Will Richards, 6, and his sister Catharine, 9, show off their hand-decorated picture frames they made for their grandparents.

Jennifer Richards enjoys creating handmade holiday gifts for a personalized touch. Many of her ideas have come from seasonal magazines. Richards is co-owner of Made, 737 Mass.

Chocolate Truffle Almonds, recipe by chef Nancy Stark.

Caryl Hale’s favorite gift from last Christmas? Something special from her husband, Aaron, of course.

If visions of diamonds or iPads or high-end cars adorned with bows are dancing in your sweet little head, you’re wrong. Though the Lawrence mom did gasp with surprise and delight when she laid eyes on her gift: A homemade necklace holder.

“It was very simple, but for me, receiving it from him, it had such a huge meaning for me. I could hear him out there working in the garage. He would say, ‘You can’t come out!’ Or he would cover it up. So there was this anticipation of ‘What is he making? What is it this year?'” Hale says. “It’s the same as when kids make you gifts — when they make you a little paper ornament, there’s a meaning as a mom and you want to hold onto it. I think that’s the same way for me — whomever makes me a gift, I feel that. … It has a deep, sentimental meaning to me.”

This year, the Hales are trying make all their gifts by hand. Family, friends, even the couple’s three children — everyone gets something made with a bit of elbow grease. It’s an idea the couple had been playing with for a few years, but they’d never done things strictly handmade before this year.

If you’re thinking of making this year a handmade Christmas (partly or whole), know you’ve got plenty of options for gifts. Whether you’re looking for edible, crafty or practical gifts, there’s a little something for everyone. And every one is customizable to anyone on your holiday list.

Food gifts

Nancy Stark would rather no one ever “have” to run to the store to buy her a present. Thus, she practices what she preaches by hand-making all of the gifts she gives friends and family. And when she thinks of “homemade,” the Kansas City chef naturally thinks of edible gifts.

“I’ve been making my own gifts forever. I’m very challenged by shopping. I don’t like buying things for people just because I’m supposed to,” she says with a laugh. “So I have always made my own gifts. It’s sort of evolved over the years. I’m happy to spend hours in the kitchen making stuff for people. I mean, I think that’s a reasonable trade for spending hours out at the mall.”

Among her own personal favorites and suggestions she gave her students in her “Make-Your-Own Gifts from the Kitchen” class earlier this month at The Merc, 901 Iowa? Gifts both pre-made and kits with recipes:

• A plate of prepared tamales (a traditional Christmas dish in Mexico)
• Tamales recipe and select ingredients plus a nice pot
• Chocolate Truffle Almonds or other homemade nuts
• A breakfast gift, complete with German stollen or Irish soda bread
• The Christmas gift staple: cookies
• Candied citrus peel
• Jams and jellies
• Sauces and stews
• Dry ingredients and a recipe

Stark adds that any food gift is customizable, and you don’t need to crank out thousands of the same thing.

“You can just whip together something for those people who you forgot about,” she says, adding she makes uniform label tags to use for each gift, big or small. “But then if you have people who are more special to you, you can just keep piling on the accessories and make the gift totally over the top if you want to but using the same pieces and parts.”

Crafty gifts

Jennifer Richards, co-owner and buyer at Made, 737 Mass., says making a project out of your presents list is one of the best ways to really personalize the holidays. She says she’s always browsing craft magazines and websites like Etsy.com for ideas on what to do or how to tweak craft projects of holidays past.

“It seems like every magazine I pick up, there’s tons of ideas for things you can make,” Richards says, adding her children love to make gifts as well. Among the projects she recommends considering:

• Cross-stitch ornaments
• Handmade wreaths from yarn, felt or ornaments
• Picture frames dressed with paint and buttons (an especially good project for children)
• Anything felt (especially garlands or ornaments)
• Holders for store-bought presents

She says many of these projects can be done inexpensively and without equipment like a sewing machine — cross-stitch or felt items being high on her list. Cross-stitch patterns can be easy for even newbies. As for felt, no stitching is needed — fabric glue works just fine.

Not sure you want to give “only” something homemade, or dealing with someone who is hoping for something specific? Richards really likes the idea of making something to hold your gift, like a little stocking.

“If they made the stocking and then tucked a little pair of earrings or even a gift card or something in the little stocking, that would be nice,” Richards says. “Kids can be very particular with the things they want for Christmas. If it’s a particular toy (they desire), you can put it in your own handmade container — to kind of put the personal touch on things you’ve bought.”

Around-the-house gifts

Hale says this year, nearly everyone on her list will be getting a homemade body care item. She’s been experimenting with gifts suitable for women, men or both:

• Body butter
• Lip balm
• Shaving soap
• Body soap
• Perfume
• Earring holder
• Necklace holder
• Upcycle and refurbish a toy
• Coasters

Hale admits the hardest people to create gifts for are her children — one in junior high and two preschool age. She says, though, that just like listening to them moon over a popular toy, she has figured out their gifts based on what makes each child light up.

“Our older daughter, she has seen me make the lip balm, and so the beauty products, she is very excited about that,” Hale says. “I think for children, if you have in mind and what they’re interested in, I think you can kind of cater it to them. Something where it’s not, ‘Oh, thanks for this wool sock’ or something that they wouldn’t perceive as too exciting. I’m optimistic about it — we’ll see when they open them up.”

Hale says though she knows she’s taking a bit of a gamble by going handmade with her kids, she’s hoping that they see the value in their gifts just like she does every time she takes a piece of jewelry off her necklace holder or laces up shoes stored on her shoe rack, another homemade gift from her husband.

“There’s definitely something about receiving something handmade that even though it has a very simple purpose, when it’s given to you by someone who made it and spent time on it,” Hale says. “It carries much more meaning than just holding your shoes.”