Homemade Holiday Presents! Lets help each other! Ideas WANTED!

[It's A Happy Day]

We are all budget conscious here and many of us also shop early to make sure we have a special present for everyone on our list and I thought I would start a thread of homemade ideas.

Is there something special you have made for mom, grandma, dad, grandpa, a child, a sibling?

Is there something special you have received that you now hold near & dear because someone made it for you?

Please share your special talents, ideas, etc. on a homemade holiday gift - pictures are welcome too! Lets help each other come up with a new idea for those special to us - teachers, friends, family, the mailman, the newspaper guy, whomever is on your list!

 

[drivencrazy]

We, my kidos and I usually make EVERYONE (lots of family members, friends, teachers, postman...) a Christmas gift, we try to make it personal for each person... here are some we have done in the past:

Small wreaths (2-4inches each) and found Ornaments to put on each one. For example, Grandma LOVES Sants so her's had lots of little Santas on it and a bigger Santa sitting in the middle. The music teacher had insterments and music notes. They were a hit and the kids loved picking out all the things to put on each one. We used the green floral wire to attach the items with.

Glass ornaments (the clear glass ones) you pick your colors of paint and put the paint inside and mix it around. These turned out really cool. We used red, green and silver paint. Since you put the paint inside them and then turn them all around even the little ones were able to do this. Then we wrote on them with (puffy paint?) the paint that comes right out of the tip.. the year and who it was for and who made it. (very cool, but did have some get broken).

Applesauce/cinnamon ornaments. They smell great! You mix the applesauce and cinnamon together and roll it out and use cookie cutters or make what ever shapes you want (clay like) let them dry and there you have it. (don't have the quanties of applesauce...cinnamon but can probably find it if needed).

One year we made tons of different kinds of cookies and candies and boxed them really nice for everyone, that went pretty well, but took forever to get done!

There are a few of the things we have done... I'm sure there are more if I think more about it!

We also hand make all of our Christmas cards every year... last year we made just over 100 of them! And so if we can't send a gift that we made at least they get the handmade card!

 

[wendygrace]

My personal favourite is a homemade receipe on a card attached to a bowl/jar/container with the dry ingredients.

Family receipes books are nice. Nothing fancy. Just a binder with receipes or a little receipe book with cards.

 

[disneymarie]

Last year I made bath salts. I bought a few large epsom salts boxes and used Lavendar scents. I packed them in canning jars with gold type lace from Walmart material dept. and gold elastic ribbon around the rims.

They were beautiful. The Epsom salts, great for the body. I have a huge box always around to soak away aches and stress.

I also did mugs, I filled with some HErshey Kisses, or Pepermints tied in a clear wrap, like Easter baskets are wrapped in, and ribbon. Another one is a mug with hot chocolate packages and candy cane.

I watch for easy chrochet annimal too for little ones. I am not much of a chrocheter, but I can get through some piggies and teddy's fairly well.
Another if you can crochet granny squares do 8 big ones, and buy an inexpensive toss pillow, or stuffing and attach the squares 4 front four bag and a sweet pillow.

dianne

 

[Princess_Michelle]

Last Year, I made Chex Muddy Buddies Snacks, and put them in the clear decorated bags and tied them with ribbon....it was SO cheap to make, and really easy.

This year, I am using the teddy bear cake pan (from Wilton) that I have had for a year or two and making cakes. We do Family gifts for one whole side of our family, so it'll come out to be about 13 cakes. Might take a little while, but really cheap and easy to do I'm going to get some Christmassy ribbon to tie around the bears neck and just wrap it in the wrap you use for gift baskets.

 

[Forevryoung]

Easy sewing projects- that's what I'm doing this year! (I found directions to all online or figured out myself)

Examples-
lunch bags
cosmetic bags (with scraps)
hot/cold wraps
sleeping masks

and my favorite: pj pants (buy fleece onsale for 1.99 a yard... takes approx 2 yards/pair)

 

[Disneybren]

Candy Apples-Put a stick in apple,dip in melted carmel,let cool-Dip in melted milk chocolate and then a topping such as toffee,nuts etc.-Put in a pretty plastic bag!!!

 

[WendyisDarling]

I'm toying with the idea of making a "family cookbook". It won't be a big surprise to anyone since they will have all contributed. It will be similar to what churches and clubs do, but smaller and much more personal. (I'll have to print it myself and get it bound at Kinkos I guess).
I want to include the recipes that my relatives are "famous" for: my aunt's rolls, my mom's chicken and noodles, Grandma's pot roast...that sort of thing. I think many will appreciate it and it will be something treasured as the years pass.
I hope some are willing to give up their "secret ingredients".
I'd also like to get family members to write up a short paragraph of a fun family memory that I could disperse throughout the cookbook. Adding pictures would be awesome, too.
Wow. I better get to work!

