Hand/Homemade Christmas Gifts

[cicero]

i also agree with the consumables.

i've made the dipped spoons a few times - i used good clear plastic spoons (not the el cheapo ones).

you can also go with classics like homemade bread, bread and homemade jam, cookies, biscotti, etc.

[Tai]

Consumables are fantastic!

Two that I'm doing this year, both a know your audience type thing:

1. Beer bread mix.  Costs about $5 to make 4 batches! 

2. Coconut sugar scrub.  This is awesome!  I've been using it for about 2 weeks now, and it has kept my hands from getting dried out, cracked and peeling at the cuticles.  Mix 2 cups sugar into 1 cup of coconut oil (coconut oil can get expensive, but check walmart to get a jar of it for under $5) until the lumps of coconut oil are incorporated, then jar it up.  You can use repurposed jars, and if your little one eats baby food from the jar, the 6 oz sizes are perfect for this!  decorate the jar, and voila! 

A 5lb bag of sugar and coconut oil from Walmart cost about $7, and there's enough raw material there to make at least 6-8 jars if you buy the Louana brand (31.5 oz jar).   

[gramma dishes]

I keep reading all this wonderful food stuff, especially all the different bread things which I LOVE.

Is there any possibility any of you are looking for an additional mother?  I'm open to adopting adults who make bread.   

[QueenofAllThings]

Another good consumable idea is dry cookie mix in a jar - layer the makings for chocolate chip cookies in a jar and tie with a ribbon. Inexpensive to make (I'm sure there are instructions on the web somewhere) and who doesn't like cookies?

Skip the card holders - pipe cleaners just remind me of kids' crafts (ymmv).

Candles are nice - you can peel the labels off if you're worried about it looking 'Walmart'.

[Merry Mrs Martin]

  I like the chocolat spoons best , I'd probally look for some Xmas mugs and hot coco packs to make a"set" .  I love Christmas mugs; You can find OK ones for a dollar or less almost everywhere drug stores, supermarkets , Walmart , Targets ect.

[WhirlyBird]

I make homemade caramels for the family every year. The first year I made them, I was hold I was never going to be able to stop. So that's what the extended family gets every year. Oh, and friends too.

I also like the idea of a consumable. I like the seasoned salt idea, because it's not sweet. Most people do sweets for the holidays, and that would be something different. If you're concerned about the size of the gift, use some of the seasoned salt to make some popcorn or pretzel treats with it, and give a little bag of it along with the salt. Then people know what they're getting as well.

If you want more, inexpensive and FABULOUS ideas, try pinterest.com. Lots of great ideas on there, many of which I have done myself. For this holiday season, I am making tile coasters for a bunch of people. All it takes is tiles (sixteen cents apiece), scrapbook paper, mod podge and a little felt for the bottom. And they are gorgeous!

[Tai]

I make homemade caramels for the family every year. The first year I made them, I was hold I was never going to be able to stop. So that's what the extended family gets every year. Oh, and friends too.

I also like the idea of a consumable. I like the seasoned salt idea, because it's not sweet. Most people do sweets for the holidays, and that would be something different. If you're concerned about the size of the gift, use some of the seasoned salt to make some popcorn or pretzel treats with it, and give a little bag of it along with the salt. Then people know what they're getting as well.

If you want more, inexpensive and FABULOUS ideas, try pinterest.com. Lots of great ideas on there, many of which I have done myself. For this holiday season, I am making tile coasters for a bunch of people. All it takes is tiles (sixteen cents apiece), scrapbook paper, mod podge and a little felt for the bottom. And they are gorgeous!

I'm doing those too!  Just be careful, the paper doesn't like to lay nice!  I cheated and Xacto knifed the edges on mine so that I didn't have to center the paper...

[Wonderflonium]

I also like the idea of a consumable. I like the seasoned salt idea, because it's not sweet. Most people do sweets for the holidays, and that would be something different. If you're concerned about the size of the gift, use some of the seasoned salt to make some popcorn or pretzel treats with it, and give a little bag of it along with the salt. Then people know what they're getting as well.

I think the bolded is especially brillant! Popcorn is cheap and a fairly typical Christmas gift (or so the massive quantities of tins at Walmart would have me believe). You could make a whole mess of it and package it prettily and then give some extra seasoned salt on the side.

[Athos_000]

I like the seasoned salt and spoons ideas, I would use and enjoy both of them. For the spoons/forks I would actually prefer plastic because I could just throw it away when it was used instead of having to bother with some random spoon or fork.

[Carotte]

As a stocking stuffer this year I made button-magnets for my mom ( who quilt and sew, etc..), with colorful buttons (wood, but you can use plastic, new or vintage..) and little powerful magnets. That way our fridge will have coordinated magnets to hold stuff. I'm doing the same thing but with lego tiles for my brother.

You could attach the magnets to some clothes-pin, they'll probably see more use out of them than placeholder that are nor used everyday.

[Snooks]

I think the spoons idea is great, maybe you could pair them with a nice mug and some of the tile coasters PP mentioned.

[rose red]

Chocolate spoon and fork is a really cute gift.  A red spoon with a green fork would be cute.  Also, you can add a chocolate covered pretzel rod and a peppermint candy stick. 

I also love the idea of the seasoned salt with popcorn and/or pretzels.

One idea of making inexpensive gifts look nice is creative packaging.  In the past, I've baked cookies and put them in "Chinese food take-out boxes" that had a Christmas print and tied with curling ribbons on the handle (all brought at the dollar store).  Very cheap but the care and effort was appreciated  .

[bebemochi]

Everyone, I wanted to thank you for all the input. I am definitely considering everything. As much as I'd like to tackle them, I'm still a little wary of the chocolate dipped spoons... I've never done them before...

Btw, I tried out covering the little match boxes, just mostly for my own edification because, if nothing else, I wanted something nicer looking for around my house. Well, maybe I should just start looking for cute little boxes to hide them in, because my attempts were disaster! I had a really hard time making it look nice, and the box was really just too small to make an impact. Reality was definitely different from what I had in my head!

[Coruscation]

This is probably a bit late for this year but an idea I have heard of is to make your own vanilla essence using vanilla pods and vodka. I think it takes three months? You buy the vodka and pods in bulk and repackage them in smaller jars. If I ever locate some vanilla bean pods, I'm going to try it, apparently it's much better than the commercial stuff.

[Lynnv]

This is probably a bit late for this year but an idea I have heard of is to make your own vanilla essence using vanilla pods and vodka. I think it takes three months? You buy the vodka and pods in bulk and repackage them in smaller jars. If I ever locate some vanilla bean pods, I'm going to try it, apparently it's much better than the commercial stuff.

I am sure there are other places, but I know that you can get them mail order at www.penzeys.com (or at a store if you have one local to you).