7 Days of Christmas: Day 6 - Cheap, Last-Minute Christmas Gifts!

If you're like me, and you wait until the last minute to buy/make Christmas gifts, then these quick, cheap, and last-minute options will be right up your alley!

Homemade Teriyaki Sauce

Spoiler Alert for anybody we give gifts to: this is what you're getting this year. Hope you like Teriyaki! I can't remember where I got this recipe for the life of me, but it's extremely simple. What I love about this gift is that it's practically free. We up-cycled old lemonade bottles for the container, and we usually have all of the ingredients on hand. All I did for the label was print some business card size labels in Microsoft Publisher, punched a hole in each one, and tied them around the bottles with a ribbon.

Teriyaki Recipe Ingredients 1-2 teaspoons oil (for coating pan) 1/2 teaspoon Ginger, grated (about 1/2 inch piece) 1 tablespoon Garlic, minced (about 2-3 large cloves) 1/2 cup Water 1/2 cup Soy Sauce 1/2 cup Brown Sugar 1/2 teaspoon Red Pepper Flakes (I use 1/4 tsp.) Directions Heat the oil in a wok or saucepan on medium-high heat. Add the garlic and ginger to the pan first, immediately followed by the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Use immediately, or allow the sauce to cool and put it in a container.

Cookie Bars

These are even easier than regular cookies, in my opinion, making them perfect for the last minute. They're less time-consuming because you don't have to form individual cookies; just press the dough into a casserole dish and cut it into bars after it's baked and cooled. I originally used this recipe for leftover Halloween candy, but you can easily find Christmas colored candy to use (think red and green M&Ms or candy cane pieces).

Check out the recipe here!

DIY Ornaments

The baking soda ornaments may not be the quickest gift to make, but if you've already made them they're a breeze to handout as a last-minute gift. You may want to remember that for the years ahead: these homemade ornaments can be a day of fun with your family and presents!

The puzzle ornaments, on the other hand, can be made fairly quickly... about as long as it takes to put the puzzle pieces together, Mod Podge them, and let the dry.

Check out the original post here!

DIY Beauty Products

Honey, Yogurt, & Lemon Face Mask

Back in November I posted a recipe for a honey, yogurt, and lemon face mask that makes a wonderful gift idea. Just be sure to remind the recipient that this mask needs to be refrigerated when not in use. Check it out here!

Herbal Tea Rinse

This is also a wonderful gift idea, because it can be customized for any hair type. You can make a blend specifically for hair loss, oily hair, or just a general use rinse! Check out the post here for different tea blends!

7 Days of Christmas: Day 3 - Homemade Christmas Ornaments

Christmas is one of my favorite holidays!I try to teach my son that Christmas is not all about getting presents. Each year we even pick out a toy to donate to Toys For Tots! Since Christmas isn't all about receiving, we also like to make DIY presents to give away. Two years ago those DIY gifts included ornaments that we made ourselves!

These were fun to make, and even more fun to give away!

You only need 3 ingredients for these ornaments: baking soda, cornstarch, and water! I found the original inspiration for this project on Pinterest (what a surprise). Check it out here!

DIY Ornaments

Baking Soda Ornaments:

Ingredients:

• 1 box of baking soda
• 1 cup of cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups of water

What You'll Need:

• Sauce Pan
• Bowl
• Spoon
• Plastic Wrap
• Cookie Cutters

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan and cook them over medium heat, stirring consistently, until it is too thick to stir with a spoon. 
2. Cool for 15 minutes, or until the dough is cool to the touch. Knead it for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. Wrap dough in plastic wrap when not in use.
3. Roll dough out to desired thickness (however thick you'd like your ornament to be), and use cookie cutters to cut dough into shapes. Don't forget the holes for string or hooks!
4. Lay the ornaments flat to dry. This may take a few days (depending on how thick they are), so put them out of the way. The sunnier a spot it is, the better. Flip them over every day while they're drying to avoid raised edges.

You can paint them once they dry!

Recycled Puzzle Ornaments:

This actually an original idea, y'all! I love this DIY ornament idea because it involves upcycling, or using something that I otherwise would've thrown away. I found an old Power Rangers puzzle (ORIGINAL Power Rangers for those of you old enough to remember!) in Daddy's old mementos, but upon further inspection I realized some of the pieces were missing. I know, it's not that surprising considering it's a 20 year old puzzle. It meant too much to Daddy to just throw away, so I decided to try something out. These ones were for our personal use, and not given away.

I was actually inspired for this ornament by how a puzzle was packaged in Wal-Mart! They had puzzles on sale for Christmas, and they had an adorable little puzzle piece ornament attached to the outside of the box! I thought to myself, "I can do that!"

Of course their puzzle ornaments were only one piece, but mine didn't work out that way. There was no single piece with a picture on it that made any sense. I guess that's why you have to put the puzzle together...

I'm still super happy with mine though! I used Mod Podge (puzzle saving glue) to paint the peices and hold them together. I brushed both sides with Mod Podge, but make sure to let it dry before flipping it over. Otherwise you'll end up with newspaper stuck to your ornament, or Mod Podge stuck to your surface.