Homemade Cool Christmas Gifts

This year I'm making a dip set with my son out of clay flower pots. Buy a medium size pot and the largest size dish they have. (The pot is the dip dishand you put that in the center of the dish with chips all around it.) Paint and seal them and include a few dip mixes.

Last year we had a party with Kristen she has great quality gifts to make with kids from Crayola ###-###-####
She had great bowls and cups flags all kinds of good stuff!

Oh boy! My two favorite subjects - holidays and saving money! lol

Here are some of my favorite groups on Yahoo
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/WasteNothing/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Friendly-Freezer/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Frugal_Moms_Living/

I love to cook and bake so I make cookies, cakes, pies, etc. for the holidays. I buy Christmas tins during the after holiday sales and save them for the following year. I then write a personalized Christmas card to attach, including the recipe for whatever goodie is included and give that.

I also have a big basket downstairs and I save all those free samples I get in the mail throughout the year and use those as stocking stuffers and "filler" in gift baskets.

Soups, cookie mixes and cake mixes in a jar with a pretty bow are fun gifts for those who like no fuss cooking. You can even add the "big" thing too. For example, I gave my sister some pans, cooking utensils and a few "starter" kits for some of her favorite foods. (She is in college).

In the last few years I've taken up digital scrapbooking. It has been so relaxing and much fun. Last year, I scrapbooked our baby's first Christmas, added a few video clips, some Christmas music and burned DVDs for our parents. They really enjoyed seeing her celebrate her first Christmas and can watch it again and again.

Maybe you can go to the library and help each child pick out a book or magazine of Christmas ideas and the family "rule" is each one has to make something for a sibling. Or, maybe each night a different child gets to make the family meal and has to add a special holiday treat of their own choosing (I don't know if that's possible depending on your children's ages).

Every year we pack a picnic of cheeses and crackers and such and go driving around looking at Christmas lights. It costs nothing but gas and time and is fun.

Another fun thing we've done is go to the homeless shelter and help during the holidays. Or, we "adopt" a family to buy for and forego gifts between us. It has meant so much to me to be able to reach out to other families.

There is no limit to your imagination! Good luck.

Hi there~

You can make some really cool bookmarks (the metal kind) and bead them with the persons name on it. Bead in the Hand, in Oak Park, is a great place to start... They have the bookmarks (don't quote me but they are about $5) and then purchase the beads and they will help you string them.

Hope this helps!

These are so cute!!!!!!!!! I don't know if you knit, but if you do these would be great for all of your coffee loving friends and family.

http://www.magknits.com/warm04/patterns/java.htm

M.

Hi! I don't know if you sew or not...but I saw a cool idea in a magazine where you buy old 100% wool sweaters at a thrift store and then "felt" them in the washer by washing and drying multiple times on hot to shrink. Then you can make Christmas stockings or pillow tops or purses or whatever you'd like with the felted wool. I'm thinking of doing stockings for my family that way.

Of course, there's always the baking route with the jars of ready-to-go brownie/cookie mix with a cookie cutter attached. I did crockpots the other year. Aldi or someone had a sale on the little crockpots--the two-serving size ones that you could make dip in. I think they were about $5.99 apiece. Then I filled them with hot dip and soup recipes, plus a dried con queso dip mix.

I've also had the kids help choose car toys and games to make a family car kit. We go to the dollar store and pick out travel stuff, including some safety stuff and some toys/games. I give the kids a $ limit to work with. I package the "kits" up in some kind of box with a few energy bars for friends and family with kids. If I can find a cool box for cheap, so much the better! My kids love the dollar store.

Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. The easiest thing ever! I picked 12 pictures, one for each month of the year and made calendars for all the grandparents last year. They're about $10 at Cosco (and other places, I'm sure. I know Kodak and Sears do something like that, too.) My parents loved it and want it again this year.

HTH!

M.
www.close2mebaby.com

there are several books at the book store that you can get idea's from.........try "Cookies in a jar" you can measure the items and the kids can dump the stuff in.

I've given my parents a collage of my son's 1st 3 months..... Tons of pictures that were taken in the 1st 3months and they loved it.......

Also did my son's foot prints on pot holders......

Made a calendar with card stock and used pictures, markers, siccors, and stickers to decorate it...... Kind of a neat thing so you don't have to pay so much money to have them done......

Given my parents a coffee and tea gift basket......

We made for Mother's Day a tee shirt for my mom with all our hand prints on them and then a apron for my mother-in-law and for fathers day decorated picture frames and put a picture of grandpa and grandson in it........

Lots of things that you can do........

Good luck.......

V. K.

Hi J.,

We make homemade hot chocolate powder mix and herbed olive oils every couple years. The powdered hot chocolate mix would be really easy for kids to help measure, mix, and pour.

Good luck
S.

