Homemade gifts are a welcome substitution for store-bought presents and internet-ordered packages. Who doesn’t love that personal touch that comes with receiving something truly unique and tailored to them? Laser cutter and laser engraved gifts are just one of many ways to make meaningful and unique presents for friends and loved ones.
Laser cutters can be used to make a huge variety of awesome things, and that includes gifts for friends and loved ones for almost any occasion.
Just imagine the look on your friend’s face when they see that their new beverage carrier is a laser engraved gift with a custom message or image. Or how nice it is to receive a jewelry set or bottle opener cut and engraved as a one-of-a-kind gift.
With lots of cool gift ideas to choose from, and many occasions to prepare for, it can be hard to settle on what would make the perfect gift and for whom. Fortunately, laser cut gift ideas are all over the internet, and all of them make for personalized presents for any occasion.
Do you want to really surprise your dad with a really personalized gift next Father’s Day? Or maybe you want to see an extra wide smile on a loved one’s face this Christmas? Laser cutting has your back.
If you don’t have your own laser cutter to make laser cut gifts, then don’t worry! There are plenty of people online who are willing to take on custom jobs. So even if you see something on this list that you don’t have the means to make yourself, you can rest easy knowing that a great laser engraved present is just a few clicks away.
Here, we’re going to look at the coolest gifts you can make with a laser cutter. Some are more complicated than others, but each one is sure to bring a smile to the face of any recipient.
Laser Cut Tie Gift
Gifting a tie for Father’s Day has been something of a cliché for decades. With laser cutting, a new twist is put on the age-old tradition with this design for a fully flexible, wooden laser cut tie.
Made with just a thin plank of wood, you can cut and engrave your own tie in whichever pattern best suits your tastes. The key to the laser cut tie’s flexibility is in the spaces between the wood, which form connected slats to let the tie bend easily. This is similar to how an accordion can expand and contract despite being solid.
By selecting the correct size, shape, and pattern, the tie can be cut easily. Once finished, a metal ring is attached to the top so it can be worn under the collar of a shirt. Some use magnetic strips on the back of the ‘knot’ so the ties can act like clip-ons.
Just be sure to follow the recommended patterns, as they have been designed for lightness and flexibility. You can personalize your tie even further with name engravings or personal patterns like the ones found on a favorite shirt or abstract painting.
Undoubtedly the coolest laser cutter gift for Father’s Day or Christmas, laser cut wood ties are a surefire way to make a unique and even fun gift that anyone can wear.
Jewelry
Homemade jewelry is a hobby and even job for a lot of people, and buying custom pieces online has been a good way for people to give unique and personalized gifts to family and friends.
Anyone can walk into a store and buy a nice necklace or stylish earrings, but making jewelry as laser cut gifts is an even more rewarding way to give a truly thoughtful present.
Laser cutting and engraving anything from earrings to necklaces to rings is as simple as designing the shape you want and laser cutting it. However, it is important to know that any jewelry will require extra parts to work.
Necklaces need clasps and earrings will need hooks or locks, and even rings will need to be made to the correct measurement for whomever you’re making them for. With these things in mind, you can start making your own custom laser cut jewelry as gifts.
Earrings can be made as simply as laser engraving wood, metal, or plastic with words or an image to suit to whom you’re giving the gift. Necklaces can be made with charms and lockets engraved onto metals, and bracelets and rings can be personalized with names, birthday and anniversary dates, or favorite phrases and quotes.
The important thing to remember when laser cutting rings is to sand them down as best you can to reduce the risk of splinters, as well as making a cleaner, more polished look.
Refreshment Boxes
Alcohol and other beverages are common gifts at dinner parties and housewarmings. But the gift itself doesn’t have to stop at the beverages themselves.
Six packs of anything from beer to pop are normally carried in cardboard packages, but when showing up to a housewarming party or welcoming BBQ, a great gift is a carrier that’s both reusable and easily customizable.
Because most cans and bottles come in regulation sizes, making a carrier box from them as a laser cut gift is pretty easy if you just find the right dimensions.
More than just being eco-friendly, with wood laser engraving you can put anything on the side of the carrier. Does your friend have a favorite beverage? Or is there a particular memory or in-joke you’ve shared before? Well, you can easily laser engrave those on the sides of these carriers.
These carriers are both functional and very cool laser cutter gifts, and make excellent presents for any party or celebration in someone’s home.
Bottle Openers
Alongside those carrier crates, you could also laser cut the gift of a personally engraved bottle opener.
While store-bought bottle openers can be simply engraved to make a great gift, making a laser cut bottle opener from scratch is not as difficult as many would think.
Of course, engraving a name or congratulatory message to the side of the bottle opener is a great way to personalize it and makes for a great laser cutter gift for housewarmings, birthdays, Father’s Days and many other occasions.
Keychains
Speaking of housewarming gifts, anyone who’s just picked up a new set of keys will be looking to make them as much their own as their new home is.
And so, there are fewer laser cut gifts better for friends who have recently moved than personalized keychains.
The easiest way to make keychains with a laser cutter is to take a small piece of wood, similar in size to a guitar pick, and engrave whatever you like onto it.
If you have a 3D printer, you may also want to check out 3D printable keychains
Personalizing keychains is a fun way to carry a little piece of ourselves with us wherever we go, and so laser cutting keychains as presents can make for a truly personal and unique present. From names or nicknames, to favorite book, movie, or TV characters; there’s always a part of someone’s personality or interests that they’ll love carrying around with them.
Dog Collars
Dog collars may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we think of gifts, but they serve a very special purpose that make for very thoughtful presents.
One of the most important parts of pet ownership is ensuring your pet is safe. And so collars and tags containing the address and contact information of the owners is important in case your beloved companion goes missing.
These tags are a common purchase, but the engraving can be expensive and even take longer than most new pet owners would like. If you have a laser cutter, this could take a big weight off a friend’s shoulders.
With laser cutting, you can do all the engraving yourself, and gift it to your friend to help with their new furry friend, letting them focus on raising the new little bundle in their homes.
Postcards
Another new twist on an old favorite, wood engraving and laser cutting postcards is a great way to send a message of thanks or congratulations to someone in a meaningful and personal way.
We’re all guilty of keeping birthday and Christmas cards around our homes for a long time after the party’s over and the decorations have been put away. It’s hard to throw away something that came from a friend, even if it’s something that was designed to be thrown out.
By making postcards with a laser cutter, you can create a gift that’s made to be kept. Single-word messages or a couple of sentences of congratulations or gratitude can be laser engraved as a heartwarming gift for any home. These gifts can be made to look like actual postcards like the ones found in tourism stores, or they can be simple pieces that depict a message or some artwork.
Baseballs
The great American pastime that is baseball has its place in the hearts of millions of people. From playing as kids with big-league dreams to watching wide-eyed as your hero runs for home, it’s an important part of many lives.
Personalized baseballs and other baseball memorabilia are a great gift idea for any sports fan or even baseball player in your life. With laser engraving, you can make that home run feel a lot more special, even if the risk of losing the ball is a scary one…
Further reading
Our ranking of the best laser cutters and engravers
9+ cool and useful laser cutter and engraving project ideas
For CNC router owners, some of the best CNC projects
