Share your ideas for Holiday Gifts!

[ChickenPotPie]

First of all, I'm LOVING this tread - so many uber talented people we have here.

Second, for those who have ungrateful and/or snobby family members ....one of my favorite quotes found in a homemade book consisting of songs, poetry, and old Christmas stories hand selected by a good friend years ago:

"Rings and jewels are not gifts, but apologies for gifts. The only true gift is a portion of theyself. - Ralph Waldo Emmerson

So, I think it is the gifts that truly come from the heart, with thoughtfulness, and that we really put ourselves into that are most precious, true gifts. Ya'll have got it right.

eta: We are having a more meaningful Christmas this year. We are going to only use pocket money for gifts. That means some gifts will cost nothing at all or cost very little to either make them or purchase them. Our children earn a meager allowance and my husband and I don't give ourselves a lot of pocket money. Our hope is to get more into the true Christmas Spirit and to encourage more love and thoughfulness in our children. We are all excited about it.

Some of the gifts my we've come up with (I know what they are because I'm mom and need to help because my boys are still relatively young and I need to help them make them or take them shopping for supplies).....

Cookie of the month club
Book safe
Sticker book
Detective kit
Glow in the dark t-shirt (designed by my teen for his 5 yr old brother)
Soda lol
Cooking lessons
Giving away their own gift card
Doll from the dollar store
Candy dish and candy
Paper toys to assemble
$5 dvd from Target
coupon book to do Dad's regular chores
Magnetic travel game (in a tin)

Some of these things might sound lame but they are really very thoughtful and show me how much my kids really know each other because these things are exactly what my kids and husband would really want and are important to them. You might have noticed that some of these gift ideas came from links in this thread. Thank you for the great ideas!

 

[lorihadams]

I think that's wonderful!

I whipped out 2 tote bags for the gals that do story time at the library...we've been going all year long. They are reversible and I put 3 ziploc bags of homemade bath salts in each one.

Made another hand puppet alien...it has 14 eyes.

Now, the quilt. There is a story to that one. My MIL is adopted. Her adopted grandmother was a very sweet woman whom she loved dearly. When she died the house went to one of her children and MIL had not seen the house in at least a decade. My husband got curious and stopped by the house one day and crawled in the back door through lots of overgrown vines and brambles. He was shocked to find what he did, he figured the house would be empty. He went back to the house with my Papa the second time and brought back a few things he found. When my MIL came up for Thanksgiving we took her to the property and she was able to salvage some things of sentimental value that had been left strewn about.

Her grandmother used to sew quite a bit. We have found numerous cabinets full of fabric in pristine condition, old feed sacks (which I now have), boxes and boxes of more fabric and yard, buttons, 2 antique quilting frames, 3 sewing machines is various states of disrepair, and stacks and stacks of precut quilt squares and assembled quilt blocks. We found an old handwritten order book where she had put all these blocks together for someone and then they backed out of the deal.

I have enough completed quilt blocks for 2 different quilts. I have finished this one for her for xmas and the other will be for her birthday at the end of January. The back is the same color as the binding. I did a simple stitch in the ditch quilting cause I suck at machine quilting and this is NOT the piece to practice my skills on.

 

[Denim Deb]

Very nice!

But I'm curious, does she have any idea why the house wasn't cleaned out?

 

[lorihadams]

No, she doesn't know and was really mad about the whole thing. She couldn't believe that her aunt would leave it that way. She's adopted and doesn't really talk to her extended family now that her adopted mother has alzheimers and has practically disowned her.

She has very fond memories of the house and her grandmother but never really felt like she fit in with the rest of the family and honestly, her adopted mother was mean.

I have to do the signature patch tonight if I have enough energy left after processing more meat birds.

 

[lorihadams]

I'm reviving and older thread....I just wanted to share some Halloween puppets the kids and I made, complete with felt background haunted house!

These would make really cute party favors for kids! You could totally do Christmas ones too....I probably will...

 

[moolie]

Those are adorable!

My girls made decorated felt Christmas tree ornaments out of felt a couple of years ago--snowman, gingerbread man, snowflake, tree, dove, angel, candy cane etc. edged with blanket stitch with a bit of stuffing in the middle. Great for embroidery practice

Sorry I don't have photos though, I'll try to remember to take some when we dig out the decorations for Christmas.

 

[Emerald]

I'm glad you did too!
The dipped pretzels went over really well and we are going to make them again this year! The mittens and neck warmers didn't get the oohs and ahhs but they all wore them out to play in the snow and I got the hugs and thanks when they all came back in..

 

[TanksHill]

Great idea Lori. I need to come up with something for my nephews and nieces. I did beanies two years ago and fleece blankets last year. I have no idea what to do this year.

 

[Pirtykitty]

I gave crocheted dish cloths to most of my family members last year and they were a hit.. I need to make more this year.. also have some crochet stocking caps that would be good too!... The last two years I 've given one to my two boys and my aunt and uncle and every year I hear that they sure came in handy when the cold weather hit..

 

[moodlymoo]

I love this thread I always give a basket to my family that has a summer sausage, honey mustard, some candies, some cookies, and a bag of pasta. Everyone loves it. For my son I will be doing a movie basket with a bag of blue popping corn, a box of candy, a homemade soda, and a gift card to a movie rental store. For my girls I have no idea.

I am also thinking of making some grocery bags from my feed bags for family but Im sure they wont appreciate it.