wanting to make gifts, need ideas

[GoofyG]

Ok, I'm trying to cut back for Christmas. The joys of a BIG family. I'm wanting to make gifts. Does anyone have ideas? Also, my kids make gifts fort he grandparents every year. I'm needing ideas for them too, they are age 4 and 2. Any help would be great!

 

[mjantz]

Fleece scarves are nice. 1/4 yard of polar fleece & just cut the ends to make fringe. Cheap (especially if you have a coupon!) & polar fleece comes in so many patterns & colors you can find something for everyone.

 

[squirrel]

Can your husband do any woodworking?

My dad made wooden train marker holders. If he's not that great at woodworking-he could do a block one.

Have him drill 8 holes in a block of wood - the diameter needs to be the same as the marker lid. He used Crayola. Make sure to leave some room between the holes so that the kids can pull the markers out. Hammer the lids of the markers into the wooden block gently. The lids should stay in the block and keep your child from loosing them.


How about some make your own crafts for the older children. The dollar store has some little wooden boxes. Add some paint, painbrushes, stickers or confetti to decorate the box with. You could also do photo frames.


I made a game with the wooden boxes from the dollar store. I purchased 5 of them, glass pebbles (treasure) and a dice. Put the treasure in one of the boxes and then give everyone else a box. Everyone takes turns rolling and collecting the treasure from the center until the treasure is gone. Then have everyone count the treasure in their box.

Another fun game: I Spy Bottle

One empty waterbottle with lid, rice and lots of small items (confetti, penny, hair clip, buttons, beads, dice, small toys, etc). Alternate the rice and the items in the waterbottle. Leave room at the top so the items can move around in the bottle. Hot glue the lid and then play I Spy.

 

[GoofyG]

I'm going to have to check out the dollar store for those boxes. I like the idea of painting them. Thanks

 

[nikkers]

Ok, I'm trying to cut back for Christmas. The joys of a BIG family. I'm wanting to make gifts. Does anyone have ideas? Also, my kids make gifts fort he grandparents every year. I'm needing ideas for them too, they are age 4 and 2. Any help would be great!

Here are some ideas for the kids. I also have a 4 and 2 year old.
My kids made each of their grandparents stones for their gardens. We bought the kits at Michael's. Used the 40% off coupons.
We have also made calendars. You can buy blank calendars at a craft store. I let my kids decorate each month. Then, we added photos of them.
For mother's day. I bought large size paper plate, the heavy ones. I used 4 plates. Did their hand prints on one and foot prints on the other. I let them decorate around their prints. I bought letter and number stickers. I put their name and year on their plate. I linked them together using ribbon. On the top plate, I tied a ribbon so it could be hung.
One year for mother's day my DS decorated a pot for me. It is very cute. He put his hand prints on it.

My sister made each of my kids fleece tie blankets. They are wonderful!

I love hand made gifts. It is so thoughtful.

Good luck! I can't wait to hear other people's suggestions.

 

[skw444]

Something my daughter did last year in PreK that I thought was a great gift. The teacher took a picture of each child and had them developed in black and white. They then had these wooden plaques (you can get them at Walmart or Michaels) and had the kids paint them white. They modge podged the picture onto the plaque. Then tied a pretty ribbon to it to hang it up. We are going to use the idea this year for the grandparents.

 

[GoofyG]

Here are some ideas for the kids. I also have a 4 and 2 year old.
My kids made each of their grandparents stones for their gardens. We bought the kits at Michael's. Used the 40% off coupons.
We have also made calendars. You can buy blank calendars at a craft store. I let my kids decorate each month. Then, we added photos of them.
For mother's day. I bought large size paper plate, the heavy ones. I used 4 plates. Did their hand prints on one and foot prints on the other. I let them decorate around their prints. I bought letter and number stickers. I put their name and year on their plate. I linked them together using ribbon. On the top plate, I tied a ribbon so it could be hung.
One year for mother's day my DS decorated a pot for me. It is very cute. He put his hand prints on it.

My sister made each of my kids fleece tie blankets. They are wonderful!

I love hand made gifts. It is so thoughtful.

Good luck! I can't wait to hear other people's suggestions.

Thanks for the ideas, I like the flower pot. I may have the kids paint that, then make a basket with a few garden tools and there's the gift.

 

[GoofyG]

Something my daughter did last year in PreK that I thought was a great gift. The teacher took a picture of each child and had them developed in black and white. They then had these wooden plaques (you can get them at Walmart or Michaels) and had the kids paint them white. They modge podged the picture onto the plaque. Then tied a pretty ribbon to it to hang it up. We are going to use the idea this year for the grandparents.

Do you have a picture? I'm such a visual person. This sounds neat!

 

[nikkers]

Do you have a picture? I'm such a visual person. This sounds neat!

That sounds really cute. I was going to ask for a picture also. It sounds like something I would do for the grandparents.

I was just over on the budget board. There is a homemade holiday thread on that board. There are a ton of ideas.
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1577395

 

[nettii]

Check on the budget board their was a thread that had TONS of awsome ideas! good luck and have fun!

 

[skw444]

Here's a picture of the plaque my dd made.

 

[nikkers]

Thanks for sharing the picture. That is really cute. Great idea for the grandparents.

 

[Goofy'slady]

About 2 weekends ago me & and fam went apple picking and picked 25lbs of apples, last weekend I turned all of it into apple butter and canned(or jarred it rather) for gifts for some neighbors, teachers and a few co-workers.

T.

 

[GoofyG]

Here's a picture of the plaque my dd made.

Thanks for sharing, that is really cute. I think I may use it

 

[jenrein]

About 2 weekends ago me & and fam went apple picking and picked 25lbs of apples, last weekend I turned all of it into apple butter and canned(or jarred it rather) for gifts for some neighbors, teachers and a few co-workers.

T.

Oh my, how long did that take? And that sounds like a great idea, you can send some my way!

 

[Jack'sGirl5]

My daughter is a little older than yours -- we made candles last year and I let her create her own scents and name them. We made cute tags including scent descriptions to go on the candles.

A couple of years ago we painted ceramic dishes to use as soap holders and packaged with homemade soaps in different colors, shapes and scents.

When she was younger --- more like 4 and 5 --- we found some cute jar containers and drew designs on them with glass markers. We made homemade dog biscuits to fill them and gave them to relatives with dogs as well as delivering them to all of the dogs in the neiborhood that we love.

Homemade gifts are so much fun and always appreciated!

 

[NaeNae]

My daughter is a little older than yours -- we made candles last year and I let her create her own scents and name them. We made cute tags including scent descriptions to go on the candles.

A couple of years ago we painted ceramic dishes to use as soap holders and packaged with homemade soaps in different colors, shapes and scents.

When she was younger --- more like 4 and 5 --- we found some cute jar containers and drew designs on them with glass markers. We made homemade dog biscuits to fill them and gave them to relatives with dogs as well as delivering them to all of the dogs in the neiborhood that we love.

Homemade gifts are so much fun and always appreciated!

Those are some cute ideas. I like the ceramic dish idea. Thanks

 

[lisadr]

Last year we did the polar fleece pillows and blankets for the grandparents.

We have also done the ice pop fridge frames. We glued 4 pop sticks together and then used foam snowflakes in different sizes and glued them on. Added a pic of DD and strip magnet to the back. They are still on the fridge and Nanas .

We also did seed bead candle holders for the grandmas. I used old glade glass candle jars. Cleaned them out and then painted them with glue an rolled them in seed beads. Gave them with tea lights.

We also made homemade spa stuff. Soap, bath salts, bought dollar store loofhas, and oil beads, and small baskets.

On the look out for this years gifts