Creative Moms Hmade Gift for 4 Yo Boy

For my son's 5yo friend, we made him a mix CD with songs from Bare Naked Ladies (their SnackTime CD has a lot of fun songs about popcorn, allergies, ninjas, etc) and from Steve Songs (he has a CD with songs about duck incubators, going to the beach, playing opposite day). We're told it was a big hit.

I've always loved giving events rather than gifts. Like zoo membership, gift certificate to fun things in their areas (indoor play areas, theaters, movie rentals, etc).

My son is #28 (out of grandkids and great-grandkids), so my siblings and I gave up on gift giving for neices/nephews long ago. Then once I married, I started sending bday cards to the ones living at home only, and also sent them to some of my husband's 2nd cousins (who are all young and practically like neices/nephews to him). In these past 5+years, no one from my husband's side has ever mentioned receiving the cards and I'm wondering if its a waste of money . . . .

Good luck!

A super hero cape, super easy to make and perfect for his age.

Distance makes it hard.
I think you're very sweet to care and want to do something.
Crafty ideas? For you to do for them?
I'm not able to see mine regularly so I send them age appropriate things now and then: a magazine to my teenager godchild, little boxes of chocolates or hershey bars, paint by numbers for the little girls, knitting for the older ones, I send the books or bookmarks occasionally, catch a highlight of the sport they watch and send them the info in a letter. Nice of you. :) Maybe send them a valentine's day card, easter basket etc. Make it small and affordable.

One of my friends once made us bean bags, the little ones you can toss-my kids came up with some pretty neat things to do with them. You could also incorporate this into your playmat idea-by making a board that has holes for the bean bags to be tossed at?

How about for the 4 year-old you make him a book of all pictures of him? My 4 year-old LOVES looking at his baby books and it's something he could keep for a long time too. then you could just use sports-themed stickers and backgrounds.

Oh and regarding gifts for teenagers, money. It's all they want. :) Especially if you don't know them that well and are trying to guess at gifts.

How about burning a CD w/a favorite song by each family member?

my sis & I live 2 hours apart & our kids are CLOSE! As are we with each others' kids. We work hard at maintaining these relationships.

We're together at least once a month....but usually a lot more! In fact, since the 1st of April, we've spent 5 out of 6 weekends together....one way or another! It's been a crazy hectic family time....& we're all ready for a break. Her kids are almost 15, 19, & 23. Mine match the oldest & youngest in age. We use emails, texting, Facebk, & phone calls in between our visits. I love that my youngest niece still contacts me after school.....& my oldest niece keeps me updated, too. My nephew & I are close....& use FB mainly.

As for a project, make a family photo collage, framed in a cute frame matching his bedroom. Or you could do those wooden letters for his name & personalize each letter....either thru paint or decoupaged sports stuff.

How about personalized placemats? My kids love the ones that we have (professionally made) but I've seen cute ones made with regular paper and covered with clear Contact paper. You could use photos or block letters of his name in contrasting colors. We have a few that are designed for practicing writing letters and numbers (with wipe-off markers) so they have solid digts, dotted digits and blank lines for progressing from tracing to writing on his own. I've also seen ones with planets, animals, shapes, colors, etc. There is no limit to what you could do. If you aren't comfortable creating your own designs, try blowing up something you find online... hope this helps~