Last Minute Gift Idea: Turn Your Favorite Book into a Kit!

I tend to be a last-minute holiday gift shopper. When my last-minute panic starts to set in and I’m blanking on clever gift ideas, I just need to remember my best trick for coming up with a personal, not right-off-the-shelf gift idea. I start with a book, usually a craft/cookbook/some kind of activity/DIY book, and I assemble a kit, wrapping it up with some tools, materials, or ingredients. So, after a trip to the bookstore, I can often find what I need at the supermarket or stationery store! These kits feel custom and personal but are so easy to put together! This year, I thought I’d round up all the posts (below) and share a couple of new gift entries! Le Big Manual is a GORGEOUS kid’s craft/activity book by my friend, Sophie Glasser. Since there are 182 projects in there, you can give almost any simple art or craft supplies with it, like a nice pair of scissors, and you’ve got a “kit”! (Full disclosure, this particular book is not the best example of a last-minute gift as you have to order it from France, but it’s so great that I had to share!)

Here is a list of my past gift kit posts:
- My first How to Turn a Book into a Gift Kit post, with a mix of craft, cook, and a beautiful book about living with animals and creative packaging ideas!
- And my second post, Last Minute Holiday Gift Ideas: Turn Your Favorite Book Into a Kit Gift!
- This post is a mix of book gifts and putting together craft supplies to create a custom “kit” 10 Holiday Gift Combo Ideas for Your Creative and Crafty Kid!
- One more! Quick Gift Idea: Turn Your Favorite Book Into a Holiday Gift Kit!
- Another for the kids: Four Easy Holiday Gift Combo Ideas for Creative and Crafty Kids

This is a Book to Read with a Worm by Jodi Wheeler-Toppen and illustrated by my friend, Margaret McCartney, is not only a super cute but a great hands-on science book for at home or in-the-garden lessons and great for homeschooling once warmer weather returns. I’d wrap this up with a small flashlight to help with the worm-observing lessons!

Have you seen my friend Rachel Faucett's book, The Handmade Charlotte Playbook? Cute, fun, so original, doable...just like her blog, Handmade Charlotte (I’m a longtime super fan!) and would make a PERFECT gift! Rachel is a creative magician who can conjure rainbows and happiness from pasta and pipe cleaners! It is just what we need right now to entertain and enrich our kids. I will tuck this book into a tote bag with some craft paint, pipe cleaners, and toilet tubes (a star in several of the projects)!

In my first book gift kit post, I shared some fun container ideas for “wrapping” your kits up, like this glass jar (holding my craft book, Paper Goods Projects, along with some craft supplies)!

In my second gift kit post, I wrote about Craft the Rainbow: 40 Colorful Paper Projects by Brittany Watson Jepsen, creator of the GORGEOUS blog The House That Lars Built. This book is total eye candy, beautifully styled, shot, and designed, but also full of doable pretty projects that you’ll want to try. I wrapped this one up with gorgeous colored cardstock, scissors, paint, and some other craft basics!

Project Kid: Crafts That Go! is one of those books so packed with ideas that you find something new to love every time you pick it up! (I’m looking at you, paper towel tube airplane control tower!) My friend, Amanda Kingloff, former lifestyle director of Parents Magazine, also wrote the super fun/cute/must-have book Project Kid: : 100 Ingenious Crafts for Family Fun ! Not only will the train/plane/car-obsessed kids love this book but any kid into crafting or imaginative play …and wrapping it up with some of the essential supplies and tools would make a dreamy gift! Click here for my crafty kids' gift guide to see some gift add-on ideas!

I’m a huge fan of Jenny Rosenstrach’s, How to Celebrate Everything. Her her funny and touching anecdotes will inspire you to try the recipes and customs and weave them into your own (existing or newly invented) holidays, special occasions, and any day to help....you know, CELEBRATE EVERYTHING! Click here to for my gift post to see what I wrapped it up with (scroll to the bottom)!

Darcy’s book, Celebrate Everything (above), is a MUST HAVE if you like throwing creative parties for any occasion. It is not only gorgeous but packed with ideas and inspiration. Every time I pick it up I find little tips and ideas that I missed. Click here to see some pretty party items that I wrapped the book up with!
Do you put together themed gifts? Please let us know what you’ve done!
Happy shopping/wrapping/gift-ing!! xo