11 Incredible DIY Christmas Gifts Your Family and Friends Will Love
The season is here to prep gifts, set up gift registrars, and look out for gift offers because grandma and others will be waiting by the Christmas tree for their presents come Christmas morning. While buying gifts is the Christmas tradition, it’s not the only option. you’re able to always DIY some gifts at home to make them even more special. If you don’t mind tinkering, here are 11 incredible DIY Christmas gifts your family and friends will love
1. Christmas Gift Box
Want to give out your gift in style? Make this DIY Christmas gift box, as shown in thisHackster guide. It’s connected wirelessly to two other gift boxes through Particle Photon boards so that when one is opened, all LEDs are automatically turned on, and all three boxes play some soft Christmas tunes. There’s one more thing that this gift box can do that a regular gift box can’t: it sends an automatic email when opened! It’s undoubtedly the best way to send that Christmas gift to your long-distance friend or family.
2. Wireless Charger With a Sound-Sensing Sparkle
Out of ideas on what to get one of your favorite family members? Get them a device charger. We all use chargers nowadays, and they’re always prone to being lost, so rest assured that your loved ones would never turn it down. However, make it a little more special than a regular charger by trying out the idea in thisInstructables guide.
Using an Arduino Pro Micro, the genius behind it added some interactive lighting that changes the lighting mood based on the music on your desktop. And it’s doable in only three steps, so if you are not much of a tinkerer, this is the perfect DIY Christmas gift to try.
3. Electronic Christmas Tree
Christmas trees are an unavoidable yuletide tradition, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick to the large pine trees that take up all the room in your living room. You can make your Christmas tree tiny, easily movable, and displayable, as in thisHackster guide.
Based around an Arduino and a custom tree-shaped PCB board, this electronic Christmas tree is so compact that you can place it on your console or any other surface you find suitable. Here are some moreawesome DIY smart Christmas trees to add sparkle to the festivities.
4. LED MagicCube
Getting out of bed in the middle of the night is something most of us despise because, one, it means disrupting sleep, and two, the eyes take their sweet time to fully adjust to the low light, so the probability of knocking the pinky toe on something is always high.
While you cannot do anything about sleep disruption, you could at least help your favorite person save their pinky toe from pain by building this LED cube, as shown in theInstructables guide, as a Christmas gift. It is bright, changes color when tapped, and is so compact that they can easily take it wherever they want.
5. Waterproof Speaker
Some people love to spend Christmas indoors, tucked in with a blanket by the fire, and with their loved ones around. Others don’t mind the chill and will explore whatever’s open outdoors. If one of your loved ones falls in the second category, build them a waterproof MP3 player speaker by following thisInstructables guide. Alternatively, they can use it while showering.
If this gift does not seem the ideal match for your loved one, you can check out theseunique DIY speakersthat you can build and gift them.
6. Vodka Gift Box
We all have someone in our lives who lives by the quote, “I’d give up the vodka, but I’m no quitter.” The kind of person who’ll find you deep in your thoughts and dish out something like “don’t worry, don’t cry, drink vodka and fly!”
While a bottle of fine vodka would make a perfect Christmas gift for them, everyone else will endeavor to get them the same. So,why don’t you go the extra mile and make this awesome vodka gift box? Based around an ATtiny84 microcontroller, it features RGB lighting with three modes: a static color, rotating color, and a game mode. Check out how to build it in theInstructables guide.
7. Slow Dance Art
Got a decor or art lover in your life? Build them this slow dance frame, as shown in theInstructables guide, and they’ll certainly love you a little more every time they see it on display. It features a reclaimed wood build guaranteed to blend in with any interior and a pair of feathers connected with magnets, spring strips, and several other items to appear as if they are moving. If the person you want to gift is an art lover, here are someart-in-motion projects that add classyou can build and gift them.
8. Talking Clock
Most people who set an alarm still have trouble waking up even after it goes off. The result? The alarm wakes up everyone else but them. Know such a person? This talking clock made onHacksterwill make an ideal Christmas gift for them. Once it gets to the set time, the clock talks every minute, making it impossible even for the deepest sleeper to ignore it. It also speaks the time when a button is pressed and notifies you of the time after each hour. The best part? It talks in English and Portuguese, plus you can always tweak it to speak in languages you deem suitable.
Check out these otherDIY alarm clocks to start off a great morningthat you can build. If your loved one prefers watches instead, you can gift them anordinary watch customized into a statement piece.
9. Heartbeat Lamp
Want to declare how much you love that special someone in your life through a Christmas gift? Look no further than this heartbeat lamp. It features some RGB LEDs paired with an Arduino Nano that go on and off as if to emulate a heartbeat. Check out the details in theHackster guide.
10. Wireless Remote-Control Car
Nothing brings people together like a remote-control car. These tiny, easy-to-control gadgets are usually as fascinating to most adults as they are to kids. And the good news is that you don’t have to break the bank just to buy one as a Christmas gift for your favorite nephew. You can make one using PVC pipes! Yes, you read that right! PVC pipes. And for control, just tweak a broken car receiver and you’ve got a fully functional remote. TheInstructables guidehas more details.
11. Smart Water Bubbles Lamp
When paired correctly, water and light always seem like a match paired in heaven and this smart water bubbles lamp is proof. Using an aquarium pump to produce the bubbles, it features a bunch of WS2812B pixel LEDs that can be Arduino-controlled to display in over a hundred light patterns and nearly endless color combinations. Check out theInstructables guideto complete this project.
Transform Your Gifting Experience by DIYing this Christmas
Christmas is a season to make merry, exchange gifts, and catch up with old cousin Marty, whom you haven’t seen all year. We hope the gifts above fill your favorite humans with joy this Christmas. Happy building!
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