Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Non-Black Friday: Homemade Gift Ideas = Frual, and Meaningful

Although tempted by all those hot deals out there, most of the gifts I will give this year will be homemade - mostly for cost reasons, but I've also realized that they are more meaningful and possibly more memorable when it is something you have made! Especially for gifts for that person you have no idea what to get for them, what is more special than something you have made with your hands?! (I must confess that I will, and have already, buy some gifts from the stores too!)

Ideas for kids: Homemade Play-Doh, recycled/revamped crayons (melt down your old broken ones by putting them in a silicone muffin "tin" or in a muffin cup, placed into a muffin tin - bake at 300 for only about 3 - 5 minutes (or watch it until they are fully melted) and then let them fully cool before popping them out!
Idea for girls: Magnet "paper doll" set - there are thin magnet sheets that can go into your printer! Scan in a person from a magazine, along with proportionately-sized clothes from a magazine - print the clothes onto the magnet sheets and then cut them all out! Print the person out onto photo paper. Get a piece of wood the same size as your photo paper, paint one side with magnetic paint (available at craft stores, Lowes, Home Depot, etc.) and when the paint dries, glue the photo paper with your person printed on it to the board. The clothes will stick to the person for easy outfit changes! Idea for older girls: Homemade lip gloss! See my post HERE with that info.
Idea for boys: scavenger hunt set with map & clues - come up with a few things they can "hunt" for in their own house. Put a series of clues on a note card for each item they'll need to find. Create a map of their house for them to walk aroud with. Include a notepad and a pencil. You can put it into a shoebox that you have covered with paper and personalized!
Ideas for grownups: 1. Basket of goodies - homemade cookies, jams/jellie, homemade salsa, and/or what you are handy at making and jaring/caning up! 2. Homemade soaps - wrap them up in a decorative cloth handtowel, tied with a ribbon. 3. Book of recipes - the first year, buy the photo album-type book and insert a few recipes (you can make them cute and crafty like a scrapbook page!) and then every year after, all you have to do is give them a new recipe or two for their book!
For new moms: emergency car kit in a cute basket or small tupperware tub with lid full of diapers, wipes + a quilted homemade changing pad from your fabric scraps + an envelope full of diaper coupons and other baby coupons! Or, you can put all of this into a cute diaper bag - homemade or not - or, in a reusable shopping bag!

Gift wrap - of course, recycle those gift bags you get from others, also use newspaper (the kids like the comics section!) and you can draw swirlies or other designs on it, decorated paper bags, scrap printer paper (you know how sometimes the page prints blank, or you need to re-print because it printed crooked, etc.) but make sure it's not financial information!, A cloth napkin or gift towel with a ribbon, you could give a scarf and soaps and wrap the soap with the scarf with a ribbon. Give it wrapped in something usable, like one of those re-usable shopping bags (there are some cute ones out there now!), a book bag, backpack or other bag your kid may need, a basket, etc.

Let me know if you think of anything else!

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