Gifts for MEN!
It is so hard to find just the right thing to make for the men in our lives, don't you think? My goal with this list is to lay out some ideas from the traditional to the unique to be able to choose from for the male-folk.
There are projects for all types of crafting from scrapbooking to sewing to knitting and crocheting and then some! They will be scattered throughout this list, and I will try to specify what type of craft they are in listing so that it will be easy to determine if it is something you are interested in.
Please, if you have ANY ideas to share, let me know in the comments, and I will gladly add them to the list, and give you credit for the idea here on the blog! Thank you!
MISC:
1. Salve (recipes here and here and here)
2. Camping Kit (cut a piece of 2-3" thick foam to the size of a bed, cover with a sewn fabric sleeve, and attach ties at one end so that when the bed is rolled up, it can be easily secured for carrying. include a travel sized pillow with a matching pillowcase, a blanket, socks, cap, scarf, mittens, and basics like matches, for example!)
3. Chess or Checkers from unique materials (nuts and bolts chess set, bottle cap checkers)
4. Bread of the Month Club (this can be done with anything - brownies, candies, etc! To do this, print up a "certificate" on your computer, or even make up 12 coupons redeemable once per month by the recipient. Include the first "installment" of the baked goodie with the coupons or certificate!)
5. Baked Goodies (even without a "__ of the month" club, you can shower your loved ones with yummy goodness, and lets face it - the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Try cookies, fudge, peppermint bark, peanut brittle, candies, etc!)
6. Walking Stick
7. Indoor Herb Garden (This is great for the man who likes to cook, or grill! Start the garden in the fall, or make it into a "kit" with seeds, soil and a pot to plant them in. Include with some recipes for using fersh herbs!)
8. Fire Starters / Kindling Bunches (simply gather sticks, pine needles or pine cones and gather them in an attractive basket or bunch, tied up with twine)
9. Family DVD's (burn your home movies on to DVD's to share with your loved ones)
10. Man Soap (You can make your own soap with manly scents like pine, or cedar, or you can melt down a good basic soap and add exfoliants like oatmeal, and then pour into a soap mold or yogurt container)
11. Handprint Craft Gifts (What dad doesn't love something made by his kids?)
13. Lip Balm (non-frou-frou in a basic tin or case)
14. Iron-On logos, phrases, or fun images to tee shirts or sweat shirts
15. Shrinky Dink Key Chains (trace over his favorite logo, band name, phrase, or just draw something fun and funky! Make sure to punch a hole in the shrinky dink before baking, and then bake away until you have a key chain customized for your recipient)
16. Make a Painting of an image, person, or character that means something special to you both.
17. Cocoa Basket (quite simply, a mug or two and cocoa packets in a basket. Dress it up with marshmallow snowmen, chocolate dipped spoons, etc)
18. Etched Glasses (high ball glasses are a great idea for this, as are beer mugs and wine glasses)
19. Mixed CD's
20. Plant Cuttings (Share some of your favorite house plants in the form of cuttings! You can do the same thing with garden plants, if prepared ahead of time in the fall)
21. Shadow Box (perfect for military medals, collectibles, awards, or any other memorabilia!)
22. Home-brewed beer (thanks to Diane for that tip!)
23. Flashlight organizer (thanks to Diane for suggesting this!)
24. Grilling Spices (try some here and here and here)
25. Linda suggested this awesome tip: "One thing I did for hubby was to make a "Daddy" box with a photo of dad and son on the front. Inside I add small strips of paper reminding him of special things we have done together. Or, before my son had speech, I would add things I noticed he loved about being with his dad. By far, it has been one of Daddy's favorite gifts. I try to update it yearly."
PAPER AND PHOTO CRAFTS:
1. IOU Coupon Book (write, print, or stamp IOU coupons. Some ideas: "Good for One Back Rub" or "Good for One Car Wash")
2. Journal Jar (Print or write out journalling prompts on sheets of paper, rolled up and placed into a jar. The recipient will take out one prompt each day and write about it in their journal)
3. Encourager Jar (Similar to the journal jar, but simply for the purpose of encouragement. Include favorite quotes or verses to take out each day.)
4. Framed Photos (You can go classic with this buying frames from the store, or you can make your own frames! Do a quick search on Picture Frame Crafts and you will have endless unique ideas for making your own photo frames.)
