I was just wondering if anyone has any home-made Christmas gift ideas for men, women, girls, and boys?
Aliesha
Scarfs made from polar fleece are so easy to make and require no sewing at all. Walmarts fabric department has a wide selection of prints in polar fleece. the polar fleece at its lowest is $3 per yard and at its highest $7 per yard, but it only takes 1/4 of a yard to make a nice scarf and you can leave the end just cut across straight or as I like to do and cut up the ends about 2-3 inches up vertically and about 2 inches wide on your sections you cut then just knot each ones end for a fun look.
By Julie
Thanks for all the ideas! Here is a gag idea I did for my sister's 13th b-day. She said all the things that she wanted like $500, a cellphone, a laptop and lots more. I went online and found pictures of them and printed them off. then I cut them out and put them in a box. I told her that she would love it.
Or if some one says they want lots of money then give them monopoly money or life money. (11/29/2008)
By dude
I love making gift baskets and if your type those words in the search for answer box at the top of the page you'll get many wonderful ideas (12/02/2008)
By suzanne
For the 6 month old, you could make a fleece blanket which is super easy. Get 2 different patterns of fleece (I like to do one print and one solid) the same size (small enough for baby but you can make really large ones for adults too) Cut slits about 2 inches in and 1 inch apart from on another all the way around the edges and then knot each slit to the other piece. It creates a seam with no sewing and they're cute and warm. Or you could also make onesies by tie dying or embellishing with iron on designs (12/05/2008)
By Ashley
I have lots of brothers, sisters, nieces and nephews so this year I made a CD with a hit song from the year of their birth. The songs were very easy to find on iTunes, put in order, and burn on CDs. The songs range from 1937 to 2004, so it makes for a pretty interesting mix of music. I even made an album cover using scanned photos of my family. Each family will get a copy of the album. (12/09/2008)
By Mary Beth
My Dad died this year, my mom is taking it hard. I decided to make her a stocking since she isn't putting one out for herself. But what else can I do, for a low amount of money? (12/09/2008)
By Kirsten
I'm making up gift baskets of homemade candied nuts, caramel corn, Granola, Almond Bark, etc. You could make up baskets of small items like playing cards, crossword puzzles, etc. Think of the individual and small things that you know they enjoy and then add a couple goodie things like the nuts and caramel corn. You could put a good book or maybe a book about something the person likes to do and a mug with something for a hot drink. Do a search for recipes in a jar. There are a ton of things you could make.There are tons of inexpensive things you could pick up throughout the year to add to the basket for each person. (12/09/2008)
By Linda
(submitted via email)
If you google inexpensive gifts you will find a bunch of sports cream to make, and men's aftershave, a few others. Very easy.
Sharon (12/10/2008)
By Jess
Why don't you make your mother a nice photo album. That's something that anyone would love! (12/14/2008)
By olivia
You can make an easy one year full calendar and have your class or kids make it. It is very fun and easy! Karina (12/14/2008)
By Karina
Since it is too expensive to make whole apple pies for friends. I use biscuit mix (from scratch is even cheaper). I make a biscuit apple pie using one biscuit for each pie. I bake them as normal. I'll find the recipe for you. Just like biscuits, you can cook a dozen or more at a time and wrap it in colored saran wrap and tie with a ribbon. (12/18/2008)
By angie
Save old food jars (jelly, pickle, condiment jars)or pick some up at a local recycling center, wash and remove labels. Purchase paperwhite bulbs for about 25cents a piece at bloomingbulb.com. Place one bulb in each jar. Fill bottom of jar with water and watch them grow. Mine took about 2-3 weeks to bloom. Now I'm tying pretty ribbons around the jar necks and adding a hand-made tag and giving one to each aunt and cousin for Christmas. Cost is about 25cents per jar plus cost of ribbon if you don't have any lying around the house. They make a great gift and it's nice to see fresh flowers this time of year!
I am also making collage sheets for my sister who loves collaging and scrapbooking. Just save pretty images from a Google image search and arrange them on a word document. Print on cardstock and tie several of the sheets with a ribbon. Or cut out similar images and put the cut-outs in ziploc bags with a label stating what the set is (ie. Travel, Shopping, Holiday).