 

[mickeyfan2]

I'm toying with the idea of making a "family cookbook". It won't be a big surprise to anyone since they will have all contributed. It will be similar to what churches and clubs do, but smaller and much more personal. (I'll have to print it myself and get it bound at Kinkos I guess).
I want to include the recipes that my relatives are "famous" for: my aunt's rolls, my mom's chicken and noodles, Grandma's pot roast...that sort of thing. I think many will appreciate it and it will be something treasured as the years pass.
I hope some are willing to give up their "secret ingredients".
I'd also like to get family members to write up a short paragraph of a fun family memory that I could disperse throughout the cookbook. Adding pictures would be awesome, too.
Wow. I better get to work!

I would scrapbook the pages to make them more personable and then put them into a binder. The swaps do 8.5x5.5 pages and there is a binder at Staples and protective sleeves for that size paper.

 

[toledo13]

I think what I'm doing this year is making family 'movie' baskets.

Take a basket and fill the bottom with shredded paper. Put in boxed 'movie theater candy' (buy at Factory Card Outlet... cheap cheap cheap!) and buy a couple boxes of microwave popcorn. Take the popcorn pouches out and arrange with the boxed candy. I'll either then purchase some DVD's from the budget bins or put in a $15 gift card to Blockbuster. I'll then put shrinkwrap on it and tie with a bow. Ta-da! I'm guessing, if I do the gift card idea, it'll be around $25 per basket, as long as I can find some nice cheap baskets on Black Friday

 

[maggiew]

I'm toying with the idea of making a "family cookbook". It won't be a big surprise to anyone since they will have all contributed. It will be similar to what churches and clubs do, but smaller and much more personal. (I'll have to print it myself and get it bound at Kinkos I guess).
I want to include the recipes that my relatives are "famous" for: my aunt's rolls, my mom's chicken and noodles, Grandma's pot roast...that sort of thing. I think many will appreciate it and it will be something treasured as the years pass.
I hope some are willing to give up their "secret ingredients".
I'd also like to get family members to write up a short paragraph of a fun family memory that I could disperse throughout the cookbook. Adding pictures would be awesome, too.
Wow. I better get to work!

I've been giving something like this as part of a wedding gift to my cousins when they get married. It has family favorites, as well as any other type of recipe that I see in a magazine or whatver and looks good to me. So I input them in my recipe computer program. It really isn't too bad once you have all the recipes input. I used a program called Key Home Gourmet that I got for pretty cheap at Best Buy. There might be better programs now, as I bought that several years ago. But I just printed out the recipes and had them bound at Kinkos with a vinyl cover and also a plastic cover on the front. The only part that took some time was the index of recipes. My program would print out a list of recipes by type (main course, dessert, etc.) but didn't list the page number. So I have to go in and do that by hand. But maybe newer programs would do this?

I think my cousins all really enjoy getting this as a present.

Maggie

 

[NemoMOm]

I'm making jam and applesauce from pick your own farm goods. I'm going to bake breads and cookies, add candles (got them on clearance from Michaels for only .75!) and a xmas cd I got from qvc( 12 fo 25). Put it all in gift baskets.

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

I have two home made gifts which have gone over well.

1) My best homemade gift was a few years ago - it was time consuming but meant a lot to my family.

I put together a Family History Book - I started the project with my mom (she invested the money I invested my time) We bought a Family Tree Software and a subscription at ancestry.com. I scanned old pictures into the computer and did Bios on everyone. On some of the older relatives without pictures I would do a little write-up on where they lived in Europe with pictures or a brief story about the history of that time period (ex. Potato famine in Ireland)

Through ancestry.com I "met" two cousins who actually had photos of my great grandparents and stories to tell! We all learned more about our family and I have something to pass down to my kids. My sisters were delighted with the gift.

2) I made a picture calendar for my husbands side of the family. At that time there were 12 grandchildren so each one "got" a month. The top was a collage of pictures with the the bottom sheet the printout of the month. I printed all the pages at home and then took them to the office store to get them to spirally bind it.

So I prefer to put more time in ONE project and then get that project copied.

I love the recipe idea - unfortunately my MIL did that for a wedding a few years ago.

Keep the ideas flowing!