5. Photo Albums (You can go incredibly simple with 4x6 or 3x5 photos in slip-in photo albums, but these are much loved as gifts by family members and friends. You can go more in-depth and make a scrapbook too!)
6. For a book lover, try Book Labels. (make your own using stamps, hand writing them, designing your own on your computer, or print these free ones)
7. DVD photo slide shows (try this free software from Microsoft called Photo Story 3!)
8. Book of Love (kinda mushy but the guy's seem to like it! Write love letters to your sweet, and have his friends and family write a letter each, as well, discussing all the things that they love about him, and how he has impacted their lives. Put all this into a 3-ring binder)
9. Manly Magnetic Message Board (go to the local hardware store and pick up a piece of galvanized metal cut to the size you want. Pick up some nuts and bolts while you're there to use as magnets by supergluing or hot-gluing magnets to the back. Drill a hole in the top of the steel to use to hang it {you may want 2 holes - one on either side of the top edge - to balance the weight}. If you want to personalize it, spray glue on the back of several photographs and stick them onto the steel. You now have a very manly message board)
10. Make your own perfect edge journal.
11. Bookmarks
SEWING:
1. Cool Ties (sewing) (and yes, I know it will be winter for those of us in this hemisphere, but bear with me - its the gift that keeps on giving LOL)
2. Mosaics (this can be a fun craft, with almost any possibility. You can cover almost any surface in mosaic tiles, broken dishes, glass, beads, buttons, marbles, bottle caps... you get the picture)
3. Fishing Vest
4. Make a remote control caddy (sewing)
5. Make Record Bowl (a bowl, made from old vinyl records!)
6. Insulated Lunch Sack to take to work, hand sewn
7. Back-of-seat Car Organizer (sewn)
8. Christmas Stocking sewn from Jeans
9. Clutter Collector from old jeans (perfect for the office, workshop, bedroom, or garage!)
10. Sew a Garment Bag (with or without Monograms)
11. Tote Bags (very simple, or silk screened / ironed on with favorite band logos / team logos / name. Sewing pattern here.)
12. Homemade boxers are a classic. Check out this tutorial on how to sew them from pillowcases!
13. Toiletry Bag
15. Men's Travel Set
16. Quillow (combination quilt/pillow) for the traveling man
17. Sock Monkeys (because who doesn't need a sock monkey?)
18. Darn-It Doll (for those tense moments when you need something to throw at the ref on TV)
19. Make a fleece blanket (some of these ideas are no sew! TONS of ideas for finishing a fleece blanket)
20. CD Visor
21. Bathrobe (lots of great patterns that you can get inexpensively for this - try Easy Stitch and Save!)
22. PJ Bottoms (more awesome patterns with Easy Stitch and Save!)
23. Duffel Bag
24. BBQ Apron (you could even embroider "kiss the cook" on there, or some other cutesy saying.)
25. Bi-Fold Wallet
26. Gator Neck Warmer
27. Autograph Quilt (this takes some planning, but essentially you would send out requests for autographs with squares of quilt fabric to his favorite stars, be that sports fanatics, a favorite band, or even politicians, and then hopefully you will receive some back, autographed. Then, you simply work the squares into a quilt, for a keepsake!)
28. Drawstring Bag
29. Fleece Scarf
30. Hemp Bracelet or Necklace (patterns here and here and here)
31. Quilt
33. Rice Pocket Warmers (same thing as the heating pads, but smaller to carry in pockets to keep hands warm on cold winter days)
34. Camera Strap
35. Camera Bag
36. Quilt made from men's ties (thank you Robyn for the idea!)
FIBER CRAFTS:
3. Felted Bowl (knit, crochet)
4. Knitted Guitar Strap
5. Hackey Sack (knit, crochet)
9. Ponchos
10. Knit Ruana (its a unisex pattern, so don't be thrown off that the model is female) (Crochet Pattern here)
VARIOUS:
12. Neckties (Sewn, Knitted, Crocheted)
13. Eyeglass Case (Sewn, Knitted, Crocheted)
14. Ipod or Phone Cozy (Sewn, Knitted, Crocheted) (mini ipod sewn cozy here)
15. Team Colors (make anything in the colors of his favorite team! Socks, mittens, scarf, hat, afghan, blanket, fleece tie blanket, the options are endless!) - Thanks to Robyn for this idea!
