Spending hundreds of dollars and waiting in long lines for gifts is not for everyone during the holiday season.

Junior communications major Bridget Lara said she is planning on making at least one gift for someone this Christmas.

“It makes it more personal,” Lara said. “I’m going to découpage pictures from magazines on a glass bottle. You can pretty much use that for anything, like a vase.”

April Willers, manager of in-store programs for Michaels Stores Inc. said there are tons of homemade gift ideas on the Michaels Web site created especially for the holidays.

“We have a slew of free takeaway project sheets for directions on how to make gifts,” Willers said. “There are basically directions on how to make your own holiday handcrafts and home décor for less money out of pocket with a strong value.”

Alison Milani, junior elementary education major, made a picture quilt last Christmas and said it was worth spending the extra time.

“You go to Walgreens, and you bring the pictures you want on the quilt, and they put the pictures on square fabric cut-outs,” Milani said. “Then you sew it all together on a fleece blanket to make a picture quilt. It takes a while to make, but it makes for a nice memory for years to come.”

Willers also said there are 18 short, free how-to videos available on the Michaels Web site with step-by-step instructions on how to make your own gifts. The Web site also lists hundreds of ideas for under $5.

Junior English major Patrick Rasmussen said getting a handmade gift is more sentimental.

“My ex-girlfriend got me a coupon book for Christmas that you can redeem or cash in- ‘You get a free backrub’ and ‘I’ll cook you dinner,’ and stuff like that,” Rasmussen said.

Willers said some gifts are very simple and involve just a ribbon and a glass ball.

“One of the really cool ones is using our corded ribbon and wrapping it around a glass ball,” Willers said. “That’s fairly easy as far as time and skill-level that looks really elegant as far as gifts go.”

Some enjoy the meaningfulness of handmade gifts most of all.

“One time for Christmas, a friend of mine made a scrapbook of all the cool stuff we did that summer,” Rasmussen said. “She was going away abroad, and it was a way for us to keep in touch with our friendship and remind each other of what we’ve been through. It was definitely better than getting a DVD or something from her.”