Need inexpensive gift ideas for Grandparents & Aunts for me or my kids so make

[mad hatter fan]

Help! I need ideas! Money is tight this year so I am looking for ideas for gifts we can inexpensively make for my sister, sister-in-law, and my parents and my in-laws. It could be something obviously made by me for them or obviously made by the kids for them or anything in between. I have found that the time and love behind the homemaid gifts is appreciated just as much by them if not more than the storebought kind. This year's gifts will just have to be mostly that kind with very little storebought kind instead of the other way around. So far, the only idea I have come up with is to make a cement stepping stone for near my in-laws' new patio with the grandkid's handprints in it and the date. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

 

[lewdyan1]

We make a gift every year. The favorite so far has been a plain white pot holder (the glove type) that the kids decorated with sharpies!!! We have also done a bathmat (towel type) with their foot prints, hand towel for the bathroom with their hand prints. A small plain white umbrella decorated with sharpies. This year we are decorating cheap frames by gluing things on it. Lots of shiny baubles and little embellishments!

 

[PrincessNancy96]

We make a lot of gifts too... I believe it shows that the items were thought of especially for the receiver and that it's given with love!!! We are doing the altered paint cans this year... and will include bath soaps/gels for the dollar store for the women and than for the men tools... we all know they never seem to have enough or can find them when they need them!
The paint cans can be decorated with scrapbook paper, coloring pages, ribbon....they are inexpensive at home depot for about 1.88 each...
I've also done little gift baskets in the same way...

 

[twinsr241]

One year my sister took her kids blueberry picking in the summer. She froze the berries. At Christmas time she made blueberry mufffins with the kids and gave everyone baskets of muffins. She enclosed a cute tag she made on the computer that told how the kids picked the berries with love. She also included a picture of the kids picking the berries. I thought it was a really cute idea -- and very yummy!

 

[BuzzBelleMom]

We have had the kids make sweatshirts and t-shirts with fabric paint. I let them go wild. They can leave handprints, paint a scene or just make a mess...


(DH 'bout had a heart attack the first time when he saw DD (1 1/2 yrs at the time) covered in several shades of fabric paint. Of course, I stuck her in his face just as he was waking up!)

 

[RumpleMom]

There are recipes for bean soup or cookies that you layer into a mason jar to give as gifts.

The kids can help fill the jars, design a special tag for each jar, and use fabric paints on a piece of cloth to top each jar.

 

[Mickster]

I have had my kids take their hands and feet and trace them on tissue paper. I then decopaged them onto a metal planter and /or large bucket for parents and grandparents. I then sealed them with an outdoor grade poly.

For mother's day, I took (again) their handprints and footprints and made flowers (I need about 5 hands and 2 feet per flower, but it depends on the size of the hands and feet). I mounted them on poster board and put them in a dollar store frame. The kids decorated the flowers with buttons, and fibers. Each was totally unique!

If you have access to a printer and scanner, you could make notecards. The kids could draw a picture and you could scan it in and print it on paper. Each sheet of 8.5 x 11 makes 2 cards. You can get envelopes at Staples. Tie them up with a ribbon and done. They could be totally tailored to the person you are giving them to.

 

[Coll0610]

We do homemade gifts every year. Here's a couple of ideas:

Get plain glass ball ornaments (like from Michaels - they'll probably be on sale for 50 cents closer to Christmas). Take off the top and drip craft paint inside. Let the ball sit in different positions to allow the paint to drip in patterns and dry. You can use a paint marker to write the year and the kids' names on them.

We had tiles left over from doing the kitchen backsplash. The craft store sells paint for tiles. You'll also need a primer and topcoat. Use sponge stencils to decorate the tiles. (We did Christmas shapes in red and green). Glue felt to the bottom and you have trivets.

We've also decorated foam door hangers and made bead bracelets from a kit from Oriental Trading Company.

Another project I would have like to try is one DS did in preschool. The teacher used his handprints to make a wreath and then wrote his name and year on it. You could also do a Christmas tree. (We never did this one at home because DS hates having paint on his hands. In fact, his teacher still remembers how much he hated doing this project 6 years ago!)

 

[MyLittlePiglet]

Just a note to the last post. Who could trace the child's hand and cut it out several times out of green construction paper... or cardstock for something more sturdy and overlap the hands to make a wreath.

We do tons of homemade gifts too!!! The favorites in my family always center around photos of the kids.

 

[KLAIT]

My niece and nephew bought some small mason type jars, a roll of craft wire and misc beads...they made it into a candleholder.

Twisted the wire around the mouth of the jar and made a handle (twisted and curved with a few beads..then had misc wires sticking out from the rim with asstd beads...filled it half fll with sugar and a votive candle..I use it all the time...hard to explain, but very cute

 

[we3disneygo]

Here's some of the things we've done in the past: dd drew a pic on men's white hankie with fabric marker with the date., homemade soap, melts in microwave and pour it into mold.,a clear dinner plate from Wal mart , pillar candle, pkg. of colored glass stones, glue, you glue the stones around the plate leaving a spot for the candle in the middle. a really pretty candle holder! , foam Christmas ornament with dd's picture, chex party mix, carmel corn,candy and cookies in neat containers,this year we are doing "relaxation kit's" for some, relaxation cd(from dollar store),bath pillow,back masseger, bath sponge and homemade soap! the other items I got marked down at Wal mart last year after Christmas!! hope these idea's helped!

