DIY Christmas: I tried making people presents from scratch

Pinterest lied about how easy it would be


Christmas: it’s the most wonderful time of the year but it’s also the most bloody expensive.

Your student loan may well be dwindling but, come the 25th, that stocking isn’t going to fill itself. So, in an attempt to save as many of my remaining pennies as possible, I tried my hand at a few of Pinterest’s suggested Christmas DIYs.

How well did I do? Well…judge for yourself.

Decorations

The first decoration I decided to try was a light up snowman made from plastic cups. Here’s how it looks on Pinterest…

Simple. Right?

It looked easy enough.

I’m sure you’ll agree, it’s almost impossible to tell the difference between their snowman and mine. Unfortunately, it all went even further downhill from there.

Nobody had any idea what it was meant to be

Deciding to bin the snowman, I realised my problem was beginning my venture into Pinterest at too advanced a level. It was time to lower my expectations. A plastic cup snowman on my first attempt? Was I mad?

The next activity said it was great fun to try with the kids. Perfect. Again, here’s what I was aiming for…

Wow

How did it turn out?

Stunning.

Gifts

Decorating your own home is one thing, but actually forcing your handmade goods upon other people is a whole other kettle of cocoa.

These had to be good and following my disastrous decorations, my expectations were low.

First, I attempted a toy Olaf made from a sock.

So cute!

In the end I had to improvise a bit but I think he turned out okay…

Pro Tip: Use new socks

Not sure if I would be too thrilled to receive it as a genuine gift though.

Next, I went for a more sentimental gift. It’s called a giving plate, and all you have to do is buy a plate and write on it in Sharpie.

The people of Pinterest have even provided the poem.

The Pinterest version

And mine..

Unless you have truly atrocious handwriting, this may actually be an okay gift to give someone, provided you bake some Betty Crocker to go with it.

He loves it

Food (a.k.a. what Christmas is really about)

For an edible gift, I decided to make some fudge. Fortunately, I found a two ingredient recipe that seemed impossible to screw up.

Have my eyes forsaken me?

All you need is a can of condensed milk and 3 cups (375g) of chocolate chips.
Microwave it until the chocolate has melted and leave it to set in the fridge for an hour or put it in the freezer for a bit if your housemates get impatient.

I hope this turns out okay

 

Melt it up

 

So yummy

Plus it makes loads, so that’s all your uni friends’ presents done…

It doesn’t last long

Following my visit to Pinterest, I would recommend forgetting all the other presents and just making everyone you know fudge.

That way, they might still speak to you.