Many occasions arise where you need that special gift--a blender or a gift certificate just won't do anymore. Or, you're low on cash and need something cute you can put together yourself (my usual situation). I've compiled this lens of all different kinds of gift ideas that I've used in the past or seen use that are personal and/or easy to make. A lot of these gifts can't be bought, so you'll be sure that the recipient doesn't already own one, and you'll be sure to remember the smile it puts on their face! Many are appropriate for a variety of ages and hopefully you can use these ideas in the future!

http://www.designamosaic.com/

On this website, you can create your own photo mosaic. You choose a background photo, and can then upload between 20 and several hundred photos. They then create the photo mosaic for you, send you a digital image to make sure you're satisfied, and ship in less than two weeks! Prices start as low as $19.99 for an 8x10" and go up to $49.99 for a 20x30" photo.
A friend of mine made one for her boyfriend for their one year anniversary and loved it so much that she got one for herself. I just made one for my mother of her parents, and it included almost 300 small pictures of her family spanning from her grandparents as children to my generation. It was so easy to use, and she was brought to tears when I gave it to her at our family reunion. It's a great keepsake gift for any occasion.

In high school, I could barely afford to put gas in my car let alone birthday/holiday/graduation gifts for my friends' parties that were constantly occurring. I came up with a fun, personalized gift to give to my friends that never got old.
I would make a picture frame out of cardboard or poster board, and print out a favorite picture of my friend and I to put in the frame. I'd decorate the frame with glitter, pipe cleaners, stickers, our names, a friend quote, or anything else crafty I could find in my house.
Yes, it was clear that I was giving a homemade gift because I was saving for college and had no money to buy them a present. But every person I gave one of these to LOVED it and thought it was very thoughtful and creative.

My mother received this as a gift more than 20 years ago at her wedding shower, and my family recently put one together for a cousin's wedding shower. This also works great for anyone moving out on thier own, especially for the first time. It can involve just you, or a large group of people.
Collect your favorite recipes, or have everyone give you a recipe of their favorite dish. You can either hand out recipe cards (can be purchased at several locations) or type them up yourself.
Compile the recipes into a personalized cookbook which you can separate into different categories of food (appetizers, main dishes, breads, desserts, etc.). You can use a picture album or even a binder to connect all of the recipes. Some stores even make blank cookbooks just for this occasion.
My mom still uses all of the recipes she was given. It especially came in handy when she tried to learn to cook for my dad "just" like his mother cooked his food. This is a great personalized gift that can maintain sentimental value as well, has minimal costs, and can be very fun to put together

I decided to make scrapbooks for three of my close friends one year for Christmas/Hanukkah, as a simple, personalized, low cost gift. Well, I was right on the personalized part, and boy, did they love their scrapbooks... but that's where my streak of being right stopped.
Scrapbooking is a really fun activity that is great for any age, and people LOVE to receive them as gifts. But just beware... they can be very time consuming and pricey, depending on how into it you get. It can be done on a budget, using craft supplies you already own, though. Just don't get in over your head--unless that's what you want, of course.
This is what I did on my small budget for my scrapbooks:
I bought pretty binders at Walmart, and printed out copies of the pictures I wanted to use on photo-paper. I just used regular computer paper, and, on one side of the page, glued a few pictures from one event and wrote captions in bright colored gel pens and markers. On the page to the left of the pictures, I wrote lots of memories I had with my friend from that event. I started the scrapbook with a poem about friendship I found online, and closed it with some Friend-related lyrics I found, along with a letter I wrote telling her how much our friendship meant to me.
It took way more time than I ever expected, but the end result was great. My friends absolutley loved their scrapbooks, and I'm really glad I took the time to make these personalized gifts for them.
Below I have a couple Scrapbooking guides that have ideas, helpful hints, and even some background pages you can use.

You can even make a multimedia scrapbook for a friend, if you have these skills in powerpoint or another type of slideshow program. I made one for a friend for Christmas one year of pictures of us and our friends, with memories, and songs in the background. It was easy to make, and fun to watch over and over again!

This is a very simple gift I made for a friend once to go along with their homemade picture frame that I found in a homemade-facemask-making book once.
All you need is Epsom Salts, a cute container or jar, some food coloring, and scented oils (which are optional).
Mix the food coloring in with some Epsom Salts until the salts are all dyed. Squeeze in a few drops of some essential body oils (Lavender is my favorite for a night time bath; Citrus can be nice to wake you up in the morning). Put the salts into a jar and decorate it however you like.
They will love these homemade treats, and the nice, relaxing bath they get to enjoy later, too!

Depending on the magazine, this can be a little pricier than a homemade gift, but remember it can last for a whole year or longer!
Buying a person a magazine subscription leaves endless possibilities. My mom receives Smithsonian magazine from an old mentor friend of hers in college, many years later. She always thinks of him whenever she gets it in the mail!
Getting kids a fun magazine like Highlights! can be educational as well as fun for them. Subscribing a new graduate to a type of professional magazine, such as Teacher magazine for a new teacher, can be a great way to help them as well, and it's not the same old "#1 Teacher" coffee mug.
There's a link below with some of my picks!

With our close friends or family members, we usually have a handful of songs that have a lot of significance between each other. Whether it's the song you shared your first slow dance to, the one you sing at the top of your lungs with the windows rolled down, or the one sung by the guy you swoon over, these songs have special meaning between you and this person.
An easy gift is to burn all of these songs onto a CD for the person, and then you have all these memories just a playlist away. The trick is, you need to have the songs on your computer, have a CD burner, and a blank CD. If you have all of those components though, this can be a really fun way to have no excuse to get up and dance with your best friend any time you want!