Top Ten Gift Ideas for the "Do it Yourself" Crowd

Do you have a DIY friend or relative that is hard to please? You bring him a beautiful hand made scarf and he examines it carefully, and asks, "I wonder which stitch pattern they've used? I am not familiar with this one. Are you sure it isn't machine made?" Or she is hosting thanksgiving, and you have been assigned to bring the pumpkin pie. You reserve a special one a week before at your local French artisan bakery, brings it proud to the table, and the DIY hostess comments, "This is really delicious, but the pastry is a bit heavy. I wonder if they whisked it carefully with a fork, as many generations in my family have been doing for years, or… they might have used a mixer, I am sure".

You know them. You can recognize one in the street, picking up that old, rusty bike left to rot away in the sidewalk. He caries the piece of trash happily to his garage/workshop celebrating: "I am going to clean it up, paint it, it will be as good as new!" Or they stop the car abruptly to pick up that coffee table with the "Free" sign standing in the road. "A nice scrub and a layer of varnish…uhmm. Or I can even dismantle it and build a custom one!" They tend to be avid readers of "ReadyMade Magazine", and - even as most of them would not admit - cannot resist taking a peek inside "Martha Stewart Living".

So, this Holiday season, do you see yourself encumbered with the ungrateful task of buying gifts for such rare breed? Do not sweat over it. Here are the top ten gift ideas for the "Do It Yourself" crowd.

1.A Hardware Store Gift Basket: find an old fashioned straw basket, go to your local hardware shop and pick a bunch of funky tools, supplies, and building gadgets and unusual materials. You can even assemble kits, like "do your own plumbing kit", "build your mini race car" or "frame your own pictures package".

2.Painter in a Weekend: stop by your local art supply store and choose a medium that would fit your DIY friend: oil, acrylic or watercolor. Make up a set of basic paint colors; complete it with canvases or watercolor paper, assorted brushes, maybe a palette. Ready sets in fancy oak cases can be found in professional stores or online.