Hello, guys! How are your New Year plans going? I hope you're having an exemplary time with mama-papa and all your friends, siblings, cousins and everyone around. It's certain that you will have a ball with loads of gifts and feasts coming your way.

It's always a good idea to begin the New Year on a positive note. That's given! Therefore, why not express your love and gratitude to your loved ones in a very beautiful way? We think that it's great to present gifts for their endeavor! Isn't it? after all, gifts symbolize your love and care for people. So, let's get down to some serious work; nah, it's not serious at all. In fact, you'll have a whole lot of fun while making these simple pieces of joy.

Here's how we get started in making some classic memoirs on our own, AKA, Do-It-Yourself gifts. Now, let us give you a breather: You don't need to work tirelessly on a day before the New Year celebrations, neither do you need to shell out much of your hard-earned pocket-money. Now that is a win-win situation, right? True!

Well, as you would have known us well by now, you'd realize that we don't really post some information without giving you reasons for its viability. So keeping up with that tradition, we'd now briefly discuss why Do-It-Yourself gifts add that unique touch and pack a delightful punch (wow! That rhymes, too!) all the time. Here are the key parameters that make them a great gifting option:
•    They require little or no money
•    They add a special touch to each gift
•    They are unique and personalized to individual tastes and interests
•    They are super easy to make 
•    They can be passed on as priceless memoirs

So, what are we waiting for, let's get started: 

Citrus based Sugar-Salt Scrub

Things you'd need:
1/2 cup sugar (white or brown sugar - preferably organic produce)
1/2 cup oil (use olive oil or coconut oil - both of them infuse great amount of moisture into the skin and replenish some skin nutrients too)
2 tsp of salt (rock salt would be great, otherwise, you may use table salt as well)
zest of lemon (cut a lemon into two halves and use its zest - you may also try its juice)
aromatic oils (use almond oil, argon oil, sunflower oil, hibiscus oil - practically, any aromatic oil that you find at home!)

Method: 
Step:1 Take a bowl and add all the ingredients together one by one.  
Step:2 Mix them all thoroughly. 
Voila! Your delectable Citrus Sugar Salt scrub is ready. Remember: do not eat it! :D 

Recycled Water Bottle Lanterns

Now, gifts symbolize emotions and nature, don't they? For example, roses epitomize love and beauty,  lanterns objectify light and the eradication of darkness. So, how about gifting a lantern? We think it's a great idea!

Well, recycled water bottle lantern will put to test your art & craft talents. So, brace yourself. Also, we'd advise you to take the help of elders while making these lanterns, especially in cases of handling scissors/knives. Alright, now that you're ready, let's get started!

 Things you'd need:
* Plastic clear bottles
* White Paper: You'd try Neenah Exact Index Cardstock
* LED Light candles: Use LED tea light candles or LED Warm White Fairy Lights for better lighting
* Scissors/knives
* Glue

Method:
 Step:1 Cut out beautiful designs into the cardstock using a knife or scissors. Please ask some adult to do that for you. 
Step:2 Cut the top nozzle portion of the water bottle and insert the LED candle into it.
Step:3 Now, using a glue, paste the cardstock around the plastic bottle.
That's it - your recycled water bottle lantern is now ready to be gifted!
What's more: Since it is made using waste plastic water bottles, you may as well present it as a environment-friendly project too. Amazing idea, isn't it! We know!

7 Days of Love and Sweetness

Guys hurry up, find your grandparents' pill boxes, quick. Find harder. Found it? Great! If not, you may make use of your old paint palette or egg case. Hmm.. So now put them to some good use by making a creative sweet box. 

Things you'd need:
*candies, sweet meats; in short, everything sweet and compact
*Pill box/paint palette
*Colored Paper
*Marker/Sketch Pen
*Paints

Method:
Step:1 Paint the pill box with rich hues.
Step:2 Gather candies, toffees, chocolates, biscuits crumble etc and fill each case of the pill box/paint pallet with them.
Step: 3 Write a small message of a piece of paper and place it delicately in each storage space of the box. 
Step: 4 Mark each day with a different day of the week.
You're done!

Scrabble Art Wall

We're sure you enjoy Scrabbles, okay maybe you just don't! That's okay! Not everyone loves framing words. But you must be having several letter tiles of scrabble all around the house. So go and hunt them. When you've sufficient enough, you're going to impress everyone - We promise.

Things you'd need:
*Scrabble Tiles
*Cardstock for frame, else you even use an old wall frame 
*Optional: colorful ribbons, or antique pieces of jewelry
 *Most important: Good Vocabulary - we hope you're taking your English lessons well at Best Brains. Because it really helps you to bolster your English vocabulary.

Method: 
Step:1 Take the cardstock and cut it into a frame of desirable length. 
Step:2  Stick the ostentatious decorations like old and broken jewelry pieces, ribbons, buttons, stones etc.
Step:3 Now, put your scrabble playing skills to test and create some heart-felt and meaningful words out of the letter tiles. 
 You're now a Creative Scrabble Master. Kudos on the new title!

Gardens in Glass

Won't you like a piece of greenery as a gift this New Year? Well, we think that unless you hate or fear plants (by the way,  fear of nature in general is referred to as Biophobia!), anyone would love a lovely, fresh garden at their home or work place. These days, Terrarium is a great commodity, also known as Garden in glass. 
This can be a little hectic, but we promise that you'll be more than happy with your result. Moreover, if you love gardening then you're going to simply love this! 

Things you'd need:
*Glass Globe or Fish aquarium
*Garden soil
*Twigs, weeds, tiny plants, leaves - basically, anything that you can find in the garden. But we suggest you use plants that don't grow rapidly and remain small all their lives: succulents, fern, ivy or moss
*Activated charcoal ( to filter water and keep your adorable plants happy and smiling. You may find activated charcoal even online at Amazon or at a buy 1, get 2 free offer at doctorvitaminstore.com)

Method:
Step 1: Spread a layer of rocks on the bottom of your container. Make it about 3cm thick.
Step 2: Add a layer of charcoal.
Step 3: This optional, but you can add a layer of colored sands. This will make your mini terrarium more pleasing to the eye.
Step 4: It’s time to spread the soil. Use enough of it so that you can make a “hole” where you will place your plants’ root ball.
Step 5: Plant your greens. Carefully tease the roots as you remove your plants from their little pots. Remove some of the soil — this will allow them to fit comfortably in their new home. If they need some pruning do it before you put them in the terrarium. Now you can arrange you landscape. Place the largest plants first and then add the smaller ones around them. You can add small rocks or miniature animal figures for more fun.

So here we go guys with some really cool and impressive DIY gifts for your favorite people. We're sure that you'll have a whole lot of fun while making them and we assure you that your loved ones will be even happier to receive them from you!

Here's wishing an Exemplary New Year 2016! Best Brains wishes to see you at the pinnacle of Success, Health, and Happiness!