Ideas · · By the usi3d team
25 useful things and gifts to 3D print at home (Halloween and Christmas included)
The things that make a home 3D printer earn its keep are small parts that solve a problem (hooks, clips, organisers, stands) and personalised gifts, such as a figure of your pet or a keyring with a raised motif. With Halloween this Saturday and Christmas eight weeks away, here are 25 ideas with the filament and settings for each, and which usi3d tool saves you the modelling.
Key points
- The most useful prints at home are small and quick: hooks, bag clips, organisers, phone stands and cable clips.
- For parts that carry weight, get wet or warm up, PETG beats PLA: PLA softens at around 55-60 °C.
- The most popular gifts are personal: a figure of your pet, a child's drawing in 3D, a textured coaster or a handmade gift box.
- For Halloween and Christmas, start the long prints early (nativity scene, advent calendar) and never put a candle inside a plastic part: use LED lights.
- Before printing, work out how much filament the part uses and choose the material for what it has to do.
How to choose what to 3D print
The ideas that work best share three traits: they take a few hours, use under 100 g of filament and either solve something specific or have someone to give them to. Everything on this list prints on an ordinary filament printer with a 0.4 mm nozzle.
If you're unsure about the material, Choose filament with AI tells you which suits the use, and the Print cost calculator shows the grams and the cost before you start. For models downloaded from other sites, check the licence: our guide to 3D model licences explains what you can print, give away or sell.
| What it's for | Filament | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Decoration and figures | PLA | Easy, good finish and endless colours |
| Kitchen, bathroom, outdoors, warm things | PETG | Handles around 70-80 °C, damp and knocks |
| Parts that bend or cushion | TPU | Flexible like rubber |
| Hooks and load-bearing parts | PETG or PLA+ | Less brittle than standard PLA |
Useful ideas for the home
1. A desk organiser your way
A pen cup, a phone rest and a tray in one piece. It's one of usi3d's guided projects: pick the shape (soft curves or straight), say what it will hold (“long pencils, a large phone and clips”) and the height, check the cost and generate it. PLA, 0.2 mm layers, 3 walls and 15 % infill.
2. Hooks for keys, bags or tools
Print them lying on their side so the load doesn't pull the layers apart along their weakest direction. PETG, 4 walls and 30-40 % infill; that way an 8 mm thick hook will happily hold a rucksack.
3. Bag clips
For coffee, rice or frozen veg. Flat parts that take 20-30 minutes and print ten at a time. PETG or PLA+ is best because they flex without snapping; standard PLA eventually cracks at the hinge.
4. A phone or tablet stand
An angle of 60 to 70° is comfortable to read from the table, and a gap at the back lets the charging cable through. PLA with 20 % infill; for a large tablet, widen the base so it doesn't tip over.
5. Cable clips and trays
Clips that hook onto the edge of the desk and hold your charger cables. In TPU they adapt to any desk thickness; in PETG they're stiffer. Measure the desktop with a caliper before printing them.
6. Drawer dividers and modular systems
Grid systems such as Gridfinity have hundreds of interlocking bins on sites like Printables. A 42 × 42 mm bin uses just a few grams and prints in under an hour with 2 walls and no solid infill.
7. Handles and knobs that don't slip
A drawer knob, a tool handle or a jar lid. Open the model in Textures and apply a diamond knurl with an 8 mm repeat and 0.6 mm depth. Use PETG if it lives in the kitchen or garage.
8. A planter with drainage
The organic planter in the guided projects has soft curves, an open top and drainage; you choose the profile (waves, folds or irregular) and the height. If you'll be watering it, print it in PETG with 3 walls and stand it on a saucer.
9. The spare part that broke
The battery cover on the remote, a furniture foot, a blind clip. First check whether someone has already published it; if not, measure it with a caliper and model it in CAD software such as FreeCAD, because parts that must fit to the millimetre need exact dimensions.
Personalised gifts to 3D print
10. A figure of your pet
From a photo of your dog or cat, an 8 to 12 cm desk figure. We go through it step by step in how to make a 3D figure of your pet. PLA, 0.12-0.16 mm layers so the fur and face come out smooth.
11. A child's drawing turned into a figure
A perfect present for grandparents. usi3d recognises that the image is a drawing and first turns it into a front-facing figure so the 3D model doesn't invent details. The full guide is in from your child's drawing to a 3D figure.
12. A keyring with a raised motif
The personalised keyring in the guided projects carries the motif you describe in relief (“a monstera leaf with visible veins”) and a reinforced hole for the ring. PETG stands up to rubbing against keys better than PLA.
