Gifts for Your Best Friend: 22 Sentimental DIY Ideas

The best gifts for a best friend come from your shared history, not a store: a jar of handwritten memories, a scrapbook of your friendship, a collection of voice messages they can replay, or a letter that tells them exactly what they mean to you. These gifts work because nobody else could make them. Here are 22 ideas, most of them DIY and low cost, with tips to make each one feel unmistakably yours.

What makes a good gift for your best friend?

A gift is sentimental when it holds a memory or a feeling only the two of you share. Ask yourself: would this make sense to anyone else? If the answer is "not really," it's probably perfect.

Good ingredients:

• Inside jokes and nicknames.
• Specific memories with dates and places.
• Your voice or handwriting, which feel like you in a way typed text doesn't.
• Photos with context, especially the unflattering, hilarious ones.

What are DIY sentimental gifts for a best friend?

DIY gifts take time, and the time is the message. None of these need special skills.

1. A memory jar. Fill a jar with folded notes, each holding one memory: "The time we got kicked out of the library." "When you drove 2 hours to pick me up." Aim for one note per year of friendship, or go big with 50+.
2. A friendship scrapbook. Photos, ticket stubs, wristbands, screenshots of iconic texts, and short captions. Leave blank pages for what's next.
3. Open-when letters. Envelopes labeled "open when you're nervous," "open when you need a laugh," "open on your next birthday."
4. A "definition of you" poster. Write their name like a dictionary entry, with funny and sweet definitions.
5. Matching friendship bracelets in colors that mean something, like the team you both love or the color of your first shared car.
6. A recipe book of meals you've cooked together, plus the snacks from your sleepovers.
7. A "reasons you're my best friend" deck, one reason per playing card.
8. A jar of sand or shells from a beach trip you took together, labeled with the date.

What are sentimental voice and audio gifts?

Audio gifts are rare, which makes them memorable. Hearing someone who loves you say nice things about you is hard to beat.

1. A voice message collection. Ask friends and family to record a short message for your best friend: a memory, a compliment, a birthday wish. Put them together and send them as one gift.
2. A recorded letter. Read your birthday card out loud and send the recording alongside the physical card.
3. A "friendship podcast" episode. Record 10 minutes of you two retelling your best stories, then send it to them on your friendship anniversary.
4. A playlist with voice intros. Pick songs from different eras of your friendship and record a short intro before each one: "This was the summer we..."

Script for a voice message gift: "Hi. I wanted you to have something you can play whenever you need it. You're the person I call first, for good stuff and bad stuff. You make every situation funnier. I'm so lucky I get to be your best friend. Happy birthday. Play this again whenever you forget how loved you are."

For more scripts, see voice note ideas for your best friend.

What are sentimental photo gifts for a best friend?

Photo gifts get sentimental when you add the story behind each picture. A caption turns a nice photo into a memory.

1. A "through the years" timeline. One photo from each year you've known each other, captioned with what was going on.
2. Stickers of your best friend. Turn your favorite (or most chaotic) photos of them into stickers for their laptop or phone case. See how in our guide to making stickers from photos on iPhone.
3. A recreated photo. Recreate an old photo of the two of you, then frame both side by side.
4. A photo string with mini prints clipped along a string of lights.
5. A collage of photos they don't know you kept. The blurry ones, the candid ones, the 2 am ones.

What are sentimental gift ideas that cost nothing?

Some of the most meaningful gifts are free. They just take thought.

1. A real letter. Write about when you met, the moment you knew they were your person, and what you hope for your friendship. Hand-write it if you can.
2. A coupon book. "Good for one airport pickup, no complaints." "Good for one 2-hour rant session."
3. A planned day of your favorite things together, recreating your best memories in order.
4. A list of your top 20 moments together, ranked and annotated.
5. A screenshot book of your best text exchanges, saved in a shared album.

What is a sentimental gift for a long distance best friend?

For a best friend who lives far away, pick gifts that help them feel you're close. Voice messages, open-when letters, and a care package with things from your shared places all travel well. Our long distance best friend ideas go further.

How do you keep your best friend's voice and photos together?

Over time, the voice notes, photos, and silly stickers you swap become a record of your whole friendship. Keeping them in one place makes them easy to revisit.

That's the idea behind Tucket, an app we're building. When Tucket launches, you'll be able to make a pocket for your best friend, save their voice notes or record sounds live, put a photo of them on every sound, make stickers from your favorite pics, and share the pocket so you fill it together. It's private, with no feed and no strangers. More on our best friends page.