Guys are really difficult to make gifts for as they don’t really go for most of the sewn and crafty items that we gals like to make. I have yet to see any guy actually wear an apron while grilling, but most will be delighted with a gift of something for the grill. Here are some of the hits I have given, starting with a seasoning mix for meats on the grill.
Gather together some herbs and spices, combining them in a small wide mouth Ball jar for your grilling guy. I’ll give you my recipe for the spice mix, but know that you can add and subtract as you like. You can also fiddle with the amounts, if you like more garlic and less onion, go for it!
If I have larger bits like peppercorns, I will use my mortar and pestle to grind them myself.
Steak Seasoning Mix
2 tablespoons sea salt
2 tablespoons cracked black pepper
1 teaspoon onion powder
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder (or just chili powder)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Combine ingredients. Store in airtight container.
To use: sprinkle on meats before grilling, or mix into hamburger meat before grilling.
In the download, the recipe for this Bold Smoked mix using black smoked salt is included. To use just pinch some of the mix between your fingers and sprinkle over the meat. Both these mixes work great on beef, pork and chicken. In addition, it works nicely as a dry rub for smoking meats, and under barbeque sauce. Just put a label on the top and it is good to go.
Yum, steak! That’s my Garlic Zucchini on the side!
Another idea is to combine some items from his favorite store in a creative container and you have a dynamite gift that the guy will really appreciate. Then fill it with guy stuff that he likely uses all the time, things that he will run out of and need more – batteries, tie wraps, shop towels, latex or nitrile gloves, hand cleaner, nail brush. A box of gloves can be wrapped separately and given with the caddy. This one has microfiber towels that DH says are good to have, hand cleaner, a hanging flashlight and tire cleaner. DH has put plastic razor blades on his list for scraping gook off things without scratching surfaces.
For the gearhead guy, make up a car care caddy with his favorite car care products. Go to the garage and find out what brands he likes. DH says that most guys are a bit picky about which wax they want for the car. But other things like dashboard conditioner and tire cleaners are pretty generic. Sets of funnels are always useful too, as are cable ties in both white and black.
This is another one for the car guy, with car care products from Mothers and Meguiars, both brands DH likes. The larger wells of this caddy from a restaurant to-go section can take the bigger size spray bottles. With all of these, wrapping is easy with the clear bags made for baskets at the dollar store and a big bow.
For the gardener guy, garden gloves, specialty slow release fertilizer, inexpensive hand tools, seeds. You are only limited by what you can think of, take any theme and find six things that fit that theme. I use six pack cardboard carriers that I spray paint. More ideas in the download.
If you are set on sewing something, make a banner for his garage or man cave. You can find sheets and bedspreads with fun motifs on them like this one with The Stig – (a character on a British TV show about cars called Top Gear).
The head was on the pillow case, and the body on the bedspread. I cut apart the pillow case and sewed it to the bedspread, adding a sleeve on the back to hang. I have seen Tardis sheets for the Dr Who fan, Star Trek and Star Wars stuff for those fans, sports team sheets, whatever your guy is into probably has something you can turn into guy decor.
Here’s the download – Guy Gifts
Do you have a DIY idea for a guy gift?
From My Carolina Home 
Ok…painting the boxes is nothing short of genius! Now you have my mind spinning!!,
Crystal in Cedar City
Great idea with the caddies! Who knew?
Neat Ideas Carole!
Good ideas, a great variety of choices there. What about a magazine subscription? They are so popular here in NZ.
These are all great ideas! Thanks! XO
Great ideas, Carole. I have a gearhead husband who is currently restoring a 63 Chevy Step-side Pickup! Never thought if using the caddies!
Carole, wonderful ideas! Thank you!
My husband doesn’t do the grilling but I’ll be trying the space blends . The drinew caddies are great for art supplies on the go also.
Adorable ideas. I love the caddies of car stuff.
I have been busy. Sooooo busy.
I hope you are enjoying summer!!
My daughter is a fan of the Stig and I like how you changed your fabric into a wall hanging. She is also a Dr Who fan – I made her a duffle bag from some new Dr Who curtains, bought from a charity shop. There is a large Dalek on the front with the word ‘exterminate’ added towards the bottom, which I appliqued on. She loves it 🙂
Thank you for some great ideas. I follow on email. Always look forward to yours as I know something enjoyable is waiting to be read or learned.
Such good ideas!
Good Morning Carole! Oh these are all such great ideas! I struggle each and every year as to what to get for my Father especially, he has everything and truly does not need anything. Yet, with each of these gifts that you have mentioned they will make excellent gifts for him and each of the other men that I have to get gifts for. Your grilling recipes will be favorites with each of the guys because they all enjoy grilling/cooking and having a special seasoning mixture will make them all smile and be laughing and argueing over who is going to create the best steak with their new seasoning mix! Thank you so much for sharing all of these recipes and ideas! They are greatly appreciated. Have a fantastic creative day!
i’m excited to try your meat rub. I like DIY spice mixes because they are so much more economical. I will have to make some up for my husband and my FIL!
Those are all great ideas. I have let all my ideas slip away with no husband to give gifts. I have two sons, but the same things won’t work for them right now. Maybe for one of them in another year or two.
Love the dry mixes & guy caddies too – will be visiting my daughter & son-in-law soon, & he is a BOAT NUT! Will have to keep my eyes & ears open to see what he uses (since I am NOT into boats!) & see what I can pull together for Christmas (never too soon to start thinking!). Zip ties should be handy for anybody. Thinking what about the hiker/camper? Could use fire starters, energy bars, carabiner, bug repellant bandana. . . Enjoying your blog, From My Carolina Home, as usual!
Signed up for superior thread news letter.also learned about black thread,how to tell if moms old thread is still good to use and not to put thread into freezer( not that I would). Need to go back and read more on this site.thanks for the link.I read you on my email
Hi carole. The caddys are actually cool ideas. I want to try your spices they sound so good. If I remember closer to Christmas, I would like to make one of these caddies for my daughters boyfriends autistic son. The only toys he plays with are trains and blocks. He is 10 years old. Last weekend I went to a yard sale with a friend and I found a gallon sized ziploc bag with some blocks that were all the same size and smooth gave them to my daughter and she gave them tohim and right away he built a tower….awesome tower actually looks like a tower they have in Europe. He tld my daughter to take a picture of it and send it to me and she did. Come to find out, the blocks were from a game of Jenga. That explains why they were the same size and so smooth.
I follow you through email.
The spice mixes would go over well here. Have you seen the new (to me) lids for Ball jars that are made of plastic and have a “shaker” lid? I bought a couple, great for dry spice mixes.
All of these are great gift ideas for men. Thanks for sharing with us at Snickerdoodle Sunday. Pinned and Tweeted.
LOVE the man gift ideas….why didn’t I think of that! Once again, I shared your recipes with hubby!