Your best friend's birthday is coming up and you want to surprise her with something unique, but you haven't found anything special enough. Or maybe it's Christmas time and you have absolutely no idea what to get your one friend that will show her just what she means to you. So what's a girl to do? Well, I have created this post to help you solve those problems. I am a little bit of a Pinterest addict (admitting it is the first step to recovery, I'm told), and I adore gathering ideas on there for fun DIY gift projects. I'm going to share with you 10 ideas here that I think will make any friend feel super loved. Ready? Let's do this: 1. Open When letters. My personal favorite. I've done several of these for friends after I was given them as a gift by someone very special to me. Open When letters are a wonderful way to let someone know that you care, and this gift lasts even longer than their birthday or special occasion! I generally create 10-15 cards and each one has a unique reason for them to "open when." Here are some fun ideas to get you started: *Open when you are feeling sick... (some ideas to include inside the letter: kleenex or tea bags!) *Open when you go on your first date... *Open when you are missing me... (include a picture of yourself or the two of you together in this one!) *Open when you graduate... (even if your friend isn't graduating this year, it's graduation season now so you can snag some pretty cool grad stickers at the Dollar Store or WalMart!) *Open when you need someone to listen... (stick inside an index card with your telephone number on it!) 2. 365 day jar. I created one of these once and it was a blast. Basically you'll need a pen and little packs of sticky notes that you can get at the Dollar Store, and a little glass jar. I got different colored sticky notes and assigned different meanings to the different colors. For example, maybe the blue sticky notes I wrote fun "remember when's" on. Or the purple sticky notes I would write encouraging Bible verses. Or the orange sticky notes I would scribble down fun ideas to do together someday as friends. Be unique and creative! Once you've got the jar filled with 365 folded up sticky notes, your friend now has a little note from you for every day of her coming year! 3. Flowers. Most girls love flowers. It's just a fact of life. If most of your friends live far away, call a local florist and pay them over the phone to deliver a bouquet of flowers to your friend's doorstep. A friend of Kenzie's did this for her on our twenty-first birthday and oh, was she surprised! Disclaimer: Getting flower bouquets from a florist are expensive. Like crazy expensive. I only actually did this for a friend one time for a very special occasion and her mom paid half too. A fun idea I came up with instead is to get flower seed packets (you can get them at the Dollar Tree) in my friend's favorite color or flower and send those in an envelope. Sometimes I will even remove the seeds from the packet and put them in a plastic bag, so that way my friend has no idea what kind of flowers they are and she will have to wait till they bloom to find out! This is a fun and more affordable alternative to a florist. :) 4. Scrapbook. A scrapbook is a wonderful way to remind your friend of all the memories you two have shared together. Include little notes, mementos from adventures lived together, and of course lots and lots of pictures. Candid pictures always make the best memories for scrapbooks. :) 5. Screenshot memories. I don't know about you, but ever since I got my own phone and learned how to take a screenshot, it has provided me with lots of memories. I personally find my sister and I to be hilarious (we could be our own comedians) and some of the conversations that we have had through text messaging would not be understood by any third party person. But our text conversations are memories that we share and I usually will screenshot most of the funny ones so that I have that image in my camera roll to look back on and laugh. For Kenzie's birthday gift I printed out the pictures of all the screenshots and put them into a photo album. It's a priceless memory and reminder of the fun conversations we have had! Of course if you want to do this with a friend, this would only work if you text each other or message each other on a phone. 6. "I love you" photo frame. I LOVE this one. All you need is some signs, a camera, a photo frame, and yourself! Hold up either a sign that has an "I" on it, or a cardboard cut-out of an "I" and take a picture. Next do the same thing with a heart (either a sign or a cardboard cut-out). And finally do the same thing with the letter, "U." After printing all 3 photos out, get a frame that has space for three photos and put each picture inside the frame. Your friend will have not only a picture of you, but a picture of you telling them that you love them! 7. Pizza night. I did this for a friend once and it was fun. Maybe it's your friend's birthday or maybe they're just having a rough week. If you don't live nearby call into a pizza place near them and order a pizza to deliver to their house. (Always be careful however giving your credit card info over the phone and ask your parent's permission first.) If you live nearby, pick up the pizza yourself and stop over at their house! 8. Sad Jar. Let's face it. We all have our sad days. And sometimes we can't always be there for our friends when they are feeling sad. That's where the sad jar comes in! I've made this two different ways. First, I've filled it with different pieces of candy and placed instructions on the side of the jar that went something like this: "When feeling angry, pick out a snickers bar and eat it. When feeling lonely, choose a Hershey's kiss. When feeling just plain sad, grab a handful of M&M's." Another way that I have done this for those of my friends who may not eat candy like that, is by filling the jar with sticky notes that say different things to cheer them up. 9. Gift puns. I wasn't sure how to word this, but however you word it, they're fun! Here are some examples of what I'm talking about: wrap up a highlighter with the phrase "You are a highlight in my life." A box of tea that says "You are tea-riffic." A measuring tape that says, "You are loved beyond measure." A pair of socks that says "No one can fill your shoes." Reese's pieces that say "I love you to pieces." An apple that says, "You are the apple of my eye." A notebook that encourages, "There isn't enough paper in the world to write all the things I love about you." Be creative and have fun with it! 10. Fill a journal. This is really special. Buy a pretty journal and begin writing in it for your friend. Tell them what they mean to you. Write a little bit each day, maybe sharing whatever you're doing that day. Write down Bible verses or your favorite song lyrics. Share memories, maybe even tape photos into the journal! Once it's full (or even just half-full, and let the rest be place for them to write), wrap it up and give it to your friend! Our friends are a great gift and it's fun to give back to them in a small way. <3 Share your thoughts in the comments! What are some DIY gift ideas that you have?
Thank you for all the wonderful ideas! I love DIY and other out-of-the-box gifts. I especially love the Open-When cards idea! My grandma and I turned around and used the idea for my great aunt... who promptly opened them all upon receiving the package. *face plam* Oh well. :P
Bella Morganthal
5/13/2018 10:11:11 pm
Ahaha!! I *cough cough* did that too when I received some XD 5/10/2018 03:56:04 pm
A adore this post, these ideas are SO awesome and now I have some great ideas for extra special gifts!!! :)
Bella Morganthal
5/13/2018 10:11:37 pm
Aww I'm so glad, Livy love! :D <3
Kenzie
5/10/2018 04:21:42 pm
This post was so fun! 😍 I love my text message convo album you made me. Perfect diy gift idea! 🤟
Bella Morganthal
5/13/2018 10:11:59 pm
I'm glad, baby girl <3
Bella Morganthal
5/13/2018 10:12:22 pm
Thanks for reading, Grace! :)
Savannah M
5/14/2018 09:08:59 am
Ohhh, these are so great!! I was just thinking I need a gift for a great friend that I will meet again this summer at camp, and these ideas just what I need to get me started. I'm not great at coming up with gift ideas on my own...
Anna P.
5/18/2018 05:09:03 pm
This was such a fun post! I actually just did the jar for my mom! It was so fun! :) I should try some "open when" letters!
Ashley Sulfridge
8/13/2018 06:29:57 pm
Oh My! This is such a sweet little post. I want to try all this for dear friends!💞 Comments are closed.
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