DIY Gift Idea: Paracord Bracelets

From my experience, it's a lot more difficult to come up with gift ideas for men than for women. So for those of you who, like myself, are struggling with gift ideas for their brothers/dads/boyfriends/husbands, especially this holiday season, here's a gift idea for the outdoorsy/adventurous men (and women) in your life: Paracord Bracelets!

A couple of paracord bracelets I made for a friend.

Paracord, also known as parachute cord, is a type of thin nylon rope that was originally used for, well, parachutes. It's composed of a outer sheath with 7 core strands and typically has a minimum breaking strength of 450 or 550 pounds. Paracord bracelets also go by the name of "survival bracelets". The cord in these bracelets are woven in such a way that one bracelet can contain around 8-14 feet or paracord, more or less, depending on the type of "weave" you use. During emergency situations, like say for broken straps, or a water rescue, or a tourniquet (okay, morbid example, I know) these can be unraveled and you have several feet of cord at your disposal.

Raw paracord with the core strands exposed.

I first heard of paracord bracelets from Dax. I think he saw it on either The Awesomer or Reddit. Now, Dax and I have this thing for giving each other bracelets (we make a lot of those embroidery thread friendship bracelets for each other). When Dax said he wanted a paracord bracelet, I really wanted to get him one, but at that time we couldn't find it in any of the outdoor or sports shops. Once again, I turned to my friend Google and I was able to look up a local online shop that sold paracord by the foot. They also sold ready-made and made-to-order paracord bracelets plus some other paracord creations. But I thought it would be nicer if the bracelet was hand-made by myself, too.

Paracord bracelets are usually woven using macrame braids/stitches. You can make it with or without a buckle. There are a whole lot of video tutorials now on YouTube so I don't think I need to post my own. I do recommend checking out TyingItAllTogether's YouTube channel for tutorials on how to do various knots and braids.

BTW, I get my paracord from The Para Shop Manila. They have quite a selection of colors, too. I made myself a hot pink and electric blue one. Hahaha.

Making my hot pink and electric blue paracord bracelet. Hihi.

Here's another one using a different kind of weave.

Made using half hitch knots.

Recently, a friend asked about Dax's bracelet and after explaining what it was, she thought it was a brilliant idea and asked me to make a couple for her to give as gifts. She says I should make a business out of it. Haha.

Of course, I highly recommend making them yourselves, especially if you're giving them to someone. It just makes it more special.:) But if you don't have the time or patience to do so, you're more than welcome to order from me. Just comment/text/email jika(dot)macachor(at)gmail.com/Facebook or Twitter message me.:)

Mine and Dax's.:)

- Jix.