Many friends and family members say they’re counting on a little DIY magic this holiday gift-giving season.

If your list includes your nearest and dearest plus close co-workers, neighbors, teachers, hair stylists and beyond, go for batching it. It’s a strong strategy in this weak economy.

It’s economical to make food, jewelry or useful household items in large amounts — and it pays huge dividends in the sense-of-accomplishment and creativity departments. Making holiday gifts might even inspire a business, as it did for Susanne Brink of Kansas City, Mo. She founded DumbKid Designs, sewing wallets and pocketbooks out of paper, including old maps and comics, because she needed gifts for her 22 nieces and nephews.

Homemade gifts can be useful. A colleague gave me a trivet she made out of an embroidery hoop filled with wine corks. For years it has come in handy for hot plates.

And they can be memorable, too. One year, my brother wrapped up a gooey-butter cake in an unexpected but appreciated gift-giving move. Another year, a family friend who signed his gift “From the Italian Santa” made my family his specialty dish of garlic green beans. We still laugh when we recall the pungent aroma of that Christmas.

Yes, batching it is good.

This year FYI is offering up fresh batch gift ideas that go beyond cookie mixes in a jar. In other words, quality in quantity.

PAINT CHIP COASTERS

If celebrity event planner David Stark can make entire rooms out of paint chips, I figure I can make 4 ¼-inch square coasters from them, using the Crafty CPA’s instructions as a guide (craftycpa.blogspot.com).

Paint chips are alluringly colorful and can be easily personalized with gift recipients’ favorite colors. The best part: They’re free. Executed well, the paint chip coasters look like a gift you’d find in an art museum shop.

Up to the task? If you’re patient enough to brush on several layers of glue and wait for the coasters to dry. Plan on 24 hours of curing time.

Materials needed: Four 4 ¼-inch white ceramic tiles (19 cents each), four colors of paint chips (free; just ask a store employee if you’re taking a bunch), glue and sealer such as Mod Podge (starting at $4), spray acrylic ($6), cork backing ($7), foam craft brushes (already had), paper cutter or good-quality scissors (already had)

Cost breakdown: If you make four sets of four, it’s a lot of bang for your buck at $5 per set. I could have gotten another batch of four sets (16 coasters) out of my adhesive and backing materials, which were the biggest expenses.

Making them: Cut the paint chips to fit the tiles, retaining the names of the paint colors like orange “Poppy Glow,” because that’s part of the charm. Sixteen squares make four sets of coasters.

Using the foam brushes, apply Mod Podge on the backs of the paint chips andattach them to the tiles. Spread a thin layer atop each, which acts as a sealer. By the time you’re finished with a layer on all 16, it’s time for another. In all, spread five layers of Mod Podge atop each, washing hands between each layer.

Wait at least 30 minutes, then put heavy books on top to really set the glue into the tile for a few hours. Spray the tileswith acrylic and allow to dry 24 hours. Tie a ribbon around a set of four, and you’re good to go.

Notes: Get white tiles without beveled edges. They the cheapest and look best with the paint chips’ white lines. You can get matte or glossy Mod Podge and spray acrylic; I chose glossy.

The spray acrylic says it dries in less than a half-hour; I found out the hard way that’s not the case. After five hours of drying time, I put tiles in bags, and they picked up a striped effecteven though they felt dry.

NATURAL SOAP

Perfume artist Jill McKeever of Kansas City makes naturally scented bath salts and lip balms that are sold in boutiques across the country for her business, For Strange Women. I’ve always wanted to make soap and wondered if she does.

“All the time,” she said, both for her home and as gifts for the holidays. In her studio kitchen, she demonstrated what to do, down to the packaging.

Up to the task? Surprisingly, this melt-and-pour method for making soap takes fewer ingredients and less time than a batch of cookies.

Materials needed: A 2-pound brick of vegetable-oil soap base ($5.48, soapmakingsuppliesstore.com), soap mold tray ($7.50), 3 ounces of essential oil for scent ($8) such as peppermint or lemongrass, large glass measuring cup (already had)

Cost breakdown: The soap mold tray holds nine bars, so that breaks down to $2.33 per bar excluding packaging. Plus, there’s enough supply left to make about six more bars of soap.

Making them: Cut 18 ounces of soap base into chunks (a little more than half of the brick) and put them into the measuring cup. Heat in the microwave for 5 minutes, stopping to stir every 90 seconds . Let the mixture cool for about a minute before stirring in less than an ounce of essential oil. Pour the mix into the mold, and set in the refrigerator.

After 20 to 25 minutes, the soap will be ready for cutting and popping out of the mold. Place each bar of soap into a glassine bag, and seal it with a silver foil sticker. Optional: Label the package with the scent.

Notes: We went for all natural ingredients because many people are sensitive to synthetic fragrances. You also can add natural color. We used a tablespoon of green clay from Phoenix Herb Co., 4305 Main St., to turn the soap a pleasant earthy green. Beet root, also from Phoenix, makes a nice red, McKeever said.

