I love crafts. The way I show I care about someone is by making them things, and handmade gifts are so personal. I have a really hard time coming up with gifts for my boyfriend, and I know other people do too for anniversaries, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and birthdays, so I thought I’d share some present ideas to make or buy for your significant other.
Make
Art museum
My favorite gift I’ve made was probably the art museum of us. Even if you aren’t the craftiest person, this gift is easy to make with just a wooden box painted white and red, a hot-glued popsicle-stick bench, and tiny picture frames (from Amazon). You could leave the floor alone, but to make it look more like a museum, I used floor stain on the popsicle sticks and cut and glued them down. You could also paint them. This gift is inexpensive and creates a really cute little memory museum of you and your boyfriend/girlfriend.
Journal
This was definitely the most work I’ve put into a present, so if you aren’t determined and cannot keep up daily on things, I would skip this one. Every time my boyfriend and I hung out over the course of our entire first year together, I would journal about the day and add pictures. This was really hard to keep a secret, keep up with, and print all the pictures out and glue in, but I love how it came out. It was such a good surprise for Valentine’s Day. I don’t have the best memory, so I love that I can look back on any day from our first year together and relive the memories.
“Our Songs” book and CD
My boyfriend and I originally bonded a lot over music, so one of the first things I got for him was a scrapbook with pictures of us and lyrics from songs we bonded over or both liked on every page. I also made a CD with all the songs in the book that he could play on his CD player. He really likes music, so this was a really good gift to get. I made the scrapbook digitally and ordered it, but it would also be cute to make it physically. I also used a picture of his guitar as the cover to make it more personal to us. Adding more details that relate to both of you really helps any gift mean so much more.
Pipe Cleaner Flowers
I love how my pipe cleaner flowers turned out, even though these definitely did take some time. This one is a little harder and a little frustrating, but the outcome is worth it. My boyfriend always gets me flowers, so I figured I would make him some that would live forever. He’s had them in a little vase in his room for two years, so learning to make them was definitely worth it. I used different color pipe cleaners and looked up simple tutorials on TikTok, and it’s way easier than you think when going through it step by step.
Date idea jar
We love to go on adventures but sometimes can’t come up with ideas on what to do or where to go, so I made a whole jar of ideas to help.
Here are some ideas I used to fill your jar with!
Bigger dates:
- Lantern festival
- Aquarium zip lining
- How well do we know each other: go to a store and pick out each other’s favorite things
- Plan a New York day
- Skiing/snowboarding
- Build-A-Bear
- Axe throwing
- Rock climbing
- Roller skating
- Small road trip
Medium dates:
- Go to a fancy restaurant
- Ice skating
- Go to Target and buy each other something for $15
- Clay date
- Beach day
- Bowling
- Fruit picking
- Museum
- Cafe lunch
- Longboarding
- Spa night
- Pumpkin carving/gingerbread house decorating (depending on seasons)
- Lego date
- Make your own pizzas
- Thrifting
- Live music
- Fast food date: play rock paper scissors and the winner picks a place to go for appetizers, the meal, a side, and dessert
Smaller dates:
- Picnic
- Fast food date
- Show date
- Nap date
- Baking
- Mario Kart
- Board games
- Themed movie night (matching pjs, food from the movie)
- Hike
- Ice cream
Facetime:
- Watch a TV show together
- iMessage games
- Movie night
- Coloring competition: drawing the same thing and see whose is better or use a coloring app and see how different they turn out
“When you feel ___” Letters
My boyfriend and I go to two different colleges and long distance has definitely been hard. During our first year of long distance, last year, I made letters for every mood he would be in. Each letter said, “When you feel ___.” and I made letters for happy, sad, mad, miss me, need a laugh, and stress. Each had a letter in it to hopefully help him feel better and make it feel like I’m there when I can’t be or can’t talk. This is a really good gift for long-distance couples and is definitely really personal. You could also do some funny ones, for example, I put a “When you sh*t your pants.” with a wipe in the envelope just because I think I’m funny, but base that off your relationship and how you guys joke.
Clothes
I am just learning to sew, but I like to make patchwork shirts for my friends and boyfriend. I’ve made him an 8-ball patchwork tee, which has our anniversary subtly on it (10/7) and a shirt with his college name. These are super easy to sew for beginners by just cutting out letters and numbers from fabric and either hand sewing or using a sewing machine. A little tip: I go to the bins and just look for fabrics that would work instead of worrying about the clothes because I know I’m going to cut them up and sew them anyway.
