Time to think about the holidays

[Yvonne Belisle]

What better time to start thinking of the upcoming holidays than now when the sun is hot upon us. Many of us have large spread out families and many of us are on tighter budgets so we tend to think about making those special gifts. During these last few weeks when kids are home is perfect to start some special presents. Please post some ideas here.

[Yvonne Belisle]

Something smaller kids can do is to take coffee cans and paint them they can even put hand prints on them and date them. It is a wonderful keepsake as well as a cool way to wrap a gift.

Another thing kids can do is have someone melt chocolate then coat nice spoons with it for coffee drinkers. To package it take a nice coffee cup and place your individually wrapped spoons in it place it in celophane pull it up and tie it with a pretty bow this is a great year round gift. The chocolates can also be flavored with things like mint candy extract or cinnimon it can even be flavored with things like kalua!

[Faery-Wings]

AAAAAAHHHHHH! Holidays!!!!

*gasp*

You are right though,Eve, this is the best time to get started. (But please don't scare me like that again! :p)

I make a lot of things with my kids using there hands. Even a handprint framed with the name Nana (or whomever) on a mat looked beautiful. I also traced their feet to make an angel's body and their hands become the wings. I glued that onto green felt and added a dowel on top and made gorgeous wall hangings.

You can have your kids help you make M & P soaps and bath crystals. Package salts in baby food jars topped with cellophane.

Sillhouettes traced of their heads are a really special present.

Salt clay or some other type of homemade clay can be made into paperwieghts by pressing in handprints, crystals or rocks, painted after it is hardened etc.

I have lots more ideas- if anyone needs better instructions or has a specific gift in mind, please post back and I'll do what I can to help.

:D

[Faery-Wings]

just found a neat site:

http://www.kinderart.com/index.html

And some seasonal pages:
http://www.kinderart.com/seasons/dec.shtml

This site looks really good, I am going to spend some more time looking through it.

[Yvonne Belisle]

That sounds great

[Flar's Freyja]

And of course there are the clothespin reindeer and macaroni angels.....you can also make figures out of clay and glue their pictures to them. We have some gingerbread men, stars and little schoolhouses. You can write on the back how old they were and the date and they can initial them - and I like the idea about handprints. Grandparents love stuff like this!

My Yule tree is decorated with nothing but what my children made while they were little. These things are so precious to me and can not ever be replaced.

BTW, my clothespin reindeer collection is the envy of all who see it.....:lol:

[Faery-Wings]

*bump*

These were for the Winter holidays, but we have Mother's Day coming up in a week. :eek:

Any other ideas for nice gifts for moms and grandmas?

[Tammy Sullivan]

Originally posted by Yvonne Thomas



Another thing kids can do is have someone melt chocolate then coat nice spoons with it for coffee drinkers. To package it take a nice coffee cup and place your individually wrapped spoons in it place it in celophane pull it up and tie it with a pretty bow this is a great year round gift. The chocolates can also be flavored with things like mint candy extract or cinnimon it can even be flavored with things like kalua!
Yvonne, I LOVE those thngs! What a great idea, my daughter will enjoy that.

[Yvonne Belisle]

There are several gift threads floating about here. You can also search the green room for ideas on jar mixes that mothers would love. A nice mothers day keepsake is a coffee tin that has been painted then kids handprints placed on the sides and lid. You can make it multigenerational if you have kids and want to give it to your mom. Just add your handprints to the sides too. A pie tin that has been carefully covered with aluminum foil then filled with plaster is really good too you can use a staw to put in the openings for yarn and put a kids hand print in it then when it is dry you can decopague a picture of the child and with a perminant marker such as a fine point sharpy put the year and name of the child. This makes a fun keepsake I would use ribbon instead of yarn and it can also be docorated with paints and or dried or silk flowers as well.

[Faery-Wings]

Here are my two thoughts:
1. A handprint dishcloth- paint your child's hand with fabric paint and then place it on a dishcloth. You could wrap up some kitchen utentils or some family recipes to add to it.

2. Cover a glass candle holder or jar with tissues paper- glue it on with watered down glue. Add "gems" and a ribbon. Now you have a mosaic candle holder.

Not sure which one I am going to do- depends one what materials I have in the house and what I can find.