DIY scratch-offs you can make for last-minute stocking stuffers
These DIY scratch-off cards are perfect for Christmas stocking stuffers.
Sunlight shines on a pine wreath hung with gingham ribbons and small copper bells in Jenna Brooks’ living room. Behind her, a wreath of dried oranges and apples hangs above the fireplace, overlooking a Christmas tree decorated in warm, earthy tones.
Brooks, 28, is recreating Christmas decorations like the ones she made as a child. This year, she and other members of Generation Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, are trying to carry that spirit into adulthood, documenting the trend on TikTok.
On TikTok and Instagram, videos showing how to make felt ornaments, paper chains, and dried orange garlands are racking up millions of views under hashtags like #homemadechristmas and #diychristmas.
For Brooks, handcrafting means valuing the meaning of the seasons. She remembers cutting tree branches to decorate the fireplace mantel, baking shortbread cookies with her mother, and making Christmas ornaments using household items such as salt dough, popsicle sticks, and pasta.
“Gen Z has grown up with the online world, so they’ve been exposed to it from a young age, so I think people are hungry to get back to more tangible experiences,” Brooks said.
Orange garlands, paper stars and embroidered ornaments remind you of childhood
In some ways, this trend is a throwback to years of curated online holiday content.
Gen Z is the first generation to grow up spending the holiday season in the internet age surrounded by YouTuber Christmas cheer, Vlogmas videos, and Pinterest mood boards, with aesthetics such as “Christmas by the Coast” and “Christmas Kitsch.”
All of this can create “weird outside pressures” to perfect the vacation, Brooks said.
“When I was a kid, I would go to school and talk to other kids about what we got for Christmas and what we were going to do for Christmas,” says Clay Routledge, a psychologist who studies nostalgia. “The Internet has greatly expanded its size and gained even more momentum.”
Routledge says childhood nostalgia is often coupled with dissatisfaction with the status quo, leading people to draw inspiration and solace from concrete, familiar memories and traditions.
“There’s something about the human experience that involves analog, in-person, tactile, multisensory experiences that can’t be fully replicated in the digital world,” Routledge says.
DIY as a way to save money
Beyond nostalgia, homemade crafts are also a practical tool for a generation plagued by student debt, a slowing U.S. labor market, and rising costs of living.
A holiday spending survey from financial services company Thrivent found that Gen Z is feeling more financially stressed than older generations. About 70% say inflation is having an impact on their household finances during the holiday season, and 58% of respondents are more concerned about managing their finances than they have been in years past.
But the video tutorial encouraged users to work with things they had at home, like turning cans into embossed ornaments or turning leftover construction paper into paper chains. Some creators have repurposed grocery store bags and cardboard boxes into paper stars and gingerbread houses. The text of one video reads: “It’s a holiday decoration, but let’s consume it sparingly.”
How nostalgia can be a positive tool for the future
While some of these traditions are about personal memories, Routledge says Gen Z also experiences historical nostalgia. It’s a longing for a time before someone’s lifetime, like the magical feeling you had as a child on vacation. You know, this was the pre-internet era.
And while nostalgia is sometimes portrayed as an unhealthy obsession with the past, Routledge says reflecting on and appreciating life’s experiences can foster a sense of belonging and even be a source of inspiration for future traditions.
“Nostalgia doesn’t reject change, so it can actually be a tool for progress,” Routledge says. “It’s about saying, oh, there’s something we’ve let go of or lost sight of, and we should reintroduce it.”
Rachel Hale’s role covering youth mental health for USA TODAY is supported by a partnership with Pivotal Ventures and Journalism Funding Partners. Funders do not provide editorial input. Contact her at atrhale@usatoday.com @rachleighhale With X.
