Four Amazingly Crafty Birthday Gift Ideas || Guest Post*

Remember those lessons back at school? The ones involving coloured paper, scissors and large amounts of PVA glue. There was always the artistic, crafty student who had no difficulty creating beautiful collages out of newspaper cuttings and balloons! The rest of us had to suffer in sticky silence. They were the ones that always brought in daisy chains and beautiful little arty gifts for the other students and teachers on their birthdays.

If PVA, art and a bit of creativity sounds like a recipe for PSTD instead of fun, don’t worry: these four creative birthday gifts for your friends are so easy anyone can do them.

Homemade Hot Chocolate on a Spoon

You might be thinking, “where’s the PVA glue in hot chocolate, is that how we get it on the spoon?”. There’s no need for glue in this one, just a bit of cooking!

Image source: http://www.irresistable.fr/chocolat-chaud-nouveau/

Don’t they look amazing?

All you’ll need is 250ml of cream, 350ml of condensed milk, and lots of chocolate. (I mean lots!) Aim for around 600g of the birthday boy or girl’s favourite chocolate!

If you’re making a few batches you can even flavour each one for a range of hot chocolatey birthday treats. Orange, vanilla, or hazelnut are classics, but don’t be afraid to experiment.

Add the cream and milk to the pan and slowly heat, occasionally stirring. Add the chocolate and remove the pan from the heat. After around eight minutes, bring the pan back to a low heat and stir in any unmelted chocolate – make sure it’s all melted.

When it’s all just gooey goodness, pour the mixture into a baking tray and store it somewhere cool overnight. Cut the set chocolate into cubes no larger than 3cm x 3cm and just push a spoon into each one. For bonus points, get creative, add marshmallows to the stick, or sprinkles and even caramel!

Hot chocolate is perfect for those winter birthdays and even makes for a pretty amazing Christmas present too!

Homemade Spa in A Jar

Girls, what’s better than a day at the spa? As much as you and your bezzie love the spa, sometimes our spa fund money goes on other things like bills and rent! Bring the spa home with this awesome spa in a jar idea.

Find yourself a sizeable mason jar and add:

·       Lipstick

·       Mascara

·       Face masks and sleeping masks

·       Fake eyelashes

·       Creams, moisturiser and lotion

·       Nail polish and remover

Top it all off with a brand new set of manicure tools and lots of ribbon! The spa in the jar is simple and painless, leaving you with more time to worry about birthday cards!

DIY Bath Bombs

Everyone loves a bath bomb, but have you ever tried making your own? It couldn’t be simpler!

You’ll need:

·       Food colouring of your choice

·       250ml citric acid

·       250g baking soda

·       125g Epsom salts

·       125g corn starch

·       125ml olive oil

·       12 drops of scented oils

        Glitter!

      It’s as simple as adding the ingredients to a bowl and mixing until the mixture forms a doughy substance. Form the mixture into balls about the size of a clenched fist and find a suitable mould. Tightly wrap each ball in plenty of cling film and you’re ready to go! Once they’ve set they’re ready for the bath.

Personalised Wine Crate Gift Box

If you don’t have a spare wine crate sitting around the house, which I bet you all do (I’m looking at you, white wine girls) you can pick up the ‘Skogsta’ from IKEA in three different sizes. We’re going to turn our ordinary wine crate into a gorgeous, personalised crate of gifts for their birthday.

Image source: https://pixabay.com/en/crate-beer-vintage-antique-alcohol-895939/

Of course, if we’re using a wine crate we might as well start there with a cheeky bottle (or three) of wine. Make sure you pad the bottom of the crate with plenty of hay, lots of scrunched tissue paper will work too if you want to get extra crafty. Throw in plenty of flower petals and a touch of fragrance.

Scatter a number of polaroid pictures in the hay and lots of cute little messages on paper to top off the decoration. Finish up by adding lots of little gifts like: bags of artisan coffee, maybe some of the bath bombs or hot chocolate spoons from earlier too (hint hint). You don’t even need to wrap the crate - you could even fill the crate with twelve ‘spa in a jar’s, one a month until their next birthday!

Be careful when transporting carrying it though, unless you want your house to look more like a barn than a home! Definitely avoid public transport – in general, check out the 10 reasons why I hate public transport to see where I’m coming from!

*This is a guest post. All content was written for me/my blog.