Each year my family draws each other’s names for Christmas. While we do have store bought gifts, these particular gifts are supposed to be handmade.

I wanted my kids to know the real spirit of giving and found it was easier to encourage them to give their time in making a present than it was earn money to buy a present.

As the years have gone by our kids (and ourselves) have really gotten into it.

Calendar or photobook

My favorites have been when my husband has made me a personalized calendar from shutterfly.com. They have deals constantly and are worth looking into. If they by chance aren’t having deals, Walgreens and Walmart let you make them for around $12.

Made from Felt

My next go-to for homemade presents is felt. It comes in a variety of colors and doesn’t unravel on the edges, making it easy to work with. You can either go with inexpensive 50¢ felt or get a more luxurious look with wool felt.

My Little Pony Castle

This is my newest homemade gift, the My Little Pony Castle playset. The pony buttons can be found at Walmart, Joanne’s or Amazon. I then attached each pony with rainbow ribbon. It folds up to make a convenient quiet book. Let me know if you’re interested and I can share my pattern.

Trolls Poppy and Branch

Last year I made Poppy and Branch out of felt. Felt is so easy to use and makes cute gifts.

Christmas Pajamas

Another great go-to is creating fun shirt and pj’s gifts (really anything made from cotton will work).

I stumbled across this idea years ago while teaching art at a family camp. A little boy had been using toll paint and unbeknownst to me or his mother, ended up getting some on his shirt. By the time she found it, the paint had dried. She came back to the art room begging for help and we had to tell her once it was dry it was permanent, which up to this point had been a bad thing. But I told her to leave the shirt and I’d see if I could match the colors and paint over it. I was able to fix the shirt and while I painted it I realized I should have been doing this all along.

Masking tape stencil

Here are some of the best examples we’ve done for our homemade Christmas presents. This is the masking tape technique. Use masking tape to create a “stencil”then paint over it

TV show Pysch

This particular gift is a throw back to the TV show Psych. My daughter has been working on this and is going to add the words,” I’ve heard it both ways. ”

Freestyle paint

Despicable Me, Gru and Minions

You can also freestyle paint it, which I used in our Despicable Me theme for the purple minion and masking tape for Gru’s scarf.

Freezer Paper Stencil

Another toll paint method is to cut your design out of freezer paper and iron (wax side down) onto your shirt. This also creates a stencil to paint on.

You can cut it with a Cricut, Shillouett machine or a razer.

At the time our son had been calling himself “the happy kid ” so I made him a smiley face shirt. So far I’ve noticed dark colored cotton shirts don’t absorb the toll paint as well. I’m guessing this is because the fibers already hold alot of pigment. Prewashing new shirts can help a little. Deep red shirts have been the least effective with holding onto paint.

Setting the paint in the shirt

Whichever technique you choose, cover the shirt with an old towel and iron the paint into the shirt. This helps set the paint (after it has dried) and makes it a permanent image. For all of my projects (except red shirts) the painting has become permanent and only fades with natural wear.

Weaving

Our older son learned how to make a bead bracelet. This picture gives an idea of the set up. There was not any DIY for this style on YouTube – which as you can tell is very simple and easy to do. I guess my son needs to make a video.

In the mean time you can check out a different DIY beadloom style here.

PVC Pipe toys

And of course there is PVC pipe. Whether you are making marshmallows shooters or lounging chairs, PVC pipe has endless possibilities. These were made by my boys for each other last year.

Copper wire doll furniture

We also had some creative gifts come from copper wire. My son, twisted it into the shape of lawn furniture for his sister’s house, making a chair and a swing.

Doll house renovation

The house came a few years before. It was a rickety, old doll house from a yard sale. I revived it with support beams along the roof and foundation, cardboard roof shingles and painted siding shingles.

Tic Tac Toe

This Tic Tac Toe game was given by my then two year old. I sewed the bag from plaid and burlap. My daughter painted on paper, which I cut into circles and modge podged to the bottom of glass beads. I liked how it preserved her artwork and let her participate in the giving process.

Seasoned Salts

The last present I will share today is gifting seasoned salts. Bacon salt is easy and a tasty gift for the men in your life (or anyone who really loves bacon). The bacon flavor came out well in the food. We used it on salads, sandwiches, soups etc. This gift needs to be stored in the fridge.

To make, cook a pound of bacon to very crispy. Let cool and crumble into tiny bacon pieces. Add two cups of course salt and two tsp of ground pepper. Mix together and fill up your bottles.

The packaging was made with burlap, doubled over and glued around the neck of the bottle from the dollar store.

Tied with Raffia and a homemade, laminated tag.

The possibilities are endless. I hope this sparks some creative ideas and as always feel free to send questions or comments.

And have a wonderful Christmas holiday. 🎄 🌟 🎁