye them all over again! if you want to go deeper into natural dyeing/do it so your colours last, check out natural dyeing 101 and our natural dyeing supplies here, and also check out the crush scholarship if finances are a barrier to your learning journey.
sugar face scrub
get the recipe here! it’s super quick to mix up, uses very few ingredients that you can tweak based on your needs/what you have on hand, and makes a big batch that you can split into smaller upcycled glass jars to gift to a larger group of people. no need to spend oodles of money at the body shop in the mall, and no weird extra ingredients that you can’t pronounce either.
wax tealights
a great way to use up the ends of candles or any slightly older beeswax that you don’t want to add to skincare formulas! find the tutorial here. (just a reminder that if you’re using the leftovers from scented candles to be careful of what scents you mix together - maybe keep the tobacco and vetiver separate from the peppermint.)
naturally dyed wooden beads
perfect for crafting with little ones! use the leftover dye bath from your cloth-dyeing adventures to soak unfinished wooden beads (leave them for 1-3 days if you can), then let them dry and let your little ones use them to make bracelets, ornaments, keychains…whatever their hearts desire/uses up some scraps from your craft supply area. if you want to bring the colours out more and protect them/the wood, apply a thin layer of natural wood polish (which you can make by melting 1/2 cup of oil and 2 tbsp. of beeswax or other wax over low heat using the double boiler method).
scraps garland
you can use anything from yarn to fabric to beads to make an adorable garland to hang on your mantel or along a windowsill. deck the halls uses small bits of fingering weight yarn to knit up tiny socks to string along a length of fabric (in this case, naturally dyed silk ribbon, but you could use twine, an old shoelace, a long scrap of offcut fabric, ribbon from an old present…). another option is this dried citrus slice garland.
wrap your gifts up with these low-waste/low-budget ideas. you can find extra diy projects and recipes 24/7 in the creative coven community.