5 DIY Father's Day Gifts

5 DIY Father's Day Gifts

This June 16th is Father’s Day. It’s also the perfect opportunity to show our dads, partners, and all the great guys in our lives how much they mean to us. This year, you and even your kids can make the best presents for dad. Select one or more of these 5 DIY Father’s Day gifts and get creative!

  1. Pre-shave oil: This pre-shave oil is easy to make, and that special man in your life is sure to appreciate the great scent it imparts and the soft skin he gets after using it. All you need is a glass bottle, some grapeseed oil, olive oil, and an essential oil. Two nice scents for men are cedarwood and sandalwood. Cedarwood is suitable for someone with oily skin, whereas sandalwood works for both dry and oily skin.
  1. Dry rubs: If dad loves to barbecue, a basket full of homemade dry rubs and perhaps a gift card to a local butcher would be a delectable treat indeed. Prepare these dry rub recipes for everything from burgers to seafood and store them in spice jars or mason jars with shaker lids.
  1. Father’s Day keychain: Here’s a gift that’s simple enough for the kids to create: a Father’s Day keychain. You’ll only need three items for this project: some alphabet beads, split rings, and leather jewelry string. The best part for the kids will be coming up with a great phrase or message to give to dad!
  1. Map coasters: Does the man in your life travel a lot? Have you taken some amazing trips together? A great way to remind him of these adventures is to create these map coasters. It’s also an excellent use for old maps you may have lying around or could find in a thrift store.
  1. Paint chip phone case: Like most people, dads don’t go anywhere without their cell phones. However, some dads have cell phone cases that have seen better days. You can create a unique case for dad by jazzing up a clear one with his favourite colours using paint chips. You can find them for free at a hardware store, which makes this a very affordable project.
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5 DIY Father's Day Gifts

5-diy-thanksgiving-ideas

Fall is quite possibly our favourite season here at Dollars & Cents! The trees are rich with autumn colours, scarves and boots are out of the closet, and there’s always a great excuse to cozy up on a cold fall night with family and loved ones at home. Hosting a thanksgiving dinner this weekend? Any good host knows decor is an important piece to the thanksgiving experience. Adding a bit of fall flare to your home doesn’t have to break the bank if you’re willing to get a bit creative. Here are 5 easy do-it-yourself ideas we’ve come up with that are simple and affordable. Most of these craft supplies you can find right here in store.

Glitter Pumpkins

Hate carving pumpkins? What about bedazzling them with your favourite glitter? Cover a mini pumpkin with clear ahesive, and dust in sparkles of various fall colours. For a bigger impact, try using a larger pumpkin or a metallic spray paint such as gold or silver to really add a “wow” factor.

glitter-pumpkins

Thankful Jar

A great way to remind everyone the purpose of this holiday is creating a “thankful jar”. Each person in the family writes down things they are thankful for on a note to be placed in the jar. Read them at the dinner table or save them for special occasions in future. To create, decorate an old mason jar with craft paper or your favourite creative pen. 

Marquee Letters

These are all rage right now. Piece together a few marquee letters throughout the home or on you mantle. Choose simple words like “fall” or “thanks” that will be easy to display in various areas. Or choose the letter of your family’s last name to enjoy as decor all year round.

Mason Jar Flowers

Pick up some of your favourite fall coloured flowers to separte into various mason jars throughout the house. Try adding burlap or lace aroun the mason jar to add a bit more texture to the jar. These are perfect for thanksgiving dinner tables.

mason-jar

Mini Pumpkin Place Cards

Jazz up your thanksgiving dinner with mini-pumpkin place cards. Slice a small incision into the stem and simply insert your cardstock pieces in place. You can use painted pumpkins or an assortment of pumpkin colours for a more rustic look.

placecards

5 DIY Father's Day Gifts

wedding-decor-coquitlam-langley

By Carly Moir – Guest Blogger

If you’ve ever planned a wedding, or been a part of a wedding party, or just watched any kind of TLC wedding show, you know one thing to be true: weddings are expensive.

If you’re a bride-to-be living in the Metro Vancouver area, it’s likely already taken careful planning and budgeting to get engaged in the first place. Between housing prices, the cost of education and starting a family, your wedding has become one of those big-ticket items on your life “to-do” list. If you’re like me, you perhaps had to wait 6 years before getting engaged because the first time you had enough money to get married, you decided moving out of your mother in law’s basement was a bigger priority. But now here you are, engaged, and planning your own wedding…on a budget.

Like many of you, I started compiling a secret wedding board on pinterest (guilty) with creative ideas for DIY decorations and inspiration. One thing I’ve been having trouble with is staying on budget while still being satisfied with the quality of décor items I’ve either rented or decided to make myself.

I’ve noticed dollar store items can be a hard source, especially the good ones. I’ve found myself visiting Michaels or craft stores for the things I wasn’t happy with at the big-box dollar stores, but the problem (as you can probably guess it), is that these craft stores were not within my budget…but I really liked their quality.

Luckily, I stumbled upon a store here in Coquitlam that gave me both value and quality: Dollars & Cents Store in Westwood Plateau. Here are a few of their items that helped me achieve my wedding décor vision.

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Centrepieces – Hosting 140 guests for your wedding means that you have at least 15 tables, which means 15 of everything. 15 centerpieces, 15 candle holders, 15 vases and so on. I found a great variety of tall candle holders, tealight holders and vases in store. Using a charger plate or a simple crate like the one above is a great way to add a base for your centerpiece and create varying heights for your items.

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Head Table – Marquee lettering has become a great way to add a bit of industrial sparkle to your head table. Use a simple ampersand, a short word, or pair together individual letters to create your own combination.

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Chalkboard Signage – One thing I never thought about until organizing my wedding décor was the amount of signage or wayfinding items you need in place for guests. Chalkboards are an affordable option for this task – you can use them for welcome signs, drink menus, or to promote your wedding hashtag.

WeddingBlog-6The smaller details – It’s important to make sure your table numbers are easy to see and have good contrast. I liked these tent cards, they fold up easy and are available well into the double digits if you have a lot of tables. If you don’t like the pricetag on wedding flowers, try using synthetic petals to spread down the aisle for your ceremony – they look just as real in photos! Need a guest book? Try something traditional and affordable like this white and silver foiled one I found in store.

WeddingBlog-3Mason Jars – We’ve seen them everywhere, at markets, at weddings. But we still love them! Versatile as vases, accents, or candle holders, mason jars are a great volume item to help you stay on budget. I was excited to find the Ball brand in store at a good price. They are a durable glass and give that great vintage feel I was after (and look pretty when painted too).

WeddingBlog-4Glitter please – It’s all about the sparkle at weddings this year. Golds, silvers, you name it. In the craft section I found not only a ton of glitter colour options for my DIY items, but also burlap, twine, and these adorable clothespins that I can use on my photo string display frame.

What I loved most is that if I didn’t find exactly what I was looking for in store, the Dollars & Cents team was willing to source out the items for me through their suppliers. Now that’s some great service. Everything I needed in one place and right in my own backyard.

Dollars & Cents has stores in Langley and Coquitlam. If you’d like more information please email dollarsandcentsstores@gmail.com