{"id":43534,"date":"2021-01-12T07:44:53","date_gmt":"2021-01-12T12:44:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/?p=43534"},"modified":"2021-01-11T11:13:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T16:13:00","slug":"homemade-gift-ideas-to-send-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/2021\/01\/12\/homemade-gift-ideas-to-send-friends\/","title":{"rendered":"Homemade Gift Ideas to Send Friends"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year birthdays have been a little different--we can\u2019t really celebrate in person and gift giving is more complicated too, especially with some friends living overseas and the price of shipping! Recently I\u2019ve been sending letters with a few little \u201cgifts\u201d inside instead. Most of the letters I\u2019ve sent were for birthdays but there\u2019s no reason these ideas can\u2019t be used for just sending things in general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two key components to making homemade crafts\/letters: first, everything needs to be flat and fit into an envelope, and second, it needs to be made up of material that is already available to you. Here are things I\u2019ve been sending recently:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Newspaper and magazine cutouts.<\/strong> Any article or image that reminds me of a friend is worth sending. For birthdays the horoscope section of the paper is especially exciting!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"magazine<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scraps of paper.<\/strong> Okay, hear me out, not everyone wants this, but friends who are into art usually appreciate new materials to work with. It\u2019s also fun to cut the paper into a shape and stick it onto the letter itself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"gold<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pop-up card.<\/strong> Surprisingly easy to make! Here is a tutorial on how to make one<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"popup<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Chocolate or a stick of gum.<\/strong> Any wrapped food that is lightweight and flat can be sent in the post! I have been sending chocolate coins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"chocolate<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Stickers.<\/strong> Who doesn\u2019t love stickers? I either stick them directly onto the letter, or like the scrap paper, I send a loose one so it can still be used. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"cat<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Pressed leaves and flowers.<\/strong> Super aesthetic! Flowers aren\u2019t around this time of year in Toronto but the circular green leaves (in the pic below) can still be picked and pressed in the winter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"pressed<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Quotes.<\/strong> Sometimes I come across a quote that reminds me of a friend so I like to send it to them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"three<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Book pages.<\/strong> Similarly, if you are okay with ripping out book pages, they can be exciting gifts to send. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"ripped<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Postcards.<\/strong> Recently Vic had a sign-up for free postcards so I got some! Usually, I don't have any blank ones so I reuse old ones I\u2019ve been sent by cutting out parts or covering up the back. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"three<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Notebooks.<\/strong> I have never attempted this but my friend hand-makes little books that she sends in the mail. I cherish mine deeply! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"two<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It can be hard to come up with the contents of a letter but I don\u2019t think the writing (if any) needs to be super thought out, people will appreciate it either way. Sometimes I just write out a dream I had or share the beginning of a story idea. Other times, a simple message surrounded by a little drawing is enough. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think any personalised letter is something special to receive this year. (And don\u2019t forget that envelopes can be decorated too!) <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\n
\nThis year birthdays have been a little different--we can\u2019t really celebrate in person and gift giving is more complicated too, especially with some friends living overseas and the price of shipping! Recently I\u2019ve been sending letters with a few little…\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Homemade Gift Ideas to Send Friends”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>
Continue reading “Homemade Gift Ideas to Send Friends”<\/span>…<\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"author":376,"featured_media":43541,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,59,62,1,58,66,67],"tags":[13643,272,152,269,1708,15882,25506,15679],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43534"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/376"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43534"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43550,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43534\/revisions\/43550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/43541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.studentlife.utoronto.ca\/lifeatuoft\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}