Every year when I was growing up we would make staionary for gifts. We would draw a picture (our best picture - usually we went through several drafts) in pencil. My dad would ink it over and my parents would get it copied onto nice card stock and cut into note cards. These were great gifts for people (we usually gave about 10 cards + envelopes per person) and now they're really fun to look at. Plus, you can use them as thank-you notes. My dad made sure to put the date and our name in small print in the bottom corner so that years later we could remember whose was whose. Us three kids still enjoy looking back through all of the extra cards from years past. We did this from about age 3 - 15 or so.

You can also do note cards with hand/footprints of your little ones.

when i was growing up, we (5 of us)used to bake cookies/brownies with our mom every year,----- and now my sisters and i do it with our girls every year! everyone LOVES it.. and for our close family we'll make handmade ornaments and christmas decorations. that way every year at christmastime they have something we made them! its a tradition now, all the friends, family, teachers look forward to our cookie baskets!!!!,,, its pretty cool, its something that helps us celabrate the holidays together, as a family, too!

you can do a yahoo or google search for christmas cookie recipies and holiday art projects to do with the kids!

How about a really cool ebook from Little Bird Tales? Kids can create art, stories or import pictures, then add their voice over each image! The end result is a one of a kind gift, momento, love note and story all rolled into one. You can draw online using their art pad, alter pictures using the art pad (we like to add word and thought bubbles), create a story or tell what's in the picture and then record your child narrating, making a commentary, or singing their favorite song or carol! A one month subscription is only $4.95 and you can create as many albums/books as you want, send it to everyone who has an email address and sit back and let the love and thanks roll back in. Everyone I send these to LOVES them like you can't imagine. Especially relatives from far away. The 30 day sub. is viewable for 60 days. A one year subscription is only $24.95 and as many of you know, that is CHEAP for a kids site. No ads, no merchandising and no links to any other sites, so your kids are safe. And it's a truly GREEN gift, because no natural resources are wasted. And did I mention it's totally fun for the kids. Makes a great gift, too. www.littlebirdtales.com

Dear J.,
I don't know how much you are looking to spend. My kids and I which are 4 & 2 started making our Christmas gifts already. I went to walmart and bought enough of the picture frames in the craft section (each one $1.97 I got the cheapest)they are brown card board. I got foam stickers and google eyes (depending on what you get $2 to $7 for either a bag or tub). I let my kids pick out what stickers they wanted to decorate with. Then I went and bought finger paints ($4 or $5). Then I went and got a roll of film. Took pictures of my two kids and got the pictures developed. They are so light that I can even mail to the family out of state. With out the film and getting it developed I think I spent $50, got 15 presents and still had paint and stickers left over.

I painted the picture frames what ever color my kids wanted. I spelled the names of each person it was going to with the ABC stickers. Then I let my kids decorate them any way they wanted. I helped my 2 year old. Then I told them they could do anything for the picture. Depending on who I told them it was for. Example my friend in florida loves snakes and is a construction worker, so my daughter got the hammer and my son got his fake snakes. It was so much fun.

Last year we bought construction paper and paints. I did hand and foot prints on them and let my son color on the paper.

Most people love the homemade gifts better than expensive ones. Remember it's the thought that counts.
Good Luck and Have Fun with what ever you choose.
B.

I took my 2.5 year old to a paint your own pottery place last year. We picked out Christmas ornaments and she painted them. They were $2 each and it was a lot of fun. I also purchased a couple of plates (they were $8 each) and put my kids hands on them. And while my baby slept and my daughter painted her ornaments I decorated the plates. They really looked nice and my parents and grandparents and my sister loved the gifts. Plus the kids and I had a great time. Plus it was quick and easy and I didn't have to clean up the mess.

Good Luck!
E.

I did the same thing last year. I made two different kinds of fudge. One chocolate and one peppermint. I also found a hot chocolate recipe and made that too. I went to the dollar store and got nice plates and mugs. Just a thought! hope it helps

What a neat idea, I treasure homemade gifts.
I would say go to Micheal's, they have classes on Saturday's, free demo's and $2.00 classes. That way you have a hands on idea, plus they display all kinds of creative ideas.
;-)

How about cookie or brownie mix in a jar? The kids can help layer the ingredients. They have cookbooks out that are just for this reason. Also, I have bought a kit before for a mug or plate that the kids can paint on and you bake it and it becomes a great personalized gift. What about small photo albums that you fill with the kids pics(they can help pick out their favorites)for family members that do not get to see the kids very often.

Hi!
You can buy craft kits from Oriental Trading Company--they have a website. They have lots of seasonal craft kits that are very inexpensive and make ornaments, stain glass, etc. and come in sets of like 12 so you can make them for lots of people. I often used this when I was teaching to have the children make them as gifts for their parents!

Hi J.,
What I usually do with my kids is go to Michaels and get those small styrofoam cones they are very inexpensive and get small swatches of felt. Buy the x-mas colored red/green hersheys kisses, and with a hot glue gun glue them on the cone starting on the bottm and working your way up. You can put a bow on top if you'd like and use the felt for a skirt, just cut a larger circle than the cone. My kids love to do this. They give these gifts to teachers etc. Good Luck and have fun!