If You Can Do Woodturning or Other Woodworking, You Can Make...

Woodturned objects have a beautiful, polished finish that for stunning gifts. If you have the tools and skills to craft gifts from wood, you can make some truly amazing keepsakes.

HOME DECOR

The dinner table is a good place to start. You can go as big as serving dishes or as small as egg cups, branch out to salt shakers and utensils, or create candle holders or a decorative bowl or a cutting board shaped to reflect a particular interest of your recipient.

Other decor for around the house include picture frames, interesting wall hangings, sconces, potpourri holders, bookshelves, and jewelry or other organizations boxes. A skilled wood crafted with enough time and material could even make a toy chest, footlocker, wardrobe, desk, or rocking chair. Some items can be repurposed; I know a woman who gets old,worn furniture like cabinets, pulls them apart, cleans the pieces up, and uses them to build something new, like a dresser or a headboard.

HOBBY HELP

It's great fun to use your own hobby to further another's. An online friend of mine shows some such items in her blog post here. You can make drop spindles for people who spin yarn, pens for writers, yarn bowls for knitters and crocheters, easels for artists, or cups or pegboards to hold tools for a variety of crafters. Having been the recipient of such a gift, I can attest that it makes doing my own hobby extra special to use something a friend created.

I received this pen as a gift shortly after one of my children was born.
Every entry in the baby book has been written with it.

TOYS

Wooden trains are the obvious choice here, but don't feel you have to stick with them if you want to try other ideas. My great-grandfather built my aunt a dollhouse about four decades ago, and once my aunt grew up, my cousins and I have taken turns playing with it ourselves or having it for our own kids. Currently, it has some handmade wooden furniture in it as well.

He put in the wallpaper and clear plastic in the windows, too. 

Wood also lends itself to other small toys, like pretend food, small dolls and action figures, sets of animals (a Noah's Ark theme would work especially well), puzzles, board games (a wooden chess set is beautiful),  and blocks. Painted or unpainted, they can add a lot to a child's pretend play.

Another relative, my grandfather's cousin, made this Nativity puzzle: it has Jesus, Mary, Joseph,
three wise men, a shepherd, a camel, a donkey, an ox, and two sheep.

HOLIDAY

A handmade menorah or kinara is a prime candidate for a family heirloom (of course, make sure your recipient doesn't already have a sentimental one to use). Bowls carved with appropriate themes are great for any feast or harvest celebration. If the holiday has specific games or activities, maybe there's a wooden item to make, like a dreidel for Hanukkah. Christmas ornaments open a wide range of ideas, a few of which can be seen on the blog I linked to before, in this post.

Of course, not all holidays are gift-giving occasions. But if you know your recipient loves Halloween, for example, a bowl in the shape of a pumpkin or jack-o-lantern for passing out trick-or-treat candy could work well.