Finding the right gift for a person for Christmas can be somewhat difficult, especially with not always knowing what they need or want and what they already have.  Will the gift end up in the closet or will they trade it for something else they rather wanted? Something that might be on your mind when shopping for, in your opinion, the perfect gift.

On the other hand, personalised gifts and year-end thank you cards might be a better option. It adds a sense of speciality and appreciation to it. Not only can it be personalised with a name, but it can illustrate something you’ve noticed about a specific person or what you’ve experienced with them. A personalised message from the heart could also carry much more value than a general, purchased gift or card.

Don’t have a sense of creativity? Not to worry… it’s the thought that counts and we’re here to guide you through making an easy and affordable gift your receiver will treasure. You can also find most of the art and craft products you’ll need at PNA.

So, you might find yourself asking, but where does one even begin? Well, with Google of course! First, you should find some inspiration on what exactly a certain person would like as a gift (knowing their personality or as mentioned before something you’ve noticed about them).

For example, if you know that a particular person enjoys a cold one now and again, a reindeer Beer would make a great gift. First of all, the person will think that it’s funny, and second, enjoy the gift without a doubt. Find out if there’s anything that’ll suit your specific person.

It’s easy and you don’t need a lot of items to create it – you’ll need a six-pack (or two) of the person’s favourite beer, brown pipe cleaners, googly eyes, red pom-poms and glue (maybe hot glue, as it works best for DIY projects).

Step 1: Create the Antlers

Take the brown pipe cleaners and wrap it around the top of the bottle. Put one side over the other. Twist them together to create the base of your antlers around the bottle’s lid. Take a second pipe-cleaner and cut it in half. Take one piece of the cut pipe-cleaner and make it a U-shape. Take the U-shape and twist it around the one side of the first antler (the one around the lid). Cute, right? Now do the same with the other half of the cut pipe cleaner.  

Step 2: Glow on the Nose

Add a bit of glue to a red pom-pom and smush the nose onto the neck of the bottle.

Step 3: Glow on the Eyes

Take the googly eyes and glue it to the neck of the bottle above the nose. If you want to add something extra, you can add a little bow to one antler of each reindeer beer.

Cute and easy Christmas gift, right? Now moving on to thank you cards, which can be Christmas or New Year’s themed, or something that defines you OR the recipient. It’s your choice! Then think about the type of card you want to send – a banner card, 3D card, potato stamp card, sticker card, fingerprint card…the options are endless.

A banner card, for example, combined with another type can stand by itself on a surface and it can be displayed for others to see. You can also add something extra, such as chocolate, earrings, maybe a photo taken of you and the other person together, etc.

Here are some of our favourite thank you cards. Hopefully, this will give you some inspiration for what cards you’ll be making, and for whom.