Share your ideas for Holiday Gifts!

[sufficientforme]

This year I am letting the kids make bottle cap jewelry, magnets for the family. They will be making a magnet that represents each family member and they can make necklaces, bracelets etc. A good place to start with these was this book Klutz bottle cap and art book kit. I just bought the supplies by themselves for a lot cheaper and they have been having a blast making them.
I am making pottery bowls (first time ever doing this) for the guys for Ice cream along with pralines and spiced peaches topper.
personalized jewelry for the ladies out of upcycled materials and some new. My Grandma died this year and I am making the girls on my side a memorial piece for them. I am trying woodburning drumsticks, and trying my hand at homemade knitting needles.
Christmas is 100% homemade this year, no one is allowed to buy unless it is the supplies to make the item. I am having a blast, I think a lot of them including my husband are struggling :/

We did Christmas spiders out of beads one year, the story is readily available online and teens would love that project.

Also thinking about making wood planter boxes, a goose or a dog or something with short legs LOL.

 

[Bettacreek]

I really wanted to get around and have the boys make ornaments each and every year. Those little cinnamon thingers. Then just put the year on them every year. I know that'd be an awesome collection for the grandparents.

Jar mixes - Cookies, brownies, hot chocolate, soups, etc.
Bath/Body products - Scrubs, bath powders, bath salts, soaps, etc
Premade foods - cookies, canned soups? Those mini loaves are pretty neat and inexpensive
Sewing projects - blankets, quilts, umm, I dunno what else

Or better yet, gift baskets, with all kinds of goodies in them. They're like grab bags, but with a bit more subsity than the ones you get from the dollar store, lol.

 

[cjparker]

For about ten years now, we've made Christmas Breakfast Baskets for each family and for our neighbors. We find pretty baskets over the year at yard sales and thrift stores, usually pay 25-50 cents a piece. We buy wide ribbons and big bows at the after-Christmas sales, usually getting enough for a dozen baskets for a few dollars. We make pumpkin bread and banana bread in two different sizes, small for couples and full-sized for families. We also make honey cream cheese, which is just softened cream cheese with enough honey whipped into it to give it a little sweetness. Sometimes we add a few drops of lemon juice or a little orange zest. This is a great spread for either of the breads.

The baskets are partially filled with shredded newspaper topped with red or green tissue paper. Then we add the banana bread, the pumpkin bread and the spread. Each is wrapped in colored saran wrap. We print the bread recipes out on the computer, using holiday clip art and attach them to the basket handles with ribbons. We add in hot cocoa mix, instant oatmeal in various flavors, packets of instant cappuccino or flavored coffees, several packets of teas, a 1/2 dozen or so homemade peanut butter cookies, a few pieces of fruit (depending on how many in the recipient's family) and some peppermint candies or candy canes for color. Yeah, the instant stuff isn't very SS but we get it for next to nothing by combining sales and coupon...and it's easy.

The baskets have been a big hit over the years, and we can put together a dozen baskets for about $50-60 because of the coupons and sales. While we are assembling the baskets, we talk about the pleasure of having these people in our lives. It has become a holiday tradition that we intend to keep for a long time.

 

[Wifezilla]

* Bottles of mead
* Jars of salsa, jellies, sauces, etc...
* Loom knit hats, scarves, or funny characters
* Resin jewelry and or magnets...once I figure out how to do it. Bought the resin kits but hadn't used it before

If anyone doesn't like it, tough nuggies!

Also for the shop we give away baskets full of goodies. Hubby used to buy a big giant stocking from some promo products company, but it was really expensive and full of cheap junk. Last year we just took the same amount of money we used to spend on the stocking and made 4 baskets full of really neat stuff we got at Michaels and the grocery store. Michaels has $1 bins with toys, pens, notepads, calendars, art projects, etc... Then we added cookies and other treats we bought on sale. WAY nicer stuff than the stocking and we made 4 families happy instead of one. We even got some of the doorbuster scarves and mittens from Old Navy to add to the baskets. My gf and I had a lot of fun putting them together too.

 

[urban dreamer]

Jars of jelly and knitted socks (for people I really love LOL!)

And mabey cheese if I get that far. I can't believe the holidays are almost here! Oh wait a minute.....that means I'm getting married in three weeks!!! HOLY CRAP! Now I'm nervous thanks!

 

[Blackbird]

I could make all sorts of soaps for my family, but none of them care about soap. They all use liquid forms.

 

[savingdogs]

I made soap last year and it seemed well recieved, but perhaps people were being polite. I put them in a basket with a dozen eggs, some jam I made and some banana nut bread. I painted the egg cartons to make them more festive looking.

Do you know those ceramic shops or sections of craft stores where they have little white figures cast and all ready to paint? They are really pretty inexpensive especially small ornaments. You have to buy a paint assortment and brushes so there is a little investment, but you can mix colors and get away with having just a few brushes. You buy one can of that spray finisher to seal them, it is an extremely simple craft. Painting them is easy, you kind of just follow the suggested shapes. I'm NOT an artist and found it fun and soothing, even kids can paint them.

I made Christmas decorations such as tree ornaments, wreaths an knick knacks and such and adapted each one to the particular decor and color preferences of each family member or friend. For instance, my friend who loves the color peach, I made her a christmas wreath in peach, not red and green, with just hints of soft green because she used that shade in her dining area.
I see this thing I made every year at Christmas and she has told me it is her favorite holiday decoration because it matches her dining room so well and she never tires of it because she sees it just a couple weeks a year. I would say it was one of my more successful gifts ever created at home so I thought I would share that idea.

 

[Blackbird]

Most of our family isn't even polite about it. If we gave soap, eggs, and jams, they would throw them out. That's what happened to the last soap I gave as gifts.
Each year we have a 'gift exchange' where we draw names and we must purchase $75 worth of gifts for that person. The price was determined by my ritzy 'high class' sister in England. So for a family member, when she was opening the gift from me, I joked that it was $75 of handmade soap. Needless to say she did not laugh.

 

[VickiLynn]

I'm sewing a few tote bags and filling them with goodies, like biscotti, candied nuts, jams, caramel corn, homemade vanilla...

 

[savingdogs]

Blackbird, I would have loved to have recieved 75 dollars worth of your homemade soap as a gift last Christmas.

Why don't you suggest that EVERYONE needs to make a gift to exchange this year instead of buy one.....see what THEY come up with.....

But I did have one rude family member, you actually reminded me of one reaction I recieved that was not positive that I had forgotten about with the eggs and bread and jam.