Summer and early fall can be a time of an overwhelming number of weddings. Especially if you’re on the younger side, you probably had plenty of friends getting engaged last fall and they’re all having their ceremonies now. While you’re happy for your friends and want to celebrate their love and their future life together, sometimes weddings only make you think about your wallet, even as a guest.
Wedding gifts can be expensive, especially if the bride registers with certain stores to only get the things she likes from them. As a young person, money is scarce, so how do you make sure you always bring a gift to your friends’ weddings? The secret is to do it yourself.
Homemade Cookbook
Cookbooks have the stereotype of being passed down from a family member and not a friend, but that doesn’t mean you can’t give one as a gift! Using a notebook or binder you have lying around the house, put together the best recipes you can think of that your friend and their spouse might love. Decorate with markers or crayons that you have, or splurge a bit on scrapbooking decorations.
Pop-Up Photo Box
After their wedding, your friend and their spouse are going to have more pictures than they’ll know what to do with. Make sure they don’t lose track of any of their old favorites by making a photo box. They’ll be able to pull out their photos and use the box as a touching decoration, or collapse them in a safe box as they move into their new home. All you need is the printed out pictures, some tape and a box!
Painted Dishes
If you have any white plates you don’t use, you can design them for the newly married couple to use as plate ware or as decoration. Multiple plates can be colored into a matching theme, or a single plate could have a song quote on it with dates of their important relationship milestones. Just head on down to the craft store for your preferred shades of China paint (it’ll come in bottle and marker form).
Hand-Stamped Towels
If you have any cloth napkins, plain colored dishtowels or even bathroom hand towels in solid colors, you can use those as a wedding gift! Use some simple craft paint that you already have (or spend a bit extra and get fabric paint), then make a stamp out of cardboard or sponge so that your shape is exactly how you want it. Make letters or symbols and let dry, and you’re done in less than half an hour.
Flour Sack Tea Towels
Tea towels can be used for so much more than just drying hands, so if you have any extra around your kitchen, throw them in the wash and wrap them up as a gift. Write a cute note that this towel can be with the newly married couple through rising bread dough, polished silverware, and baked goods. Tea towels are versatile and last forever, which makes them a perfect gift.
DIY Geometrical Terrarium
Terrariums for air plants and succulents are super popular on Pinterest right now, so you might want to give one as a gift. Thankfully, you can make your own easily with some plastic wrap, a glue gun, and some straws. Paint the straws to whatever color you like and use cardboard as the bottom of the terrarium. Glue it all together and you can make any shape that you think is best. If the bride is a fan of plants, you can’t go wrong with giving her a terrarium.
Before you go spend more money than you have on wedding gifts for your friends in the next few months, think about how many of those gift ideas you could duplicate with stuff that’s already in your house. You might even find other homemade gifts that strike you as something that’s better than what you were going to get from the store.
All it takes is a little time to think out your gift and creativity to get it done. In the end, you’ll have a present made straight from your heart, which is all your married friends are going to care about. It might even make your gift stand out from the rest as the best wedding gift yet.
Written by: Kacey Mya
Kacey is a lifestyle blogger for The Drifter Collective, an eclectic lifestyle blog that expresses various forms of style through the influence of culture and the world around us. Kacey graduated with a degree in Communications while working for a lifestyle magazine. She has been able to fully embrace herself with the knowledge of nature, the power of exploring other locations and cultures, all while portraying her love for the world around her through her visually pleasing, culturally embracing and inspiring posts.
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