While it's fun to hit the stores the day after Thanksgiving, you may want to sleep in and go the DIY route for gifts this year. By doing so, you'll avoid the grumpy holiday crowds, save a little money, and create some unique gifts for your family and friends.

 Holidays for the Home

 You'll be a hit when you give your friends homemade candles scented with their favorite aromas. To make the candles, find some old jars, small vases, or even teacups in storage, and fill them with scented wax and a wick. Then personalize them with ribbons, hand-painted messages, or monograms for a special touch. Coasters are also easy-to-make gifts when you cover old ceramic tiles with pretty wallpaper scraps, photographs, or painted messages. Seal them with decoupage medium and acrylic polyurethane, and your friends will think about you every time they put down a drink.

 Tastes of Home

 Your friends have spent hours this holiday season baking for other people. Give them a little baking relief by making them baking kits. Whether your specialty is gourmet hot cocoa or muffins, combine all the dry ingredients in your recipe and package them in cute jars, tins, or pouches. You can also gift your friends with new flavorful ingredients, like homemade garlic-and-rosemary infused oil, or vanilla sugar.

 Home-spun Beauty

 Pamper your friends and family with luxurious homemade beauty treatments. Whip up batches of cinnamon vanilla body scrub or scented bath salts. Put your homemade indulgences in porcelain or glass containers, tie festive ribbons around them, and you have terrific gifts just in time for the holidays. Or, stitch up aroma-filled sachets using fabric remnants. Use calming scents like lavender, or take a more seasonal approach by adding cinnamon sticks and cloves. These luscious aromas will infuse their closets and drawers, leaving your friends with lasting impressions of you.

 Whether you're whipping up edible goodies or pampering treatments, the holidays are all about enjoying each other. Capture the spirit of the holiday season this year by putting a personal touch to your gifts, your friends won’t forget it!