Homemade Gift Ideas

[abbersmom]

I buy those plaster-like ornaments at Hobby Lobby and let my girls paint them. I write the girls' names on the back with the date, spray them with acrylic sealer, and let the girls wrap them. The grandparents LOVE this. I love that it's easy, inexpensive, and the girls love doing it.

 

I also give the girls a piece of "nice" watercolor paper and some paint. Let them paint whatever they want. Get a $5 frame with a 5x7 mat in it and frame the painting. It usually looks like "modern art" and is a great gift. I write the girls' names on the bottom of the mat with the date. It's great to see how their painting styles change over the years.

 

Another idea...I let my 5 y/o daughter use my point-and-shoot digital camera to take photos all the time. She loves doing it and she can't hurt the camera. I'm thinking of enlarging a few of the photos to put in frames with mats and give those as gifts too.

 

For younger children....give them a bunch of pony beads (easily found at WalMart or Hobby Lobby), bells, macaroni, or whatever has a hole big enough for them to easily string onto, and let them make "necklaces" for their grandmothers, sister, etc. I usually get yarn or cording and a PLASTIC needle with a large eye to make the stringing easier. You can also dip the end of the yarn in hot wax from a candle to make the end stiff for easier stringing. I have one of those necklaces hanging from my rear view mirror right now. The beads are colorful and come in a bizillion colors and even some shapes. Lots of fun for little ones.

 

You can get very inexpensive mugs with paper inserts at Hobby Lobby for, like, $.88 each. Let them color the inserts and put them in the mugs. You could glue one of their school pictures on it. Anyway, these make great gifts like pencil holders or mugs for decoration. You can wash them, but you have to slip the insert out because the seal isn't waterproof. It's not dishwasher safe either, of course. But it wins for use of creativity and inexpensiveness.

 

Another idea....Get some of the paper that you use to make iron-on transfers. Have them color a picture then copy it onto the paper (I think places like Kinkos and Staples will even do this for you.), and iron it on a t-shirt, apron, tote bag, etc. You can get the apron and tote bag blanks at Hobby Lobby--or other places I'm sure.

 

Hobby Lobby (and other craft stores) have leather projects that boys would enjoy doing.

 

No, I don't work for Hobby Lobby....but I do spend a lot of time (and money) there!

 

Ceramics are easy for older kids to do. (I'd say kids as young as 4 or 5 could do it also.) Some ceramic stores have pieces what have the cleaning and first firing already finished. All you'd have to do is paint (or glaze) the pieces and have them fired again. I'll sometimes get a bisque piece (it's been fired once, changing it from a dried clay to a harder, less delicate, piece) and let the girls paint them with acrylics and just spray them with sealer. If it's a gift that will be useful and not just decorative, use a glaze from the ceramic shop. You could do something easy like little ornaments, or something bigger and useable like a cookie jar or a light.

 

In that same vein, some cities have places where you can go and make your ceramic pieces right there. They fire them and you go pick them up a few days later--finished! The nice thing about this is that you don't have to buy bottles of glaze that you will only use once or twice. You use the stuff at the store, and leave the mess there!

 

I'm full of ideas, but it's going on 6:00 in the morning and I have to get to bed!

 

Best of luck with this project. It sounds like lots of fun to me!

 

Blessings--

Dana

[conj]

just ordered 50$ of stuff from Oriental Trading... :)

[snowbound]

melt and pour soaps are a big hit, we made some froma kit and poured them in popsicle molds with popsicle sticks stuck in them. My kids loved them, and they smelled delightful.

snowbound

[3 boys]

Target has these great pre-formed boxes that are perfect for cookies. Very christmasy(sp) They even have tags and look professional (with the clear/cellophane window on the top). I make cookies, chex mix, dipped pretzels, and buy some candy to fill these with. Takes me one night to get 20 boxes ready. BTW I am by NO means Martha Stewart.. so anyone can pull this off if I can

[BabyBear24kGold]

my daughters love to make small jewelry for my mom and sis and they make jewelry boxes also my family loves them

[frmgrl]

We did what Scanner suggested. The fleece blankets that the kids tied knots in the fringe. My daughter was in 6th grade and hand sewed a few pillows for her baby cousins. I just kept watching the remnant bin at stores and bought baby material. My son even did the same and he was in elementary school. My family still has those pillows!

[theboyzmom]

get plain shoes and then decorate for the person you are gifting...these can be VERY creative and the receiver usually loves them

[JackJack]

We did what Scanner suggested. The fleece blankets that the kids tied knots in the fringe. My daughter was in 6th grade and hand sewed a few pillows for her baby cousins. I just kept watching the remnant bin at stores and bought baby material. My son even did the same and he was in elementary school. My family still has those pillows!

I have seen these blankets done and they are really cute. Do you just place the fleece one on top of the other....fringe them and then tie the fringe together?? The fleece will stay in place? Or do you have to stitch across the whole blanket a couple of times? Do you understand what I mean:rolleyes:??

[Gray04]

No stitching for the blankets, just tie them together. However, a trick I was told about and does seem to work is tie every other one , turn it over and tie the rest. Seems to make the blanket lay flatter. SUPER EASY!!

 

Try it, you do not have to sew at all!

[tchubb]

I have a 5 year old daughter and she loves to mosaic so we bought wooden trays at Michaels (they go on sale occasionally or you could use the 40% off coupons they have almost weekly). I painted the tray with primer. We then went to a thrift store and bought plates and mugs that had different designs. I broke the plates and mugs for her into pieces and she then glued them onto the tray. When it dried I grouted the tray for her and sealed the grout. Then she painted the areas of the tray that needed to be painted. She now plans to serve breakfast to her grandparents on the tray Christmas morning.

