Tom Daley Shares Low-Cost, Handcrafted Gift for Husband Dustin Lance Black

In a recently shared holiday video, British Olympic diver Tom Daley highlighted a low-cost, handcrafted Christmas gift he created for his husband, Academy Award–winning screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, underscoring the couple’s emphasis on thoughtful, personal gestures over expensive presents. The clip forms part of Daley’s wider seasonal content, in which he documents his family’s celebrations and showcases his now well-established love of knitting and crafting.

Daley, a four-time Olympic medalist who won gold in the men’s synchronized 10-metre platform at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, has become known in recent years as much for his knitting needles as for his dives, often sharing handmade projects with his followers. By presenting a modest, homemade gift for Black, he reinforced an ethos that value and care within relationships are not measured by financial outlay but by time, intention and creativity.

The couple, who married in 2017, have frequently spoken about the importance of building their own family traditions as a same-sex couple raising a child. Daley and Black became parents via surrogacy in 2018, welcoming their son Robbie and openly discussing their journey to parenthood in interviews and social media posts. Their openness has been widely covered by mainstream outlets and LGBTQ+ media, positioning them as one of the more visible queer families in British public life.

The new holiday video builds on Daley’s broader crafting narrative that gained global attention during the Tokyo Games, when photos and clips of him knitting in the stands went viral and were reported around the world. Following that attention, Daley launched a dedicated knitting and crochet brand, “Made With Love by Tom Daley,” which encourages people of all genders and sexual orientations to take up crafting as a form of self-expression and well-being.

In this context, his choice to highlight a low-cost present for Black is consistent with how he has framed crafting as both accessible and emotionally resonant. While celebrity holiday content can often focus on luxury purchases and high-end experiences, Daley’s emphasis on affordability and sentiment offers an alternative model that may resonate strongly with LGBTQ+ people and allies navigating economic pressures during the festive season. His video suggests that a meaningful queer family celebration can center shared activities and handmade items rather than expensive consumer goods.

LGBTQ+ advocates have long argued that visibility of everyday queer family life—such as holiday rituals, domestic routines and parenting moments—plays a critical role in countering stereotypes and humanizing public perceptions. Media scholars note that when high-profile LGBTQ+ people share ordinary, non-sensationalized aspects of their relationships, it broadens representation beyond coming-out narratives or stories centered solely on discrimination.

Daley and Black’s decision to foreground a simple, handmade gift dovetails with these broader representation goals. By showing their family Christmas in a relaxed and informal way, they present a picture of a queer household negotiating the same seasonal questions many families consider: how to balance budgets, make time for loved ones, and infuse tradition with personal meaning.

LGBTQ+ organizations have highlighted how chosen families and non-traditional households often attach deep importance to rituals such as holiday meals, gift exchanges, or shared creative projects. These practices can be especially significant for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and intersex people who may experience distance or estrangement from their families of origin. A visible queer couple centering care, creativity, and emotional connection during the holidays can therefore provide affirming touchpoints for viewers who are building their own inclusive traditions.

In addition, Daley’s crafting-focused content has been credited by commentators and mental health advocates with helping to normalize hobbies that support stress relief and mindfulness, particularly for LGBTQ+ youth and adults who face higher levels of minority stress. The use of accessible materials and step-by-step demonstrations suggests that meaningful acts of care—such as a handmade present for a partner—are within reach for people with limited resources or experience.

By sharing his low-cost Christmas gift to Dustin Lance Black with a broad online audience, Tom Daley adds another example of how queer public figures are using their platforms to model inclusive, sustainable and emotionally grounded family life. The gesture, modest in material terms, carries symbolic weight in showing that LGBTQ+ relationships and families can be celebrated not through spectacle, but through the everyday acts of care that many viewers may recognize in their own lives.