13. Textured coasters
A 100 mm disc, 4 mm thick, with a wood or hexagon relief applied in Textures. Print it in PETG: a freshly poured cup is well over 60 °C and PLA would warp. A cork circle glued underneath stops it sliding.
14. A tabletop landscape in relief
Mountains and valleys, a coastline or dunes on a flat base, with an optional photo for inspiration. It's another of the guided projects and gives an interpreted relief: it doesn't use the place's real elevations. With 0.12 mm layers the slopes come out without harsh steps.
15. A vase printed in vase mode
In vase mode the slicer prints a single spiralling wall with no infill or top: quick and very light on filament, as we explain in how to save filament. It looks lovely in silk PLA but isn't watertight: use it for dried flowers or slip a glass inside.
16. A figure of an object with a story
Grandma's teapot, the car from the first road trip, a local team's mascot. Upload a photo to Image to 3D: your first creation is free and shows you the photo from every side before you move on to 3D.
17. A gift box with a lid and texture
An 80 × 80 × 50 mm box with a push-fit lid and a leather or wood texture on the outside. Leave 0.2 mm of clearance per side on the lid fit and apply the texture only to the outer faces by painting the ones that shouldn't get it.
Halloween ideas you can still print before Saturday
18. A pumpkin lantern with an LED light
A hollow pumpkin with a cut-out face, in orange PLA with 2 walls and no infill so the light shines through. Inside, a battery LED tealight.
19. Bats and spiders for windows and walls
Flat 2 mm silhouettes in black PLA, ten to a bed. Stick them up with reusable adhesive putty and they come off without a mark. They're the quickest idea on the list.
20. Masks and costume props
A helmet or a large mask won't fit on the bed in one go. Split it with Split into parts, which adds numbered dowels for assembly, and glue the parts with superglue. Sand the seams before painting.
21. A sweet bowl
A cauldron or pumpkin-shaped bowl for the trick-or-treaters at the door. Only use it for wrapped sweets: the layers of a printed part trap residue and most filaments aren't intended for food contact.
Christmas ideas: start in November
22. Baubles and decorations with names
One bauble per family member, with their name in relief. To print the name in another colour, paint it in Colours and export the 3MF if you have a multicolour system, or add a pause in the slicer at the height where the letters start and swap the spool by hand.
23. Nativity scene figures
A full nativity scene means lots of figures and lots of printer hours, so it's worth starting now. Describe them in Text to 3D (“a shepherd holding a lamb, in the style of a clay figurine”) at the same height for all of them, and print with 0.12 mm layers.
24. A star for the top of the tree
In gold silk PLA, hollow, with a socket underneath to slide onto the top branch. If you want it 30 cm tall and your bed is 256 mm, split it in two with dowels and tuck a battery LED strip inside.
25. An advent calendar
Twenty-four numbered little drawers in a stacking frame. It's the longest print on the list, several days spread over a few beds, so it has to be ready before 1 December. Run the model through the Print cost calculator to see how many spools you'll need.
When to start printing each thing
| When | What to print | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Before 31 October | Bats, spiders, pumpkin lantern | Short prints that fit into a day or two |
| First half of November | Nativity scene, advent calendar, tree star | Long print times and room to redo anything that fails |
| Second half of November | Personalised gifts: figures, landscapes, keyrings | The model needs creating, checking and printing without a rush |
| First week of December | Name baubles, coasters, gift boxes | Quick to print and easy to repeat |
If a print fails halfway through, printer troubleshooting with AI helps you find the cause from a description and a photo. And if you run out of filament, the shop lists spools from trusted retailers.
Frequently asked questions
What useful things can I 3D print at home?
Hooks, bag clips, desk and drawer organisers, phone stands, cable clips, knobs and simple spare parts. They're small parts that print in a few hours.
What can I 3D print as a gift?
Personal things go down best: a figure of the family pet, a child's drawing in 3D, a keyring with a raised motif, a textured coaster or a gift box.
Which filament should I use for household parts?
PLA for decoration and figures; PETG for the kitchen, bathroom, outdoors or anything that gets warm, as it handles around 70-80 °C; TPU for flexible parts.
Can I put a candle in a 3D-printed lantern?
No. PLA softens at around 55-60 °C and printing plastics burn. Always use LED tealights or battery lights.
Are 3D-printed parts food safe?
Generally not: the layers trap residue that's hard to clean and most filaments aren't certified for food. Use them for wrapped or dry items.
When should I start printing Christmas presents?
In November. Long jobs such as a nativity scene or an advent calendar in the first half; personalised gifts in the second.