DIY Christmas Gifts with a Travel Theme

Well, the Black Friday ads are out and Costco has all their decorations out so we can officially talk about Christmas now, right?

If you’re anything like me, the festive season triggers equal amounts of cheer and fear. I love watching Christmas films, enjoying walks in the snow, drinking hot chocolate and eating stuffing with homemade gravy. Oh, and shopping. I love spending time choosing the perfect gifts for the people I love, wrapping them and adding them to the colorful pile under the Christmas tree.

It’s the cost I’m not so thrilled about.

This year especially – I can’t afford the usual $500.00 that I budget for "glad tidings." But rather than not buying presents at all (I’m not a grinch), or getting cheap gifts that look it, I'm going to try something new: I'm going to make them...DIY Christmas gifts. Don’t worry, these homemade treasures are all pretty amazing, all travel inspired, and all exactly the kind of gifts I’d like under my own tree this Christmas:

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Washcloth Travel Pouch....there are several websites that give step by step instructions but this is a good one with lots of pictures. Your tube of toothpaste and toothbrush can be tied up to dry off and then you can just throw the whole thing into the washing machine to clean it up.

Personalized Map Print...I LOVE THIS IDEA...Again, there are several websites that sell the maps and a couple that give a tutorial about how you can customize them. I love the idea of taking of map, cutting a specific picture to the shape of the state or country and posting it to your travel map (tutorial here). There is also a seller on Etsy that sells the mat board all ready to insert your own pictures.

DIY Sleep Mask...I've made these before that had lavender and other herbs to lull the recipients to sleep, but this year, I'm going to keep with travel theme and find "map" fabric. This website has patterns and a tutorial plus a bunch of other ideas.

Personalized photo book - I just made one using Shutterfly but there are all kinds of services (Artifact Uprising and Blurb, to name just a few...) that do the same work. Making it brought back memories from our Thanksgiving trip to France and Germany to visit the Christmas Markets like it was yesterday. It was super fun to pull it together and it has brought so much to joy to revisit our adventures. I also love the Instagram formats that some use to make small little memory books...so great!!!

Personalized map jewelry - I've seen these made as earrings and charms for bracelets and they are so cute. Here is a tutorial I found with instructions for making a necklace, but I'm sure the same methods would apply using

Keepsake Shadow Boxes - These are just about the best things to put together. I love doing these projects because I'm a huge one for grabbing all kinds of memorabilia on the trip; tickets, handouts, brochures, receipts, coins, etc. This way, I get to see it, it stays behind glass and it's not cluttering up shelves.

Lastly, I was reading through Oprah's favorite things issue this year and a Leather Cord Wallet caught my eye immediately - a. for the practicality and b. because I could make it...I found this tutorial on line...a bit simpler, but a great idea regardless.

This should give me a good start anyways....now to find my sewing machine and glue gun.