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

[mommy22pumpkins]

subscribing...great thread

 

[Temair]

lots of great ideas

 

[PA Princess]

My fav most inexpensive hand made gift are decorated door mats. We have done this as a craft several times with whole groups of kids at church and it is always a big hit. We buy or even have donated (many carpet places will give you their discarded floor samples or one place charged me a $1 for 20) and then paint whatever design or words you want. Pretty much any paint works (though the carpet is porous and will absorb non fabric paints), but the fabric paints are best for outdoor use and for writing. Basic cost is simply for the paint supplies.

Another big hit are homewade peanut butter cups...people fo crazy for them. I came across a recipe years ago in Good Housekeeping and I have been using it ever since...it is simply white chocolate, peanut butter, and milk chocolate morsels (like you would use for chocolate chip cookies). You melt some white chocolate in the PB, and then pout that into cups. You melt the chips with some white chocolate and top off the cups. People will track me down and ask if I am making these again LOL

 

[snowwhite84]

I just made my first holiday gift today! I bought a glass hurricane candle holder for $2 at wal mart and some acrylic paints for 44 cents each. I printed out a stencil for the Miami Dolphins online and cut it out. I then painted the candle holder with the Dolphins logo and added some stripes at the top and bottom in coordinating colors. It looks really cute!

I made this for my BF's sister. She just moved to NC from South Florida and said she is having trouble finding Dolphins merchandise for a sports themed room she is decorating. I think she'll really like this and it only cost $3! It can be modified for any team, too.

I might make more for other gifts since it came out so well and is so inexpensive.

Sorry I don't have a photo, I lost the cable that connects from my camera to the computer.

 

[Karenj2]

You gotta share how you did the pottery. I love it.

Thanks! I really enjoyed doing it too, but I couldn't make it work as a business... Basically I took a plain bisque plate (fired once, not glazed - what you'd find at the paint your own pottery places). I sponged painted the edging. I printed out the wording and baby on a piece of paper, and then used carbonless "carbon" paper to trace the design onto the plate. After that, I painted over the traced design 3 times (drying in-between) with a TINY brush for the lettering (the baby was a normal paintbrush). Then it got glazed and fired at my local pottery place since I don't have a kiln.

I have a website with more pictures, but I don't think I'm allowed to post the link. I'm no longer taking custom orders, but I still have generic baby plates that I can sell. (I had to shut down the web store due to hackers.)

 

[kid-at-heart]

This may have already been suggested and/or it may seem hokey to some, but my spouse and I are both "really good cooks" so we tend to give "freezer meals" to our friends and family for all sorts of occasions; births, birthdays, winter holidays, etc. You would be surprized at how much people like our "weird" presents. We are all at the age where we have everything we want so these "thought" gifts tend to work best. We also enclose the gift in something really nice - picnic basket, nice bowl, pot, etc.

 

[snowwhite84]

I found this idea for homemade "bath cookies." It looks cute. You could also use holiday cookie cutters to make them fun shapes! Put in a jar or cute tin and this would be a nice gift for friends.

Bath Cookies

2 cups finely ground sea salt
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons light oil
2 eggs
5-6 drops essential oil of your choice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the above ingredients and then take a generous teaspoon of the dough and form it into a ball. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until they are lightly browned (do not overbake). Allow the cookies to cool completely. Wrap in cellophane and give as gifts.
To Use: Drop 1 or 2 cookies into a warm bath, allow to dissolve.

 

[lillygator]

these are all fantastic ideas.
This year things have been really tight and we need to stick to a strick budget for Christmas!

 

[Pixieshouse]

I found this idea for homemade "bath cookies." It looks cute. You could also use holiday cookie cutters to make them fun shapes! Put in a jar or cute tin and this would be a nice gift for friends.

Bath Cookies

2 cups finely ground sea salt
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons light oil
2 eggs
5-6 drops essential oil of your choice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the above ingredients and then take a generous teaspoon of the dough and form it into a ball. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until they are lightly browned (do not overbake). Allow the cookies to cool completely. Wrap in cellophane and give as gifts.
To Use: Drop 1 or 2 cookies into a warm bath, allow to dissolve.