 

[daisyduck123]

There are recipes for bean soup or cookies that you layer into a mason jar to give as gifts.

The kids can help fill the jars, design a special tag for each jar, and use fabric paints on a piece of cloth to top each jar.

This is what I was going to say too. You could even include a little note with each jar stating that the kids would love to come over & help bake the cookies.

I make these all the time. They make great gifts for my room mothers at school.

 

[gfolchick]

As a Brownie Girl Scout project two years ago we made snowmen from brick pavers. They were less than a dollar at Home Depot. It's an interlocking paving stone in a shape that has a small square on top and then five sided. We painted them white (it took a few coats of masonary paint or outdoor paint) then used an old child's sock for a hat by cutting off the foot, tied with raffia. We used dimensional paint for the eyes and nose and glued buttons down the front. A plaid scarf finished the snowman. I even glued felt to the bottom so that it wouldn't scratch the floor. These can be used as a door stop or a mantle decoration. Since they are heavy we couldn't wrap them with paper or put them in a gift bag so I purchased flour sacks at Wal-Mart for $5 for I think 3 or 4 and used the same flannel from the scarf to wrap them up. We ended up making more for the grandparents after the first one because they came out so cute. For Mother's Day/Father's Day you can use the same style brick to make a catepillar (lay on it's side) or a ladybug, they have the same shape. I had my husband drill holes in the top and bent wire for antenaes.

Cost: Pavers >$1 each, paint $8 for a quart, black and orange dimensional paint $1, yard or less of flannel fabric $3, old colored ribbed socks (or new dollar store), raffia/ribbon scraps

 

[Teresa Pitman]

If you have access to a good-quality printer, you can make calendars with photos of your kids for each month. Go through last year's pictures and find one suitable for each month. You can download a calendar template and then insert the photos, and print out the copies you want. You can also take the photos to a printer and they will make them into calendars relatively cheaply.

Another gift I've done is a family cookbook. Write up the recipes - ideally with stories about each one - on your computer. Then print everything out on nice paper (I used a sandy-beige coloured paper). I put them in duo-tang notebooks, but you could probably take them to a printer for something fancier. Or you could hand-write the recipes into a blank notebook.

Last year, my daughter (who is a student and pretty broke!) made framed collages of family photos for everyone. She bought inexpensive frames, took a selection of photos, arranged them into a nice pattern and then had them photocopied onto large sheets of paper. Then she framed one for each person. They look wonderful.

A friend of ours makes large jars of homemade granola (his own "secret" recipe) for each person every year. He spends a whole day preparing large batches of it, but we all look forward to getting it.

Teresa

 

[mad hatter fan]

Thanks everyone for the great ideas! Now I have to pick which ones to use!

 

[the Fidge]

I am doing some of these right now and heres what I am working on: Wreathes and decorate with things that I am reminded of each person. Making one for my sis's back kitchen door with graped vines. Her kitchen is roosters so I am doing hers that way, my mom's has little cherubs and lace and victorian.

I purhcased clear candle holders nice size and will use pinecones, will taken them apart and layer them all aornd and use hemp on top. Then hot glue some deer or bear for my friends home is all woodsy looking.

Purchased wooden slighs that my son is painting now and will decorate with dried flowers and the others will be filled with candies.

Good luck !

 

[Eeyore's Tiara]

We have done the craft clay that you bake. I just give the kids a pack of the different colors, some pin backs, some wire and let them have fun designing. Then I put it in the oven for them and bake it. Everyone seems to love the pins they can wear. Even non family members. They made cute little angels one year and except for the wings, you just make little balls(hands,body,face, hair, etc.) You just flatten the balls out for hair,eyes, and body.

Also, we bought a make a plate kit at a bookstore and the kids just had to design the plates and then you send them off and the company finishes them.

 

[PrettyInTink]

I just posted a thread on here about Gifts in a Jar. Maybe that would be a good project for your kids to do for gifts. I hope some people post ideas on that thread.

 

[the Fidge]

WE just made macrame with wooden beads key chains!!

 

[PixieDust32]

OK I made my Mom (for mother's day) a quilt type throw (sp?) with pictures of my children! How I did it, ok it was a silly idea buy it worked out pretty nice, sorry I didn't take a picture of it.

OK, I got a great deal on E-bay on Iron-on transfer paper, I paid about 10.00 bucks on 4 packs of 10 sheets each, something like that.
Then I picked pictures of my kids from when they were babies, school days, christmas, DISNEY of course and also the school ones. Then I got the fabrics on sale from wal mart and the fabric store near me.
Then, I printed all the pictures onto the iron-on sheets, I used my photoshop program to some, like black and white backgroud and things like that. I sew them all together with different fabrics and that was it. My Mom loved it, and she didn't use it as a blanket, she hung it.