Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Homemade Christmas Gifts


We are a crafty family and usually make several Christmas Gifts. Here's a list of past gifts:


  • Baked goods ~ Cookies, breads & candies

  • Canned goods

  • Frozen meals ~ for families with new babies & older relatives that live alone

  • Paint by number kits - then we framed them - choose the pattern wisely - ours took 5 weeks!

  • Rice trivets with cinnamon & cloves - makes your table smell yummy!

  • Cookie of the Month Subscriptions ~ Which could be expanded to anything

  • Mini scrapbooks

  • Pictures of our family

  • Lap quilts

  • Light up pot pourri jars

  • Layered ingredients in a jar - cookies and also soup mix

  • Themed Kits ~ movie night, art, office, new cook ~ endless possiblities here

  • Personalized stationary & note pads

  • Dress up trunk ~ mostly old prom dressers & costume jewelry found at thrift shops

  • Packets of greeting cards with perpetual calendars

  • Tons of stuff we found on Family Fun site

  • Dog biscuts

  • Suet cakes for birds

Okay, so we are running out of ideas and went to the library to find books. We found a kid's wood working book that inspired Cole. He is going to be making a rope ladder for the girls, a CD holder for a brother and he even found a wooden cat toy that I'm hoping he makes because it's so darned cute! We got a kid's soapmaking book and have found several recipes that we'll try


So, last night, I was surfing around, trying to find more ideas and I wanted to share a few websites I found. Some are blogs I follow daily ~ I'm totally making a spa kit for a friend from all the cool stuff on Little House in the Suburbs. Aubrey wants to make lip balm and also a loofah soap for her teacher. (Instead of pouring soap into molds, you pour it into the end of a loofah. A variation would be to take a bath puff, put it into a cup or bowl and pour soap on it ~ kind of like soap-on-a-rope but with a bath puff inside.)


http://www.skiptomylou.org/


http://motherletter.blogspot.com/


http://homesteadinghousewife.blogspot.com/


http://www.littlehouseinthesuburbs.com/


http://www.livingonadime.com/blog/


http://notmadeofmoney.com/blog/2006/11/50-homemade-gift-ideas-from-around-the-web.html


http://www.allfreecrafts.com/homemade-gifts/


Okay, off to craft & bake.


2 comments:

Leasmom said...

wow...ya'll do all that. Amazing!!!

Mary said...

This is great, Melissa! You have inspired me to get to work on my homemade gifts. So far, I've knitted two pairs of fingerless gloves and made a batch of hand lotion. I've been putting off making soap, so I'll do that today. I also want to make layered cookies in a jar. I made those a couple of years ago and they were a great hit. I'll be looking at the other ideas you've listed and links.
Thanks! :)