Whether you like it or not, finals are once again rearing their ugly heads. For most of you, this means casually slipping off the face of the earth, trading your glorious social life for hours basking in the blue light of a computer screen. Normally a time set aside to take part in the magic of giving, for a college student, December is laden with stress, schoolwork and studying.
For me, however, finals week and the weeks leading up to it are a magical time to creatively procrastinate in as many justifiable ways as possible. With the holiday season concluding the Fall Semester, it’s easy to get lost in the spirit of the season as a means of escape from the suffocating, soulless grip of final exams.
This semester marks my fourth (and final!) finals week of my college career, so by now I’m an expert at the productive procrastination necessary to get through the semester intact and only minimally wounded. Of all of the creative ways to alleviate stress, I’ve found DIY holiday gifts to be the cheapest, most rewarding and, more importantly, time-consuming.
Here is a list of some of the most genius DIY gift ideas for this holiday/finals season:
Crocheted goods
Hand-crocheted goods are a warm, thoughtful gift for just about anyone on your list. Knitting’s slightly stupider cousin, crocheting is surprisingly simple, and the knowledge of just a few techniques can have you making a plethora of gifts, including iPad cases, weird satchel/bag things, and miniature afghan blankets.
Bleached/dyed thrift store attire
Nothing says “Happy Holidays” like a secondhand denim jacket ravaged by laundry bleach and Rit dye. It is an outstanding, cheap alternative gift for the fashion-obsessed, whose holiday wishlist is overflowing with overpriced name-brand clothes. The noxious mixture of smells on the clothes may take a few months to fade, but that is a small price to pay for such a thoughtful homemade gift.
Randomly assembled and glued wooden blocks
If, through the DIY gifting process, you find that arts and crafts aren’t really your thing, have no fear! All you need is some wood glue and that box of old blocks you had when you were a kid to assemble the perfect Christmas/Hannukah/Festivus gift. With enough haphazard energy, these block creations can easily be disguised as artistically overpriced, store-bought decor. If not, at least they’ll appreciate the sentiment.
Painted rocks
If even wooden block decor is proving to be to difficult, try taking it back to pre-school by just flat-out painting a rock. The gift is so bad that the receiver has no other option than to cherish it, if only out of pure pity.
Just a bunch of rocks
Setting out in the crisp December air to mindlessly collect rocks is a wonderful way to slowly burn away any valuable study time in favor of something a little less depressing.
Yeah, on second thought you should probably just do your homework … Good luck with finals!
@AdditakOfficial