16. Slippers (you can knit, crochet, felt, or sew slippers! Check out these fleece ones! Hint: to make slippers non-stick on slippery floors, use a little bit of puff paint on the sole of the foot!)
Hi there!!! What a awesome list Kristi. It's really generous of you to share so many great stuff. I will have to come back later to browse around the links. Thanks so much for your message, I just read it. Wonderful to know that we live in the same area. We could even get together one of these days!!!!!
I will be back later...gotta take first grader to school!
Xo Xo
Posted by: Zee | August 21, 2008 at 09:28 AM
Ohhh no, you are not around here at the moment. I just published your comment and read it again and oooppps, this is what I get when rushing in the mornings!!!! Sorry!!!
Posted by: Zee | August 21, 2008 at 10:53 AM
Hi Kristin!
One thing I did for hubby was to make a "Daddy" box with a photo of dad and son on the front. Inside I add small strips of paper reminding him of special things we have done together. Or, before my son had speech, I would add things I noticed he loved about being with his dad. By far, it has been one of Daddy's favorite gifts. I try to update it yearly.
Posted by: Linda | August 21, 2008 at 10:57 AM
Awesome ideas! Thanks so much, you've outdone yourself, I thought the last one was fantastic too.
Posted by: Stacy | August 21, 2008 at 12:01 PM
Planning on the Felted Soap.....love that one!
Posted by: Shannon O. | August 21, 2008 at 12:55 PM
Wow! You have some great ideas and some great links here! I might have to do some of those rice warmers!
Stop on over by my blog, I'm doing a giveaway!
Posted by: linda | August 21, 2008 at 07:40 PM
I love the autograph quilt idea! My husband would love that.
Posted by: sarah | August 22, 2008 at 10:51 AM
I love these lists you've been compiling! I am going to link your blog soon for gift inspiration. I finally got my binder, now on to the cards and gifts.
I really appreciate you taking the time to compile these lists, and may have to make Mr. Bunny the nuts and bolts chest pieces, his father was a glazer and made a chess board for him, those pieces would be so appropriate for him and a wonderful way to tie him and his father together. Thanks for posting that.
Posted by: Hunnybunny | August 22, 2008 at 12:58 PM
If only I could live in your crafty brain for one day! :)
Such fabulous ideas!
Posted by: Christina | August 24, 2008 at 11:22 PM
How about electronic items like cell phones, ipods, etc..
Posted by: Priyanka | August 28, 2008 at 03:07 AM
I'm not sure if this fits in with your general concept, but I thought I'd share two special gifts from last Christmas. My husband took my favorite picture of my beloved ferret Maxwell, who died suddenly and tragically earlier that year, and had it made into a gallery-wrap canvas print. It is stunning. (Website used: www.qoop.com)
One of the gifts he gave our son is a mousepad with a special image on it. Our son loves to make spaceships with Legos. One special ship he took digital pictures of. Then he worked with his dad to "photoshop" it into space, with planets and a sun and some "special effects" around it. My husband ordered a black mousepad, with their resulting image centered across it. Our son was thrilled to see his creation---and the reminder of the fun they had working up the finished photo. (Website used: www.zazzle.com)
My own "creation" last year is a wall-mountable form (a cactus), with hooks for small terra cotta pots to hang from, for an herb garden for my husband. I used a heavy gauge of wire from Home Depot which I stripped and separated out the individual strands of copper from. I made hoops to set the pots into, with loops at the top to set on the hooks. I never did blog this project....I wish I had. I was really tickled with how it came out.
Thanks for a great list of ideas. I love the nuts-and-bolts chess set---that's a must for my list!
Anne.
Posted by: Anne Kaelber | August 29, 2008 at 10:04 AM
I love the list. Thank you! I did have to chuckle though with the idea of the baked item of the month thing. I actually brought this idea up to my husband for all the men on my side of the family that we buy for, and he thought it sounded ridiculous. My sister thought it would be a great idea. You could also try one of those fancy caramel apples too.
Posted by: Ashley Clausing | August 29, 2008 at 02:08 PM
I made etched glass for people last year and it was sooo easy. I just drew a monogram of sorts on contact-paper, cut it out with a blade, then painted on the etching cream, peeled off the contact-paper, and rinsed off the cream. I used the same "stencil" on two wine glasses or a vase or two clear glass mugs or whatever. I really enjoyed it :)
Posted by: Caitlin | August 30, 2008 at 08:05 PM