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

WOW!! I am absolutely loving all the ideas. I think a lot of my friends and family are getting gift baskets from all the stuff I have bought at CVS!! LMAO! Everyone will be squeaky clean! LOL

 

[sarahlovesmickey]

Oh, I wanted to mention, at Michaels Craft Store, they have these calendars that either have a picture to color or you can add a picture to every month. I bought a few for my son to do for his great grandma and for his other two grammies. It is not only a useful gift, but they love stuff that he makes. =) Oh, the best part, they are only $1 a piece!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[labdogs42]

I made the fleece no-sew blankets for everyone a few years ago. They take 4 yards of fleece each for nice big blankets (3 yards for kids blankets). Here are some directions I found online: http://www.exploringwomanhood.com/homelife/ideas/pom-jan03.htm

Last year I made peppermint bark candy. It was awesome, easy, and inexpensive. I can post pictures of that project if you want. I'll have to upload them and do it a little later.

I have also made tons of gifts in a jar type jars. I get most of my recipes from allrecipes.com. Just search for cookies in a jar. This is a great thread, let's keep the ideas flowing!

 

[problemchild718]

The Christmas before my mom died, she gave my sister and I a jar full of advice, memories and receipes written on little pieces of paper. It is my most cherished posession.
I gave my sister a memory book last year with photos, memories and inspirational phrases.

 

[timzagain]

I'm a sewing/ crafting nut! Here are a few of the homemade gifts I've made over the years:-

1. Christmas bib for the babies in the family. I found terry cloth at a local fabric store - really good quality. Alternatively, you could buy solid colour terry washcloths. My DD's used to use their old bibs for their dolls, so I was able to use them as the pattern. Using remnants of Christmas fabric in my stash, I appliqued simple Christmas designs (trees, candy canes etc), sewed on a bow or two from satin ribbon. The edges were finished with seam binding (we call it bias binding here), which was also used to make the neck strings. You could use velcro closures instead.

2. Christmas T-shirt - same principle as above, using inexpensive T-shirts in Christmas colours. You could always sew small jingle bells under the applique. My DD loved the jingling, but the bell was secured sewn in, so it wouldn't be a hazard to her.

3. Cloth napkins - buy inexpensive fabric, and make your own. One year I hand-embroidered a holly design on a set for my mother. Took me a while - I worked on them while waiting for the kids at their extracurricular activities. If you don't want to embroider, you could potato-print or sponge print a design using acrylic paint. Just remember to iron the design under a sheet of paper to fix the paint.

4. Christmas ornaments - I make polymer clay ornaments for sale. For gift giving, I'll personalize them!

5. Tote bags - buy some denim or even upholstery fabric and have fun decorating them with beads, buttons, paints, applique - whatever tickles your fancy! Other similarly simple projects include drawstring backpacks, personalized pencil cases/cosmetic case with stationery or toiletries.

6. Towels - I bought some inexpensive towels - the white "industrial" towels you'd buy in a six-pack at Sam's or similar. I then personalized them with the couples' initials (an overlapping design) using the zig-zag stitch on my machine. It helps that they had easy-to-sew initials like V & L! Added an inexpensive bath gel and a "back-scrubbie-thingy" as my DD would say, and presto a bath gift basket that looked like it cost a fortune, but really didn't!

7. Decorated plates - a cheap white plate, decorated with acrylic paints etc. One year, my DD's did plates that said "Mrs. Jones - A+ Teacher" We sprayed on a low sheen glaze to fix the design. Include an inexpensive plate stand along with clear instructions that the plate is for decorative purposes only.

8. Magnetic Memo Board - a simple computer project that could easily be done in Word, although we used Microsoft Publisher. We selected a digital photo of the recipient & some clip art, typed in an appropriate phrase like "A little reminder..." Print out on good card stock and have it laminated. Stick on some small pieces of adhesive magnet on the back. We also punched a hole and attached a dry-erase marker with a pretty ribbon. (You could put a piece of magnet on the marker, instead). DD made one for her teacher nearly five years ago, and she still uses it!

I've also done mugs and gift baskets - there are lots of ideas for gift baskets on the internet so I won't repeat them here!

 

[KLAIT]

The one thing I love to do each year are personalized calendars. I buy the "Invent It" Blank calendars, and go from there. We put each family members birthday on it and then fancy up some pictures with titles for the top...they are really loved by all. We do them for each side of the family.....they are really easy and pretty inexpensive.

 

[mommytobug]

Last Year, I made Chex Muddy Buddies Snacks, and put them in the clear decorated bags and tied them with ribbon....it was SO cheap to make, and really easy.

This year, I am using the teddy bear cake pan (from Wilton) that I have had for a year or two and making cakes. We do Family gifts for one whole side of our family, so it'll come out to be about 13 cakes. Might take a little while, but really cheap and easy to do I'm going to get some Christmassy ribbon to tie around the bears neck and just wrap it in the wrap you use for gift baskets.

Please share the recipe!! YUMMY