Easy/Quick Homemade Gifts

[Jen841]

I made luggage tags for all family, but now I have some friends coming. Any quick/easy/inexpensive ideas for adults? I thought of cookie and pancake/waffle mixes, but I have done that for them before.

I love things you can make a lot or a little of, I am a mass producing kind of gal.

[lukkykatt]

One year I made homemade Kahlua and put it in cute bottles from Pier One to give to neighbors.

"Family Fun" magazine has a recipe for homemade granola and they show it in a mason jar, which I thought looked cute.

Or you could do homemade hot chocolate mix (recipe on Hershey's cocoa box), add some crushed peppermint candy on top and wrap it up in a nice mug.

As you can see, I am all about the food...

[MartiesMom2B]

Do they drink? How about homemade Kahlua? I think I have the recipe buried somewhere if you'd like it. It's pretty easy to make and it tastes like the real thing. All you need to do is buy some nice bottles and there you go.

-Sonia

[SeekerMage]

For the ladies, how about bath salts? All you do is take epsom salt, a little baking soda, and essential oil. Mix all together and put in a pretty air tight jar. (There are varying measurements but you cant go wrong. The baking soda makes your skin soft (for a whole box/bag of epsom salt I would add several table spoons if not half the box of soda or more), and the oil is either a few drops for mild smell or more for a stronger scent. you can even add coloring found in the homemade soap section at michaels/hobby lobby.

What about ornaments, or picture frames? Walmart/Michaels sell plaster, wooden, and paper mache ones you can easily paint. The frames they sell are either wooden or paper mache (sometimes found in the kids section) you can either paint them, add ribbon, bows, buttons, feathers etc. If they have kids do some cutesy ones, or fancy ones with pretty spotted feathers, or gold paint etc. Michaels often has ideas on how to decorate them. If your kids are older this is something they can help with.

[babymama]

A rice sock! We made these in my childbirth class.

Take a sock (100% cotton), fill w/ about 1 lb. uncooked dry rice (any old rice will do, but not minute rice), add dried lavendar (can be found in the bulk section of some grocery stores). Then tie the sock up...and Viola!

Heat 2-3 minutes in a microwave and apply to sore muscles (heat lasts for about 1/2 hour). If you wanted to make your gift a little nicer, you could sew fleece pockets (like little pillows) and fill those with rice and lavendar instead of the sock.

Some other cool ideas for rice socks... use as rest underneath wrists at a computer keyboard or mouse...fill the sock only 1/3 of the way, then flip inside out (with rice portion inside unfilled sock) and use as rice mittens...instead of rice you could use buckwheat or other grains or even glass beads...wear it like a scarf to relieve sore neck muscles.

Here are some links about the rice sock:

http://www.birthingnaturally.net/cn/tool/sock.html
http://arthritisinsight.com/living/ricesock.html
http://pregnancy.about.com/cs/laborbasics/ht/ricesock.htm

Lydia
Mama to Santiago, born 11/16/03

[macassi]

Family Fun has a recipe for seasoned rice mix that I made as gifts last year. It went over well and was a nice change of pace from all the "sweet" gifts. I actually keep baggies of it (but I gave it away in small canning jars -- like for jelly) to use with our own dinner. You can make lots at a time and it's nice, too, because it doesn't have to be consumed at the holiday time.

[Melanie]

That sounds nice...you wouldn't still have the recipe, would you?

[pritchettzoo]

Sounded good to me too--I found this: http://jas.family.go.com/Family/cookbook.app?&page=ShowRecipe&recipeID=40888

Maybe it's the same?

Anna
Mama to Gracie (Sept '03)

[heidi_timms]

Jars of sugared walnuts. I have the recipe, actually, it's in the BBB cookbook. They are super easy and keep for several weeks in a sealed container. I love them to snack on or in salads.

~Heidi
Mom to Kailey
4/03

[MamaKath]

Here are a bunch of ideas of things to try. I have a book that was compiled by a friend's church of all kinds of Christmas things. I need to pull it out and see if it has any other fun ones I have missed. I know there were a bunch of cookie in a jar recipes in it. This will get you started though. I have put a ton of ideas here already, but will try to add more when I have a chance later. Enjoy and good luck!!!


Bath salts- Epsom salts, baking soda, essential oil, and a few drops of food coloring. You do need jars for this. You can make them really pretty by doing stripes when putting it in the container. Top with a bow and a scooper (some craft stores sell these).

Chocolate covered spoons for stirring coffee- melt chocolate (either chips, chocolate for making chocolates, or hershey bars; use some kind of a double boiler so it doesn't scorch), dip in plastic spoons, set them on wax paper to dry/cool and add crushed hard candies to them to add flavor (some favorites are peppermint candy canes and orange or cherry candies), once cool wrap each in plastic, tie with a ribbon and group a few in a mug for a gift.

