Homemade Christmas Gifts

When my son was 18 mos. I painted the bottoms of his feet with fabric paint (child safe) and let him run across several aprons I had laid out on the floor on my kitchen. I used several colors and it did take a couple of days, but the result was worth it-aprons for grandmas and aunties decorated with my sons footprints! They loved it and it was relatively inexpensive. My second son is about the same age so we may tackle handprints this time! N.

You can scan your child's artwork/handprints etc. on a computer (maybe even with a photo) and put them on all sorts of things (there's many sites that will even do it for you). To save money, we put our daughter's artwork/photo on CD labels (that you can get blank ones cheap) and made holiday CDs for family and friends. They were useful to all and were really cute :-) We did it for her birthday and put all her favorite songs on there as a party favor.

My kids are now 6 and 9, but still my favorite thing that I had the kids make was a "hand wreath". I got sturdy paintboard at a craft store (that might not be the real name - but the boards that real artists paint on). I dipped their hands in green paint and painted a circle, so their handprints were the "greens" of the wreath. Then I dipped their little feet in red paint and made the bow (one foot at a time, heel to heel). I drilled a couple of holes and tied a red ribbon to hang it. My mother still puts hers up every year!

How about homemade ornaments out of popsicle sticks, paint, glitter & string. My boys & I are doing that this year & so far they're coming out AWESOME!!!! I am interested to see what other ideas you get so I could use some in the future!

Happy Holidays!
C. B.

You can get inexpensive picture frames and let him paint. Then stick a picture in of him and viola! Insta-present!

Christmas Ornament craft we did with Big & Little Sisters every year.

You need a few old Christmas cards with nice pics.
Photos of...yourself...your child...family....not too big.
Paper doilie (round)bit larger than the juice lids
Ribbon - long enough to go over the tree branch
2 lids per ornament (from frozen juice containers)

cut out Christmas card picture(circle) and glue in one of the lids.
cut out family pic and glue in the other lids.
Glue both lids back to back with the doilie in between them.
Don't forget to glue the ribbon inside too.

These are great. You can make new ones every year.

I suggest a less messy more modern approach to the typical plaster of paris hand prints. Just buy the mini pre-wrapped canvases (you can purchase them at acmoore, joannes and i think even walmart has the smaller sizes)

Use a little paint and a little hand, presto!!! great little gift to hang on the wall. You can even jazz it up by painting the canvas first and using a great contrasting color for the hand print.

I've made these to mark my sons hands and feet. Easy and inexpensive.

I've made lots of ornaments using styrofoam balls in any size. One is not a child-friendly activity - cover balls in various ribbons, using small pins to secure. You can get ribbons and trims at craft stores or fabric stores, and you can use short pins (not regular straight pins) which you put thru small beads, pearls or sequins to secure. Use a small loop of ribbon or fancy cord, inserted with a pin at the top, and attach a hanger hook.

Another easy and fun ornament is to take scraps of fabric - perhaps in Christmas colors, that you can find in the remnant bin at any fabric store. Place irregular scraps on a styrofoam ball, then use a regular flat screwdriver to press the edges into the ball. Just puncture the ball by pressing the screwdriver in about 1/4 inch from the fabric's edge. Then put a new piece next to it, pressing the new piece into the trench you created with the last one, and then pressing in the new edges. When you're done, the ball looks like it is quilted and puffy. Easy easy, and no mistakes possible - if you goof, just cover it up with a new piece of fabric. Use ribbon or a small piece of rick-rack to make a loop for hanging.

For your little one, try using foam Christmas shapes and glue, and covering containers. YOu can find inexpensive metal, wood and cardboard boxes/cans at craft stores, or get creative by spray-painting coffee cans or putting colored paper on oatmeal containers, then adding foam shapes. People can use them for displaying pine cones and evergreens (which you can provide), potpourri, Christmas cards, etc.

He might also enjoy rolling pine cones in peanut butter and then bird seed to make feeders for everyone. Messy but easy.

We buy assorted wooden shapes and paints at the arts and craft store and I let my kids paint them and sprinkle on glitter. When Christmas comes I let them pick who gets which present and we wrap them together. It keeps us pretty busy for the month before Christmas.

Hey there. We did a VERY simple Christmas Ornament when my oldest son was 3, my youngest was about the same age as yours. I'm sure you've seen the thumbprint reindeer? You just stamp his little thumb on the paper and then let him (with your assistance of course) put on the red nose, antlers and eyes. I made them on a 2"x 2" white square then matted them on either red or green, put a tiny hole in the top and tied a little ribbon on or you could use wire or whatever for your loop for hanging. Like I said, this is VERY simple, you may be looking for something a little more involved. Hope this helps!

we do a lot of homemade gifts in my family with the children and the one that seemed to get the best responce (and was the most fun) was making the pillow cases. we used standard white cases, bought craft paint, and let the little ones go to town. i bought a pillow for each and wrapped um up-they looked great. i sleep on mine every night for 5 years now (i love to lay there and look at the size my son's little hands were) and it is not uncomfortable. my father displays his on his headboard.the paint does not wash off (be careful of clothes) and the little handprints look great!!!

Here's one I did last year. You can go to AC Moore and get the popsicle sticks and eyes. I used orange pipe cleaners for the nose.
To see the picture go to www.orientaltrade.com and search for popsicle snowman.
You can poke around the site to get some other great ideas.

Hi K.

Here's an easy and fairly inexpensive one.

Pick up some plain plastic placemats. Decorate them with baby photos or anything you would typically use to decorate photo album pages and then seal them with clear shelf paper. They are great grandparent gifts. If you have photos of the extended family members as well, you could make them their own "memory" placemat sets.

Happy crafting.
A.

Hi K.,

We have four kids, and we've done the same thing every Christmas, for the grandparents. We buy tiles at Home Depot (like small bathroom or kitchen tiles) and a hanging hook. Then, we dip the kids' hands in paint, and put a hand print on the tile. (One tile for each child). We write the child's name and "Christmas 2008" on the bottom of the tile. We then attach a hook on the back. The grandparents now have a whole wall in their house filled with these tiles. Since the tiles come in all different colors, we have made quite an assortment over the years! For the babies that can't open their hands well yet, we do footprints. Now, our siblings are doing the same thing because it's always been so popular with the grandparents.
Merry Christmas!

My daughter was around that age last year. I had her paint little glass stones that you make into magnets. I have done handprints as well, but they are messy. Everyone loved all the gifts because she made them by herself.