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This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at UW Stout chapter.

The holidays are upon us which means holiday parties for the work space, White Elephants, and Secret Santa’s. You want to give that favorite coworker of yours a fun, unique gift but you don’t want to break the bank this year. Look no further! I have gathered easy, affordable do-it-yourself gifts that will impress your coworkers and will actually be used at the desk. And When I mean “easy”, I mean anyone can do them!

P.S… If you click on the pictures for each DIY gift, you can get great step-by-step instructions to create your one-of-a-kind gift for this holiday season!

1. Emergency Chocolate

What you’ll need:

  • Hershey Bar
  • Cardstock
  • Picture Frame (preferable with turn-able hooks on the back)

2. Rice Bag Warmer: You can make hand warmers, feet warmers, back and stomach warmers for those achy, cold days!

What you’ll need:

  • Fabric
  • Sewing Machine/good ol’ needle and thread
  • Scissors
  • Rice
  • Optional: Essential oil to put on rice (and let dry) before putting in bag for a scent.

3. Dry Erase Board/Desktop Tray

What you’ll need:

  • Desired Picture Frame
  • Scrapbook Page or Colored Paper

4. Page Corner Book Mark

What you’ll need:

  • Fabric
  • Needle and Thread

5. Emergency Stress Relief

What you’ll need:

  • Bubble Wrap
  • Stapler
  • Paper/Cardstock

6. Quick Cookie Basket

What you’ll need:

  • Paper Plate (easily durable)
  • Scissors
  • Tape (can even use wasabi tape to decorate plate if you’d like)
  • Cookies!

7. Hot Cocoa Mix Ornaments

What you’ll need:

  • Single serving package of Hot Cocoa
  • Clear, plastic fillable ornament (assortment at Walmart for cheap!)
  • Sprinkles
  • Chocolate chips
  • Mini marshmallows
  • Optional: Candy cane, crushed candy cane.

8. The Classic Marker Mug

What you’ll need:

  • Mug (cheap at Dollar Tree and Walmart)
  • Sharpie (any desired color)
  • Pencil
  • Oven

9. “Chill Pills”

What you’ll need:

  • Jar with Lid
  • Mike and Ike’s/Jelly Beans/Tick Tacs/Any other preferred candy
  • Cardstock
  • Double-sided tape (to tape printed/hand written message onto jar)

10. Goodie Gift Bags

What you’ll need:

  • Cello Bags
  • Ribbon or a Stapler (whatever you want to use to close the bags)
  • Chocolate bars or packaged candies
  • Chapstick
  • Gum (you can also buy the small packages of gum or tins of mints)
  • Antibacterial gel

Her Campus at UW-Stout