[iloveblkfriday]

this year I made a lot of pear preserves and some jellys and all the samples I get for makeup, soap etc I make little gift baskets

[MathGirl]

I received at catalog from Bags and Bows and they have the cone shaped bags for the Hot Cocoa. The are FDA approved for food use.

 

http://www.bagsandbowsonline.com//product/Products.asp?DeptPath_id=7801&dept_id=7801&HeaderName=Cone+Bags&RequestImageFile=dept&ClickedSku=yes&searched=true&sku=236-0612

 

 

12" x 6" 100/case $8.30

 

17" x 7 1/2" 100/case $9.95

 

I have not ordered from them before so I am not sure about shipping costs.

 

Have a great day!

[erose630]

I haven't seen this idea on here yet, so here goes. This will be too much for younger kids, but middle to older aged can handle it (possibly with some sewing help): To make these heated pillow bags (like heating pads but without the cord), Get ears of indian corn and scrape all the kernels off (there are tools that do this, you can rub them off by hand, etc). Then, pick out some fabric (flannels and corduroys are great for winter) and cut two same sized squares, like you are making a small pillow, that are about 12-16 inches long and 7-9 inches wide. Sew 3 sides of the fabric together. Then, put the indian corn kernels in the bag and sew up the fourth side. Sounds odd, but you put it in the microwave for about 3-6 minutes (depends on how much corn you put in it, how big it is)- really just put it in until it gets good and hot. It then stays hot for a long time, so you can sit with it on your lap or hands, or put it at your feet in bed at night, etc. to help keep you warm. Of course, I'm originally from a cold state, so these were a big hit, but if you're not in an area where it gets cold in winter, nevermind!

My great aunt made me one of these when I got married 10 years ago - it's wonderful! Great for injuries/cramps, backaches...you name it!

[elena_398]

One year I made ornaments for my family and friends. I was with my one friend who knows how to put pics on them, etc. We had a ornament party with ourselves and made them for gifts. My sister LOVED that gift that year. She actually cried over them (I made an ornament for each of her 3 children).

[AuntieJul]

This year I'm making crochet scarves for all the women in the family. I have a lot of yarn that I need to use up, and I thought it would be an easy way for me to clear out old yarn I've had for years and make something useful for others. The pattern that I'm using this year is the "Two for the Road" on the LionBrand yarn website, made for Vanna's Choice yarn. I'm learning new stitches (I consider myself an intermediate crocheter, I've been crocheting for 5 or 6 years), and the pattern is basic enough that my plain old yarn looks great and dressed up.

 

I have a lot of baby yarn leftover from baby blankets, so for all the babies that are 2 years old or less, I'm making baby hats. If I have time, I'll make matching scarves for the moms.

 

Another thing I used to do was make a little ornament / gift box decoration that was a crocheted log basket. It was maybe the size of a fist, and it was really very cute, took only an hour to make (single crochet), and you'd use cinnamon sticks from a craft store as the "logs." I made them for an ornament party exchange one year, and if I have time I'll make some this year. A lot of great pattern ideas can be found on CrochetPatternCentral.com.

[SuperMommy]

At my grandma's we always used to make ornaments out of the colored "pipe cleaners" (don't know what they're actually called). We would use red and what to make a candy cane. Or use green and to make a wreath and use the colored balls to make decorations. Then you can tie string to them and actually hang them up on the tree.

[turtle_elf]

Ornaments are a lot of fun! Anything crochet, learning is fun too! Stationery set with stamps, or scrapped cards for them to give out for different occasions, scrapbooks. Homemade coupons, with favors to do.

[pogiporkchop]

At my grandma's we always used to make ornaments out of the colored "pipe cleaners" (don't know what they're actually called). We would use red and what to make a candy cane. Or use green and to make a wreath and use the colored balls to make decorations. Then you can tie string to them and actually hang them up on the tree.

They're called chenille stems and my DD loves them!

[Gporter34]

We always bake cookies and treats for neighbors and teachers. We have made ornaments before and we had fun with it. I have made several quilts for family members for gifts. But the one we had the most fun with was last year for my DD16's dance team at school, I crocheted them all scarves in the school colors for football games or whenever they wanted to wear them. I made them extra long and put pockets on the ends for keeping their hands warm. On the pockets I put their initials on one and a paw print on the other since they are "Wildcats". They loved them and I even got alot of orders for more.

[sallyatwhere]

You can get inexpensive picture frames and glue almost anything to them; buttons,candy, golf tees, anything that the person is interested in.

[erose630]

Well I was leaning towards Poinsettia pens (ballpoint pens with fake flowers attached) but now I might steal this from the 2006 thread:

 

"This is what we did last year, and it was SOOO awesome.

 

My son made them for teachers and administrators, and all relatives.

 

We bought the wooden shapes at Michaels or Hobby Lobby and drilled holes in the top. You smear them with peanut butter, and roll them in birdseed. Then run a wire through the hole.

 

We wrapped them up in cellophane snack bags, and tied them with pretty curling ribbons.

 

TADAA!!!! Instand bird feeders, and they make cute decorations when picked clean. You can buy these in star, reindeer, trees, santa, etc. I recommend sticking with common shapes, because some get hard to recognize."

[migirlfriday]

In the Kraft Food and Family magazine, there is a recipe for truffles and they even gave a page of gift tags that have the recipe on the back to include with the truffles. We are going to do this one I think. There were only 2 ingredients plus whatever you want to decorate them with. Sounds good and easy to me!