Gifts the kids can make

[niccig]

I want DS to help make some gifts for family this Christmas. I was hoping to get a number of ideas, some we'll do this year and ideas to keep for later. It'll be a fun tradition for us, and it'll help cut some expenses.

So far I've got

* polymer key chains. The idea was in family fun or parents magazine
* my neighbor gave us a canning jar full of ingredients for cookies. Each ingredient was layered into the jar, and the recipient needed to add butter and eggs.

Any other ideas?

[brittone2]

2 things I'm contemplating this year:

Buying beeswax candles and letting DS decorate them with cutouts from sheets of wax (from Stockmar). I've had the stuff sitting around waiting for a project.

We may also attempt to dye wool/silk blend scarves for MIL and my mom. He's helped with playsilks before...so I thought this might be fun. He's approaching 5 though ...you'd want to avoid a lot of heat/cooking with a younger child obviously.

[buddyleebaby]

Chocolate covered pretzels.
Dip in melted chocolate, sprinkle with nuts, sprinkles, coconut, etc.

Messy but kid friendly.

[hbridge]

We're a little behind on our homemade gifts this year, but I'm planning on doing:
Painted Wooden Ornaments
Beaded Key Chains (for teachers)
Beaded Cell Phone Strap (for Grandma)
Reindeer Food (the jars are currently in the dishwasher)
Woven Potholders

I'm still trying to come up with some ideas for the men in DC's life...

[DrSally]

Chocolate covered pretzels.
Dip in melted chocolate, sprinkle with nuts, sprinkles, coconut, etc.

Messy but kid friendly.

That sounds like fun! Do you just melt chocolate chips for the chocolate?

[WitMom]

We made ornaments last year that I think came from the Wondertime website/magazine. Take a metal cookie cutter and place it in a ziplock bag filled with glue. Smoosh it around until the cookie cutter is covered in glue. Then take the cookie cutter out and drop it in a bag filled with glitter. Remove and let dry. If you wanted to, at this point you could spray with some sort of sealer, but we didn't do this. Add a ribbon for hanging and you're done.

They turned out really well, I thought. The only recommendation that I have is not to use clear or white glitter, though. Sometimes the cookie cutters discolored/rusted from the glue, and with the colorless glitter, this showed through. On the ornaments with colored glitter, it wasn't noticeable.

[MontrealMum]

When I was a kid my dad arranged for the art teacher at his school to make certain ceramic things (I think they were ivy leaves) which I then painted. They went to the grandparents and great-aunts. They were supposed to be ash trays (it was the 70s after all). Can you go to one of those make-your-own ceramics places?

I think we did "stained glass" ornaments at school one year too, but I was much older than your DS. Try Michael's - they have kits for everything. I am so jealous because we don't have them here in QC!

[elaineandmichaelsmommy]

Aw jeez-I really can't remember right now how old your dc are. But when I was younger we did a few things.

1. Scarves- get a woven fabric and let you dc fray the ends. Voila, new scarf.
2. Last year dd made ornaments from a target kit we bought. They went over great.
3. Shrinky dinks
4. homemade food.

Hth

[deannanb]

My friend (who is probably reading this) got a small piece of canvas and had DD paint for the family - she took a picture of her painting and included that with the present.

you can find the canvas at any craft store - a 4x4 size would be great for a hand print.

[s7714]

Last year for DDs preschool teachers I bought a sheet of magnetic paper that is white on one side for decorating. I cut it into squares and shapes for DD and she went to town with permanent markers drawing on them. She also wrote her name on them and we gave a few to each teacher. I figured they're small, personalized and everyone has a fridge, so unless they're a fan of a clutter free fridge, they'll probably enjoy them!

[sunriseiz]

* polymer key chains. The idea was in family fun or parents magazine

Any instructions for this? This sounds cute!

We have done ornaments of all sorts in the past...will probably do again. Also, we ALWAYS make lots of cookies to give away.

I am interested in hearing what everyone else is doing too!