Want to give your friend or loved one a memorable birthday gift that they will not be quick to forget? Give them a DIY birthday gift or a homemade birthday gift.

If you have ever heard the phrase, “labour of love,” you might correctly understand it to mean an act performed by someone that usually involves some physical activity, and that it is often the best way to show someone that you care about them. Another phrase that means the same thing and teaches the same principle can be seen in the bible passage that says “faith without works is dead.” Works, of course, referring to a physical activity.

When it comes to the birthday of a loved one, it is easy to see how the “happy birthday” messages that usually fill up peoples' social media time-lines can easily be substituted to be that “faith” in the above bible phrase. I.e. something intangible.  The ‘works’, which that passage speaks of, or the labour of love as previously stated, would be the birthday card, the phone call, the gift that you send over to a friend or loved one, the surprise lunch or dinner, the flowers, etc. etc. These are the physical acts that show your love for the birthday person. These also are the “works” that are not “dead.”

Hopefully the above statements or analogies have motivated you to want to give the most amazing and memorable birthday gift to a loved one on their upcoming birthday? There really and truly can be nothing more memorable than a hand crafted or hand-made gift. Nothing says I love you and wish you the best than something you actually and physically made yourself.

Of course it might not be particularly easy or practical to hand make something yourself, either because of time constraints, or simply because you do not know how to, or perhaps have any idea on what to make. Fret not. The following great ideas should help you out.

DIY Birthday Gifts Ideas

As stated above, if you do have the time, then a DIY gift is the ultimate birthday gift. But what exactly should you ‘do yourself’? I won’t go into specific items, because the list of ideas is just limitless. So a good starting point is searching through a great DIY website for ideas on things you can make. DIY network is one fantastic DIY website that not only gives you awesome ideas, but it also has very good videos on how to go about executing the DIY project you might decide on.

If you do not see any idea that sparks your interest in the above website, then surely this website can plug in any gaps.

You see, DIY gifts are such a win-win any day, and in some cases, they actually can be a win-win-win situation.

Let me explain…

The first win will likely belong to the birthday celebrant. When they discover that you actually made the gift item with your bare hands, or feet, or whatever the case may be, it likely is going to blow them away. First, the time and energy you put into the project, more so in this day and age when the vast majority of people complain of not having enough time for this or that. Then there is the thought of you going out of your way to make a birthday gift, as opposed to just buying it, which would have been so much easier. Those two things, and perhaps more so if the item in question is so well made, will simply blow the celebrant away and that gift will likely rank as one of the best gifts they ever had, or will have.

The second win will belong to you. Even you, will feel good about yourself and your ability to be so ‘skilled’ and creative. Not to mention thoughtful. Thoughtful enough to take the effort, time, and other resources to make a birthday gift for that special person. In any case, it doesn’t have to be just a DIY birthday gift that makes you feel this way about yourself. Any DIY project often makes you feel this way. But when there is someone who then appreciates what you have created, it makes you feel twice as good about yourself.

The third win, while it may not necessarily always come into play, the possibility always exists, as has happened to many people. You see, it just so happens that, at the end of this DIY birthday project, you just might discover a hidden talent that you never knew you had. And it of course would start with one project, then another, then another, until one day it hits you and you realize how much you like this DIY thing, especially if you have perhaps been making one specific item for these friends and family. Then you finally decide, heck, I can make a business out of this. Just ask Jen Kluger and Suzie Orol of Foxy Originals, who started her business in the exact same way. Or ever this housewife.

So, hopefully you agree with me that this third win in definitely a possibility.

Just be sure to come back here and thank me if this becomes your reality. 

So, back to our DIY birthday gifts. I hope I have been able to give you some convincing that there is a great possibility that that DIY birthday gift that you decide to give to a loved one can easily rank among the very best they will ever get. Unless of course the person in question is more of the materialistic type, and would rather a fancy gift bought from a store.

So what do you do if you just cannot possibly find the time to create a DIY gift, perhaps you just do not have one artistic bone in your body. In such a case, enter:

Proxy DIY Birthday Gifts

The phrase should hopefully be quite self-explanatory. But I’ll explain what it means nonetheless. A proxy DIY is someone who actually

makes that hand (or feet) made birthday gift that you would want to give out as a birthday gift. And while perhaps not as, what’s the word, not as razzmatazz, as a self-made DIY gift, it is perhaps just as good. Because after all, you still had the original idea to do something unique and different. You just sadly did not have the time to do it, or otherwise, you would have. Hopefully.

So in such instances, getting someone who is good in such craft to bring your DIY idea to life will work. So where exactly can you find such people? Thanks to the internet, such people are only a few searches away.

Of course it will depend on where you are located. For instance, if in the UK, Etsy and the numerous sellers there is a good starting point, such as ZenThreads who specializes in customizable affordable, wearable objects, or this gems and crystals specialist. Can you begin to imagine how you can for instance can get several gems or crystals from this person and either have them made into a jewelry, or some other art work and give it to a friend as a birthday gift? In the same vein, what DIY birthday ideas can you come up with when you see this wood specialist?

Of course your location might hinder your ability to buy items in certain locations, such as people in Asia might not be too inclined to shop from sellers located in Europe, which is why Craftsvilla is a solution for people in Asia, as is Mzansi Store for Africans

Of course, you can decide not to go all the way and have a specific gift created from scratch. You could simply decide to go with a ready hand made good from any of these sellers in the above listed websites. They are after all hand crafted products. They just were not specifically made to specification for you, for this specific person’s birthday.

Other Great DIY Birthday Gift Ideas.

Of course DIY or hand crafted items are not the only ones that make for a memorable birthday gift. Something as simple as getting a custom made birthday card with the funniest of messages that will have them in stitches, or a card that they will not be throwing away anytime soon.

Want another idea? Is there something that the celebrant absolutely loves and adores? A musician or an actor or actress? Can you get that celeb to give the celebrant a phone call on their birthday? (And be sure to somehow record that phone call.) Or perhaps get the celeb to call into the radio station and wish the celebrant a happy birthday?

Is the celebrant a sports lover? Can you get the sports equipment to be autographed by his favourite sports icon, with a personal message written to the celebrant and delivered on their birthday?

This is exactly what happened to me, when someone I used to know had a chess board, a game I love and have loved for the past 20+ years, and had it autographed by Jan Tinman, a Dutch Grand Master and world champion. I cannot count how many times I have bragged about owning a chess board autographed by a world champion, with a personal message to me. This chess board is perhaps my most prized possession ever.

Does that give you more ideas?

How about something as simple as a personalized and ‘funny as hell’ singing birthday card? Hopefully you now get the gist.

Whatever you decide,almost anything that is not bought in a regular store will almost certainly be more appreiated. Of course it might not always be the best idea to do a DIY birthday gift, as I am sure you can imagine a friend or family who is moving houses, or goig to college, might more appreciate an item bought in store that will go towards helping them settling down in their new abode. So if their birthday coincides with this new move or relocation, then by all means get them this in-store itme. But be sure to look into the DIY birthday gift for their next birthday.