Do you know how well these stay fresh? I am worried with the eggs that they would go bad.

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Do you know how well these stay fresh? I am worried with the eggs that they would go bad.

From a craft website: "air tight packaging or seal them in an airtight container. These cookies will last several months maybe longer"

I would think because you bake them vs. leaving "raw" that you would be fine - just like if you cook a "normal" cookie - it might get stale but it would be all right. If you made them in November you would be fine for Christmas and pack them in some type of jar, I'm sure they would be fine till at least mid year next year for the person you give them too.

 

[DisneyObsession]

One year for co-workers, I made homemade hot chocolte mix and put it in a pint canning jar with mini-marshmallows. I put a piece of christmas fabric on the top and tied with a ribbon. I also attached an ornament to the ribbon along with directions for use. They all loved them!

My sister also makes homemade Kahlua with vodka, instant coffee and a whole vanilla bean. I think that is all there is in the recipe. She then finds unique bottles to put it in.

 

[bear74]

I found this idea for homemade "bath cookies." It looks cute. You could also use holiday cookie cutters to make them fun shapes! Put in a jar or cute tin and this would be a nice gift for friends.

Bath Cookies

2 cups finely ground sea salt
1/2 cup baking soda
1/2 cup cornstarch
2 tablespoons light oil
2 eggs
5-6 drops essential oil of your choice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Combine all of the above ingredients and then take a generous teaspoon of the dough and form it into a ball. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes, until they are lightly browned (do not overbake). Allow the cookies to cool completely. Wrap in cellophane and give as gifts.
To Use: Drop 1 or 2 cookies into a warm bath, allow to dissolve.

oh these sound great.

 

[NemoMOm]

Ditto on the bath cookies, have a stupid question. Where do you buy the oils?

 

[It's A Happy Day]

Ditto on the bath cookies, have a stupid question. Where do you buy the oils?

You can get fragrance oils at any craft store - Michaels, AC Moore

also at Walmart/Target in the craft section.

 

[Priorityonecb]

Great thread! I think I will do the make your own tu-tu's for the little girls on our list.

 

[lillygator]

I found this on better budgeting....I love it!


The best inexpensive Christmas gift I ever received was from my son when he was in Kindergarten.

The class took empty boxes (hair color, toothpaste, etc.), wrapped them in wrapping paper, then tied them up with a ribbon.

Attached to the box was this note:

I took an ordinary box
As empty as can be
I filled it with a special gift
And wrapped it carefully.

But please don't ever open it
Just leave the ribbon tied
And hold it tightly near your heart
Because my love for you's inside!

If you prefer to use bows over ribbon, simply adjust the poem to read:

I took an ordinary box
As empty as can be
I filled it with a special gift
And wrapped it carefully.

But please don't ever open it
Just leave the bow applied
And hold it tightly near your heart
Because my love for you's inside!

Using bows, of course, is easier than the ribbon for little ones. To dress up the poem, use pinking shears to cut out the poem you have written or printed out, then glue that to another piece of poster board or construction paper of another color (for a border effect).

 

[worm761]

does anyone have the recipe for the bath salts mentioned on page 1? all i read was epsom salts and scent? what is the mix? is it hard? time consuming?


thanks for all the great ideas! we may actually give some of these a try. they sound like a great family day activity.

 

[cjsyllaba]

Love the wreath idea. Def going to use that for school and dance teachers. Where do you find the little ornaments for the outside??

 

[cjsyllaba]

this is the cutest idea for grandparents. Love it!!

 

[tweedlemom]

(I haven't read all 12 pages of this thread, so I apologize if this is a repeat.) My best friend gave my family a letterboxing kit last year. A simple small rubbermaid type container filled with an inkpad, stamp, pen, notebook, the website www.letterboxing.org and a small typed explanation of what letterboxing is. We have had a blast with it! We go to the website, type in the area we want to visit and it provides us with clues to boxes hidden in that area! We search for the boxes and when found, we stamp the notebooks inside the found boxes with our stamp, leave a little note, then stamp our notebook with the found stamp. My kids call it treasure hunting and the experience has brought our family close together--we spent many hours searching for clues and finding boxes and stamping up a storm! Very inexpensive, homemade gift that is great for a family!