Five timeless treasures you can make yourself to show how much you care

By: Sabrina Scroppo

My earliest memory of the holiday season is one of my mom dressed in a ruffled apron decorated in stains and hovering over our oven while notes of warm vanilla float through the air. With her face powdered with flour, we put together gift boxes of gingerbread cookies to drop on each doorstep in our neighbourhood.

With the commercialization of the holidays, gift-giving is usually accompanied by big box store buy-one-get-one sales and expensive shiny gadgets. Who’s to say that the gesture of giving something homemade doesn’t mean more than a new perfume or a pair of shoes?

Here’s a few DIY Christmas presents your friends and family are guaranteed to cherish and never forget.

Baked goods

There’s no going wrong with a care package of chewy snickerdoodles, cranberry orange shortbread bites or traditional holiday fruitcake. No matter your level of baking expertise, homemade treats are always served with a side of love. Bring back all the nostalgia from childhood traditions and present a platter of festive desserts to your co-worker, neighbour or favourite teacher.

A self-care kit

The holiday season marks the end of a stressful month of deadlines, exams and last-minute tasks. Take the time to relieve your friends and classmates of that stress with a DIY self-care kit.

You can personalize a box with their favourite candy, a book and a candle, with an added handwritten note to get them through the day. Including handmade spa day essentials like bath bombs or face masks are great additions to a gift everyone wants but won’t get themselves.

Handcrafted jewelry

Dedicating hours to a new skill is often rewarding, so sharing what you’ve learned is always a prize. As an affordable alternative to pricey diamonds, a handcrafted bracelet tailored to the person you are gifting makes a unique keepsake. You may choose to string colourful plastic or wooden beads through a thread in a random pattern or even assemble your loved one’s name in a bracelet. A different route could be to create friendship bracelets together using embroidery floss for some extra quality time during the holiday season.

You can also scour Esty’s online shops to support small Canadian businesses and do a little extra good for artistic entrepreneurs this time of year.

Personalized family cookbook

Tucked away and hidden from kitchen messes is the collection of recipes my grade 6 class compiled for a Mother’s Day gift. As a relentless 12-year-old, I knew my mom’s mashed potatoes deserved the first page.

A creative idea for the chef in your life is a handpicked assortment of recipes that have been passed down from generation to generation. From your great aunt’s apple pie to your new friend's famous pizza, this unique cookbook won’t be one just anyone could find on a storefront shelf.

Frame anything!

The beauty of a homemade Christmas gift is that it can be personalized in every which way. Wrap a shiny red bow around a family portrait and you have the perfect balance between sentimental and practical.

It is close to guaranteed that any grandparent’s heart will melt over a special scrapbook of memories. A collection of home videos or old collectibles will promise no dry eyes on Christmas morning.

By Lauren Kaminski

As Feb. 14 rolls around in Toronto, for some, this celebration of love can become a matter of what gift will best show your gratitude or affection for your significant other.

With this added pressure, some find Valentine’s Day to be just to be another “money-grab” — a capitalist holiday invented to empty the pockets of those in meaningful relationships and insisting that love comes with a price tag.

The idea of spending copious amounts on a gift can seem unattainable for those that are young, broke and in love. Yet, much like the holiday season and birthday celebrations, giving the perfect DIY gift, or planning the perfect night, can be how some couples prefer to show their gratitude.

For Michael Taglioni, the day doesn’t differ from any other, as he finds it’s “just another day to appreciate your significant other,” he explained.

Taglioni plans to make his girlfriend an “exploding box.” This project features a greeting card in a box, and when the lid is lifted, the walls of the box fall down with pictures, notes, and mementos lining the sides. When opened, it reveals 4 different layers that ‘explode.’

While Taglioni wants to maintain a DIY approach to the holiday, he also plans to surprise his girlfriend with flowers and a necklace enclosed in the box.

“I was thinking about doing just dinner with Emma, but I decided that I want to make her something she’d really remember,” he said.

The new couple has still made plans for the 14th at La Bettola Di Terroni for dinner, a Toronto Southern Italian restaurant where they met for the first time, as well as a hotel room. Recognizing the corporation-driven nature of the holiday, the 25-year-old still acknowledges the value of showing devotion to one’s partner.

“It’s nice to shower someone with love and gifts,” he said.

This creative outlook on Valentine’s Day doesn’t differ for those in long-term relationships.

Cyreena Prasad met her boyfriend of three years, Joshua Gordon-Hinds, in high school, and after a couple of years of friendship, they made it official.

After finding crafty inspiration on Pinterest, Prasad decided to make a little box of her boyfriend’s favourite things including candy, socks, and video games.

“It lets me get him gifts with an excuse,” she said.

As for Prasad, being in a long-term relationship has not changed her idea of Valentine's Day as “he treats me so well every day of the year so it doesn’t really make a whole difference,” she said.

Prasad explained that she still enjoys celebrating Valentine’s Day for the quality time together.

“I just love spending time with him and doing fun things.”

Despite being in a relationship or not, in recent years it seems that the day of love has shifted meaning to a broader appreciation of all the ways we can experience love.

“Galentine’s Day”, a nonofficial holiday first dubbed by character Leslie Knope in the television series Parks and Recreation, acknowledges love outside of romantic partners.

For Dini Bryant, a 29-year-old nurse and Brock University graduate, every Valentine’s Day her and a group of single friends head to downtown Toronto and go out drinking, usually on the hunt for some good live music.

“When you’re single, your friends are your makeshift boyfriend,” said Bryant.

Bryant’s group would do fun eyeshadow looks fitting the holiday, and dress up in pink and red outfits. They would only settle for bars with live music, accompanied by the perfect decorations like strung up heart lights and cupid cut-outs.

Bryant sees the value in celebrating the holiday with those you love, regardless of being romantically involved.

“Friends are your support system, the people who are always there for you and that should be recognized on Valentine’s Day too,” she said.