Rice bags- sew a small pillow shaped holder, fill with the rice (not minute rice), stich closed on top; these are great! A fellow BB member sent me one, and I LOVE it! Cozies things up, especially now that the cool weather has hit.

Candles- my mom always made candles for the holidays. They were beautiful colors and shapes. She got uncolored wax and did it all herself. Money was very tight, and this was always a much appreciated gift to folks. You can even make ice-cube candles (use a paper milk carton or juice carton, put in the wick, then add ice, finally pour in wax- when it cools all the ice leaves big holes, it is really pretty!) or small jar candles (baby food jars work great for votive types, put some shells or flowers in the bottom for interest)

Knit or crochet- My husband keeps joking that this is the year of the scarf. ;-) Takes time, but the outcome is beautiful and appreciated. Mom always made slipper socks for everyone. Grandma's gift was always mittens. There are great patterns online for CD coasters (you crochet over the CD, it protects your furniture), afghans, and more.

Jigsaw puzzle items- Use the puzzle pieces from those puzzles that are no longer complete to make things. Glue them onto a frame, glue a few together for a pin, make them into a circle for a wreath. Then either paint or leave plain and add a varnish.

Dress-up box- Decorate a large box (contact paper works well) and add some fun scarves, dressy shoes, hats, etc. and let your kids have a blast.

Felt box- You start with a box with a lid. Line the inside of the lid with felt. Fill the box with all kinds of felt shapes. Makes a great way to tell stories. :-)

Writer's box- You can vary this for an adult or child. Add paper, pens, pencils, art supplies, etc. to help get the creative juices flowing.

Craft box- Box filled with all kinds of arts and crafts supplies.

"Fancy" gloves and hats- pick up the stretchy, inexpensive gloves and hats at a place like Target. Get a bag of buttons, some silk flowers, beads, ribbon, anything that sounds like fun to decorate. Sew the flowers, ribbons, etc in an attractive grouping in one spot on the back of each glove, and along the rim of the hat. Young girls especially love these!

Gift of the month club- This is a fun one that depending on the them can just be packaged for 12 months. For example, for a child- "Craft of the month for you and a friend"- Take a large box, put inside 12 large ziploc bags, in each ziploc put the basic pieces and directions for a craft X 2 for that month (beads and string for bracelets; wooden shapes, glitter, and dowels for wands; pipe cleaners, pom-poms and magnet strips for butterfly magnets; etc). This particular gift is most cost effective when doing in multiples (like the craft a month, but for maybe 6 actual gifts so you are splitting the bags of pipe cleaners, pom-poms, wood shapes, etc).

Felt gifts- Christmas ornaments and label pins are easy to hand stitch and embellish with small seed beeds. Mitten shapes (tiny) are super easy, and very cute! Look great on a label. You can also make stockings and cut out felt shapes to add names, pics (snowmen are easy, so are holly leaves and berries, ponitsettias, etc).


Links for more ideas-
http://frugalliving.about.com/cs/christmas/a/120401.htm
http://frugalliving.about.com/cs/frugalgifts/a/favoritegifts.htm
http://www.creativehomemaking.com/articles/110802b.shtml
http://www.christian-homemaking.com/hndmadeChrtmsgifts.html
http://www.newdream.org/holiday/giftideastaff.php
http://familyfun.go.com/arts-and-crafts/season/specialfeature/holiday_gifts_ms/
http://www.knowledgehound.com/topics/xmas.htm
http://www.hgtv.com/hgtv/crafting/0,1788,HGTV_3352,00.html (Carol Duvall's ideas are usually fantastic on here)

[macassi]

Here's a link to the familyfun website (www.familyfun.com) which includes the recipe. It's actually called herbed rice mix. I always use a package of dried wild mushrooms. I get them at the local grocery store, but you could probably do better at Trader Joes or somewhere.

http://jas.family.go.com/Family/cookbook.app?&page=ShowRecipe&recipeID=40888

[macassi]

That's it! Should have checked your link before I responded. Thanks for doing the work for me!! : - )

[MamaKath]

*Snowman kit- Old hat and scarf, lumps of coal (you can paint rocks black for this), a wooden carrot (either whittled from a stick and painted orange, or purchased from the craft stores plastic fruit section)

*Snow paint- Spray bottles from the dollar store, filled with water colored with food coloring. You spray the snow to color it.

Have fun!

[KrisM]

I haven't done this, but heard about it at a party the other night.

Tags for wine glasses or beer bottles. You can make them with Shrinky Dinks and hair elastics. I'm not sure of the details, but it sounds fun!

[MamaKath]

Oh wow that is a good idea! You could even make the little rings for wine glasses with some wire, a couple beads, and a shrinky dink tag.

Also you can buy packs of inexpensive wood labels and paint them and tie on with ribbon. Would be very cute too!