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Homemade Christmas PresentsSubmitted by lana on Thu, 12/13/2007 - 10:55pm.
I am broke broke broke, so beside my kid, everyone is getting homemade, thrifted, or very cheap gifts this year. I am also feeling very overwhelmed and disgusted by the consumerism I see this holiday season. It's the first year in a long time that I've had a TV, so the commercials are really shocking to me - they are all so blatant, over-the-top, in-your-face, shameless, etc. etc. We're doing: We harvested some seeds from our garden and took a pic of the kidlet out amongst the flowers. We're giving those to everyone. We're also doing record bowls filled with popcorn and popcorn seasoning. though I haven't really had the time to do much crafting this year I'm determined to start for next year pretty soon after the new year. I like to embroider and always make my best friend from high school embroidered boxer shorts. He loves them and swears the ladies do too! "I have no country. As a woman, I want no country. As a woman my country is the whole world." - Virginia Woolf "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." - Rose F. Kennedy I had a ton of burnt out candles (extra wax) and I melted them all together. I bought a small package of wicks at a craft store and made candles using plastic cups for molds. some candles I layered wax colors, or added glitter. some I carved a neat shape on the outside after it was done, and painted in with a thin brush and black paint (or permanent marker). they turned out neat presents!
Lana, I could not agree more. My favorite commercial is Walmart's motto: "Save more, so you can give more." Yeah, right. Anyhow, I hit up the dollar store and they had a ton of cute girly sachets and bath salts that I got for all my preteen cousins. I stitched some hand towels with their initials and voila gifts for under $3 a piece. For my girls' teachers, I am making a blood orange jelly that is super easy. Food is the best way to go to save money! Good luck. Blood orange jelly? That sounds like a great gift! Can you post the recipe? Most of my homemade food gifts in the past have been candy or baked goods, or knitted items. Last year I made wine bags out of red felt and green ribbon and picked out a cheap but nice bottle of wine for my friends. I've been lazy so far this year, but I feel a crafty urge coming on this weekend! no money this year. This is what I always ask my broke brother to give me, CD's of his favorite/recent tunes. He loves putting them together for me and I can check out new music. You could offer gifts of service. Do you do anything particularly well? Cut hair? Clean kitchens? Cook meals? Maybe you could make your own cards, too. Make pretty little "coupons" for people, offering one day of babysitting if it's to a single mom friend, or offer to do the errands for someone in need. Think about each person you are giving to, and what their biggest needs are, and just try to find a way to fulfill those needs while spending little or no money. Think about what you can DO for someone rather than what you can GIVE to someone. Doing is giving. Another thing to think on is, if you can't afford to give gifts, then just make nice cards for people and write a little poem with a theme like charity, kindness, friendship, or love. (As for me, I rarely give gifts unless there is a real need for something. I don't give just because I got something - because I never ask for presents, so I don't let myself feel obligated to repay something I didn't ask for - and I don't give just for the sake of giving either.) Sometimes the best gift is no gift at all, in my opinion. I made these really yummy cinnamon rolls that had chopped nuts & dried fruit inside...they were unbaked, given to the recipient frozen w/instructions and a little baggie to turn into the icing by adding a few things. I think I got the recipe from Cooking Light, I can try to look it up if you want it. Click on the little icon above the picture to see it bigger. I've made a bunch of record bowls, which nessy put a tutorial of on her craft blog:
Food is always good. Cookies! I just picked up some cotton thread to knit some washcloths...lol I am thinking about making a new batch of soap. gotta think more on this...
This year we made soap and wine (not together lol). FOOD!! I love having homemade cookies and treats! |
I think nice holiday dish towels are nice for aunts and grandmoms, even lady friends. And I came up with this idea just the other day and am really disappointed I didn't think of it before...but for my niece and nephew (5 & 3yrs old) I am going to embroider them each a Christmas Eve pillowcase that they can use every year as a little tradition. Other than that I make pretty much boring blankets, scarves and cookies. One year I did make my bachelor friend a cookbook of specially selected recipes - and divided them into chapters, cooking for one, easy but impressive date dinners, etc. 
but this year I gave bottle cap magnets. I found the magnets in bulk online and just collected bottle caps of all kinds. I used a glue gun and just glued the magnets to the back. I put between 4 - 6 magnets together for each gift and gave the appropriate bottle caps to the appropriate people. For example, my friend who is sober got all non-alcoholic drink caps, while my friends that drink alcohol got caps from beers that I know they like.
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