IOU cards are also a big hit for men. Decorate index cards with little IOU favors such as "IOU a homecooked meal and dessert made by me" or "IOU for a 20 minute back rub" for a boyfriend. For Dad try "IOU for 1 hour of yardwork." I always include a funny card at the front of the pack that states the "Rules and Regulations" like Each IOU card may only be redeemed once and Cards are not to be combined with any other offer, etc. These are really fun and are appreciated as long as you actually let them cash in on the IOUs throughout the year.
Make little scented eye pillows and drawer sachets with pretty scraps of fabric. Stitch rectangular bags for eye pillows and smaller square bags for sachets.
Mix uncooked rice, dried herbs (lavender, chamomile, rosemary...etc), and a few drops of essential oils in a bowl. Fill bags with mixture and stitch up(Make sure eye pillows are not overstuffed with mixture or they will not rest on your eyes well. Eye pillows can be placed in the fridge and chilled before using to help reduce puffiness. Wrap eye pillows with a few packets of herbal sleepytime tea for a relaxation gift. Stack three of the sachets and tie with a ribbon and add a tag. These can be placed in drawers and in linen cabinets and smell fresh for years.
If you want to spend a small amount of money. My family really appreciates emergency/essentials kits. Fill a small dollar store Tupperware box with car emergency essentials. Spare toothbrush, mini flashlight, band aids, tissues, mini sunscreen, tube of chapstick, hand sanitizer, bungee cords, gum, small road map of the area they live/work, for women add pantyhose, nailpolish remover pads...anything you can think of that would come in handy if you were stuck somewhere unprepared. I can usually pick these up at a dollar store or in a CVS for fairly cheap. You can spend as little as $5-$10 on a kit and come in so handy. I have one in my car and have added granola bars and a spare pair of socks etc... I use it all the time.
To make recycled wrapping paper. Cut open plain brown grocery bags. Use rubber stamps to decorate or make your own stamps: slice a potato in half and carve whatever simple design you'd like into the raw side of the potato (a heart, star or holly leaf work well). Dip the potato stamp in paint and go to town! Let dry, wrap gifts in paper and tie with kitchen twine.
See if your town or region has a recycling center. Sometimes they will let you come in to take things for projects and you can find anything from empty jars and boxes to old magazines for collaging.
(12/21/2008)
By Amber
My sis sent us a box with mini Xmas stockings, maybe just six inches long, and stuffed them with little trinkets and mini candy bars. She glued glitter on it saying: mom, dad, bro, sis. It was a really cute idea. (12/22/2008)
By Joy
Thanks a lot for all the ideas. I got plenty for this year and next.
I really liked the 52 notes (1 for every week of the year) cuz it's good for any holiday and being in the military good for when my friends move too!
Another idea I had for my mom was homemade bath salts or soap molds. Or for anyone you could make your own colander with pictures for each month of things that happened that year.
You can make earrings, bracelets, necklaces etc. (little girls love the colorful beads and for more mature girls get glassier beads that look more real)
If someone wanted a pet but they weren't allowed or its just too much to take care of buy them a stuffed animal of the pet. If you can sew you can also make pillows. (12/23/2008)
By daddy's little girl
Me again. Since we're all Harry Potter "freaks" I ended up making hubby an HP calendar. I found HP wallpaper on the fanpop website and printed the best-looking pics out. Then I trimmed the pics around the borders, glued them onto 12x12 white cardstock, printed out monthly calendars from vertex42 website, and then glued them onto the cardstock.
I hole-punched 3 holes in the middle of the calendar to be bound with ribbon. I punched one hole on the top of it so I could hang it. I also made a 13th pic for the cover page.
If you plan to do this, be sure to place the pics and calendars in the right places, so that it is just like a real calendar; i.e., a calendar goes on one side of the cardstock and a pic goes on the other side. I ended up using 13 pages of cardstock. I tried to find appropriate pics for certain months; e.g., pics with snow in winter, love pics for Feb, HP and friends at the pumpkin patch in Nov, etc.
You could do this with all sorts of themes. Hubby said this was the best gift he's ever gotten, because again, we're HP freaks! (01/19/2009)
By Joy
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