When it comes to the scent of essential oils, a little goes a long way. McKeever and I decided the soap should smell like the forest to appeal to men and women. We added a blend of cypress and Scotch pine essential oils. Even at less than an ounce, the aroma proved a bit strong. Lemongrass was milder and more gift-worthy for the masses.

MOVIE NIGHT TIN

With large flat-panel TVs as the new normal, more of us can have a cinema-like experience at home. At the same time, more gourmet varieties of popcorn are being introduced. So a gift basket, in the form of a popcorn container, can feature various popcorn options along with classic movie-theater confections.

And yes, popcorn can be popped without a microwave or special popper. Just pour a ½ cup of kernels with 3 tablespoons of oil into a covered heavy-bottomed pan.When popping slows to 2 to 3 seconds,remove from the heat. My grandparents used bacon drippings instead of oil — delicious.

Up to the task? This is your ticket if you want something so simple that even wrapping is optional.

Materials needed: Four popcorn tins ($2.50 each in Target’s bargain section), microwave popcorn ($4 for eight packages), red licorice ($1 each), classic chocolate candy ($1 each), such as Junior Mints or Raisinets. Optional: a bottle of gourmet popcorn for red, blue and golden corn ($3) and seasoning such as sea salt and vinegar and kettle corn ($2.50).

Cost breakdown: $5.50 each, if you don’t add the optional items. One box of microwave popcorn is enough for gift-tin sets.

Making them: Place two microwave popcorn packages in each tin. Add boxes of red licorice and chocolate candy, and other cinema-style accoutrements.

Notes: For less-expensive containers, get $1 plastic bowls that resemble the cardboard popcorn cartons found in the movie theater.

JEWELRY HAIR PINS

Barrettes and decorative bobby pins are in. And the good news is that even a rookie crafter can rock these for a high-style look at a low price. This is the perfect gift for teen girls to make for their friends, cousins and mothers. Urban Arts + Crafts owner Karen Roark showed me lots of options for the hair pins, such as fabric-covered buttons, felt flowers and glass bubbles for inserting photos.

Up to the task? If metal-on-metal glue or the occasional snip of a pliers doesn’t scare you.

Materials needed: Metal-on-metal glue such as E-6000 ($3.25), set of six hair pins with metal circles for gluing ($2.25). A set of eight fabric-covered buttons is $5.50. You’ll need pliers to snip off the back of buttons that don’t have a flat back.

Cost breakdown: $3.67 for each set of two hair pins.

Making them: Glue the buttons to the metal base of the pins. Let the glue dry 24 hours before clipping on to a piece of cardstock or cardboard you probably have lying around the house.

Notes: Some of the jewelry bubbles look best in mini metal frame pieces that are 95 cents each.

YARN COZIES (NO KNITTING NEEDLES REQUIRED)

Only kittens can beat yarn when it comes to warm, fuzzy gifts. And knitted cozies don’t require a litter box. Or, it turns out, knitting needles.

Daniela Rojas is a 21-year-old fiber major at the Kansas City Art Institute. Sipping a black drip coffee at Broadway Cafe, she tells me she’s going to teach me how to knit. In five minutes. With my fingers.

Approaching this with equal parts enthusiasm and skepticism, I’m not convinced. Still, she shows me how to wrap yarn around my fingers, excluding my thumbs, to make the parts of a cozy. It’s almost like a cup to go around my coffee container rather than the cardboard or felt sleeves we’re accustomed to. Because the cozy has a bottom, it stays on snugly.

Rojas makes these yarn cup cozies, finds glasses at thrift stores for less than a $1 and fills them with loose coffee beans or teas (especially the kind that have dried flowers in them that look like a modern-day potpourri). Or if caffeine isn’t your gift recipient’s thing, you can fill the glasses with pens or colored pencils or a bottle of beer.

Up to the task? If you have time to learn how to finger knit and you’re brave enough to learn a new skill, this is for you. Once you learn how to finger knit, it will take you about 10 minutes per cozy. It takes Rojas, who has finger-knitted an entire jumpsuit, only seven minutes per cozy.

Materials needed: A skein of yarn, which makes 10 cup-like cozies ($5), glasses from the thrift store ($1 each), a needle and thread and nifty gifties inside of the glass.

Cost breakdown: $1.50 per gift since I had coffee beans and unused colored pencils on hand.

Making them: Watch Rojas’ video instructions for finger knitting on youtube.com; search “Artsydaniela.”

After you’re done knitting three rows, you should end up with strings on the sides. Tie each side of these strings together, tightly creating a cylinder . Next, place the cylinder over the glass. With a regular hand needle and thread, stitch the open end on the bottom together. Stick some coffee beans, tea or whatnot inside and you’re finished. The knitted cozy acts as the gift wrap.

Notes: You can sew a decorative button or make them with different colors of yarn.