I also made my boyfriend the kiss hoodie, which is super inexpensive and cute, although I know some people don’t love it. I also added an N (my initial) and a heart sewn on the sleeve.
Mini record player
I made my boyfriend a little cardboard record player with “You’re my favorite song” in it (a little cringe, but it’s a cute present to give) to show our interest in music. This one was super easy to make. I cut up cardboard, painted it black, cut out and colored a heart for the record, added little red paper buttons, added some hot glue, and that’s it! This is a super cute gift to give and doesn’t cost anything.
Paper Polaroid camera
I made him a paper polaroid camera that has a picture inside when you twist the lens and other pictures that come from the top. I really liked how this gift turned out because I love gifts that can use pictures of us. I also love when paper crafts function, like cameras. I don’t have a picture of the one I made, but here is an example of what it was based on.
Mini Mail Box
This was just a cute, small gift I made from a toilet paper tube, paper, and paint. I wrote a bunch of little notes with things I love about him and folded them into little envelopes. This sounds like way more work than it is because I promise it was quick and easy.
Homemade cards
For every anniversary, birthday or holiday, I write a letter or make a card to make the gift more personal than buying something. I love making things and always have so much to say, so it’s pretty easy for me, but even if you aren’t the craftiest person, drawing a little card will be more touching to your partner than buying one. It’s the effort that counts, not the result.
Buy
Hobby
It always makes a gift more personal if it shows something the other person is interested in. Buying something for one of their hobbies is always a good gift. For example, my boyfriend loves skateboarding, and I know nothing about good skateboarding brands, but I saw him look at a Powell Peralta skateboard and like it, so I wrote it down and got it for him the next Christmas. You can do the same thing if your partner is into a certain sport and get them new equipment, clothes, or tools for it.
Experiences
Buying tickets for an experience is a really good gift because it provides lasting memories instead of something that will be used. If your partner likes a certain sport or musician, getting them tickets to an event and going with them is such a fun date and a great present. For example, my boyfriend loves lacrosse, and I knew he hadn’t watched it in a while, so I got us tickets to a Yale lacrosse game. A lot of the time, college sports game tickets aren’t as much as you think, and it’s a really fun date. It also shows you know their interests and want to enjoy the same interests. My boyfriend got me tickets to a cat cafe, which was a really fun date early on in our relationship. Other good experiences are lantern festivals, music festivals, and aquarium tickets.
Shoes
Shoes are always a good present. Spending a little more sometimes for the better quality is good because they’ll last longer. I got my boyfriend Adidas Sambas, and he wore them all the time right up until they broke. I also thrifted him Adidas Campus shoes, which he wears all the time at college. Anything trendy that will help achieve the style they’re going for is a super good gift. If your partner likes the gym or running, shoes for that would also work. If you’re buying shoes for your girlfriend, some good options are UGGs, Adidas Sambas or Campus shoes, or boots.
Sweatshirt
A nice plain sweatshirt is such a good gift. People always wear sweatshirts with designs on them but sometimes an outfit needs a plain hoodie, and it can usually be worn way more often. The Abercrombie unisex essential pullover hoodie has such a good fit. It’s a little more expensive, but I wear mine weekly and so does my boyfriend. The Trendy Queen hoodie on Amazon is also a really good dupe for the Abercrombie one with a similar fit and look.
Jeans
A lot of people are lacking in jeans that fit well, so if your partner is looking for some, that could be a great present. This one is a little harder because it’s hard to find jeans that fit well, so you could also get a gift card to a place where they can get good jeans. My boyfriend doesn’t mind when his jeans are a little looser and he can wear a belt, so I’ve thrifted him a lot of jeans. A nice daily pair is good, but some with cool designs, stitching, or different washes could also be really cool if your partner has enough plain jeans.
I love crafting and seeing people’s reactions to what I make, so each and every one of these gifts was fun to make and worth the effort. Making gifts for your partner is such a good way to connect and show you care. I hope you’ve gotten at least some gift ideas for your significant other and will try to make them. A lot of these don’t require you to be super artsy, so just follow the steps and try your best! Making gifts can make you feel closer to your partner as well, so I hope you enjoy the process as much as the result (even though it can be a little frustrating sometimes)!