10 Holiday Gifts to Make on Your CNC Router in 2023
Shopping for holiday or Christmas gifts can be a real drag. You not only have to find things that are nice, at a reasonable price, but also ensure they convey at least a modicum of thoughtfulness and care.
This is where our CNC Plan Downloads come in. We've got dozens of gift ideas for everyone in your life.
The effort put into a gift you made with your own hands speaks volumes, offering a meaningful, unique expression of love and/or appreciation that store-bought items seldom match.
We've compiled a list of our 10 favorite project ideas, each designed to help you create gorgeous, personalized gifts for all your loved ones this festive season. These projects range from beginner-level to intermediate. We're here to help with complete plans, toolpaths, instructions, and how-to videos, ensuring that regardless of your skill level, you can create something special that will be cherished for years to come.
Most of these plans are customizable, so you can personalize your gifts to make them extra special.
Top 10 CNC Gift Ideas
#1 Customized Wooden Box
We call it a "Small Wooden Jewelry Box" but you can size it up or down to make gifts for your whole family, depending on their needs.
Difficulty Level – Intermediate
With this design you will be able to make a very nice, tight fitting box with a personalized engraving inside. This is a small project, but there are a lot of toolpaths required to get the outcome we are looking for. In this set of plans we walk you through finding the correct offset needed for your CNC machine to achieve a tight fitting box like this. The font used is mentioned in the plans so you can customize a date or add your own text.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#2 Custom Heart Tray
This is a quick and easy project that looks great and can be personalized in any way you want. The project is sized out for a piece of walnut Matt had, but it can be resized to fit any size material you’d like and have any sort of engraving on the bottom of the tray you want. The only restriction is that the material should be a minimum of 3/4” thick, leaving yourself with .25” of wood after dishing out the tray with the bowl bit.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#3 Customized Cutting Board
Cutting boards make great gifts for literally anyone with a kitchen. And with the right design/file setup making cutting boards on a CNC is easy!
In this set of plans we will go over how to flatten the board with the grain, V-Carving text (specifically, setting up script fonts to cut cleanly), flattening epoxy, chamfering an edge, setting up and adding a juice groove all on the CNC machine and how to finish the cutting board.
The board can be personalized in any way you would like as links to the font used are included in the instructions so you can add different text.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#4 Maze Game
Difficulty Level – Intermediate
One of our favorite gifts for anyone aged 5 - 95. It’s not only fun, but it helps improve eye-hand coordination, problem solving and dexterity.
This set of plans covers getting the best finish in acrylic, setting up pockets to cut with the grain for a better finish quality, and using pocket allowance for a nice tight fit on an inlaid piece.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#5 Alphabet Piggy Bank
One of the all-time great gifts for kids. These piggy banks look awesome and are great to customize for little ones to hold and display their change.
These are relatively simple to make, and the instructions will help you get better results for many of your future projects. This set of plans will cover getting the best finish in acrylic, setting up pockets to cut with the grain for a better finish quality, working with stock thicker than your machine is able to cut through and using pocket allowance for a nice tight fit on an inlaid piece.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#6 Custom Dog Bowl Stand
Don't forget gifts for pets (& pet-lovers)!
The downloadable CNC plans includes both large and small dog bowl designs. The small will also work for cats. (Shh... Don't tell Moose!)
This dog bowl stand not only looks great but is also a super fun project to make! In this set of plans we will go over how to flatten the board with the grain, V-Carving text talking about why the angle of the bit matters, flattening epoxy and using compression bits correctly. This project can be personalized in any way you would like the font name used are included in the instructions so you can add different text!
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#7 Custom Serving Tray
Gifts for holidays and all year round: With this design you will be able to make an entire tray out of a single sheet of plywood all cut on the CNC machine.
In this set of plans we will go over how to V-Carve text (specifically, setting up script fonts to cut cleanly), flattening epoxy, setting up and cutting miters on the CNC, gluing up a mitered box and how to finish the tray.
This project can be personalized in any way you would like as links to the font used are included in the instructions so you can add different text.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#8 Custom Step Stool
Difficulty Level – Beginner
Step stools are thoughtful gifts for anyone height-challenged.
With this design you will be able to make a functional and attractive step stool you can customize with a name or anything else you’d like!
The final assembled dimensions of the step stool are 13.75” wide x 14.5” deep x 13” high. I designed this in a way that all the pockets for assembly are cut on the CNC machine without the need for dog bone corners on the outside to make everything fit together correctly, this makes it look much nicer in my opinion and the plans discuss how we achieved that.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#9 Marble Game Board
With these downloadable and customizable Marble Game Board CNC Plans, you will be able to make this marble board game to enjoy with 2-6 players!
Difficulty Level – Beginner
This was a fun quick project to make! Size is 30" diameter, and the design can be resized to any size you would like, just make sure the marble pockets stay the same size for proper fit. Any material can be used.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
#10 Sunflower Tray
Made in 3 Ways! The downloadable CNC plans include instructions how to make this sunflower catch-all try in 3 ways. Difficulty Level – Intermediate
With this design you will be able to make three separate styles of beautiful sunflower catch all trays! These catch all trays are great to hold jewelry or any number of things around the house. In this set of plans you will learn how to set up a finishing toolpath with a bowl bit, V-carved on the bottom of the tray, set up an epoxy inlay and laser the bottom of a tray.
Watch the video in fullscreen.
Included with the plans
You will receive a detailed PDF with step-by-step instructions, SVG files, DXF Files, Vectric Aspire and Vectric V-Carve Pro files; both compatible with version 9 and up. The Vectric files include all toolpaths set for you.
All the toolpaths are done for you if you’re using Vectric V-Carve Pro or Aspire software. If you are using the included SVG or DXF files, instructions are included on how to setup toolpaths. There are lots of toolpath and design tips we cover in detail within plans to ensure everything cuts exactly like you want without issues.
How it works
- Sign in to your ToolsToday account, consent to our terms of use, add the plans to your shopping cart and checkout.
- After confirming the payment, you will receive an email confirmation with a download link.
- The link will have a zip file in it and will contain all items in the “Included with the plans” section.
- Click the Download button and save the file to your computer.
What you have to know
- All sales are final.
- Downloaded products are non-refundable.
- You agree that these files are for personal use only.
- File may not be shared or uploaded to another website.
- You agree to not share these files in any way or form.
- You agree to not sell the finished product created by these plans nor mass produce these files.
You can find hundreds of other designs, most of them free, to use in customizing your projects on our page CNC Pattern Directory.
And literally dozens more gift ideas on our full list of CNC Plan Downloads.
