Share your ideas for Handmade gifts...please

[Sibsmum]

Would you be prepared to share your ideas for homemade or handmade gifts? I am making my Christmas cakes in a few weeks ( so I can feed them with brandy for months ) and starting to think ahead to collecting bits and bobs for ' that' time of year. We like to include some homemade items but ..
I need some new ideas - along with methods and list of what I need for the make.
Please include some ideas for things that children can make too, pictures too very welcome.

I love to cross stitch and embroider. You can buy Learn a Craft kits that make it very easy. If you're in the UK there are a number of cross stitch magazines you can purchase. Cross Stitcher is my favourite (I can buy it here in Canada but it comes from the UK). They actually have a monthly stitch along that is designed for novice cross stitchers. They often have small designs that are suitable for making into Christmas cards or gift tags and they always include a free gift with the magazine. You can even purchase children's cross stitch kits that are easy to complete.

Children often like Perler beads too. These are small plastic beads that you arrange into a pattern on a grid. Then you put a piece of special paper over the beads and run a warm iron over them. This will melt the beads slightly so the project will stay together.

Another option that's a great gift for a child is a sock animal. They're not just limited to monkeys! You can find kits and patterns online and there are books as well. I like Brenna Maloney's series, Socks Appeal, Sockology, and Sock It To Me. Again, she starts with novice projects and then moves to more complicated ones - and not just monkeys either! Some of the simple projects are suitable for children to do as well. You can use all different kinds of socks - regular socks, anklets, baby socks, toddler socks, knee socks, even toe socks (the toes are great for a dinosaur fringe or a rooster comb).

Knitted facecloths with home made or just nice, soap.

I do spice rubs in pretty jars. There are loads of recipes on the internet. Also flavored olive oil and mustard. If Im feeling particularly crafty I do lemon curd
The spice rubs are the easiest, no effort apart from measuring the spices. I buy big bags of spices from a restaurant supply house and just mix them up.
Mustard is also very easy. Buy the bags of seeds from amazon

I've been picking elderberries this week every time I go out dog walking - the trees seem absolutely laden recently. I've made cakes and things, but just today I've put some away to make liqueur. Just a load of washed elderberries soaking in a jar with a bottle of vodka, and then in 3 or 4 weeks I'll filter them out and have berry vodka, which you could give to someone as it is. I'm going to then cook the berries down with sugar to make syrup which I'll add back in, and then leave for another few weeks to make a thicker sweeter liqueur.

Cover an ordinary wooden coat hanger with a "sausage" about one and a half times the length of the hanger of pretty material, over a layer of wadding (although I have used better bits of a dead dressing gown.....) gather it up and fasten securely to make a padded coat hanger. If time and artistic talent permit, make a sachet out of leftover scraps and attach with ribbon (dried lavender or rose petals) with the recipient's initial on it.

I disapprove of Christmas prep in August.
However, I made coffee syrups last year and they were easy and quick and lovely. Just sugar and flavourings - loads of recipes online.

Soaps? You can buy blocks of uncoloured and unscented soap and then add your own scents and colours, and shape them in whatever moulds you like. Suitable for older kids (as long as you help them when the soap is hot).

Homemade food presents are always good - Christmas spice chutney, apple caramels, Parmesan shortbread stars in a mason jar, salted caramel sauce, stollen, fudge.

Air-dry clay is great for kids to make things for gifts, or for you to make something a little more polished :) a hand print ring dish for example. It's as simple as buying the clay, making the design, waiting for it to dry (24h ish) then painting if desired.

Can you sew? Even something simple really surprises people! Even kids can do a simple doll, or a lavender drawer cushion, coin purse, infinity scarf, pillow case - literally hundreds of little ideas if you have a Google :)

Hard to go wrong with homebaked edibles. Premade cake or biscuit mixes look great in a mason jar (just add instructions to add the wet ingredients). If you're a Christmas cake-baker, why not do mini ones as gifts?

I made some salt dough Christmas ornaments and painted them when they were dry. You could either make some to go on the tree (put a hole in before you dry them) or make some stand alone ones. I found it better to leave them to dry out on the radiators as opposed to baking them as they always bubbled in the oven. If any cracks appear use polyfiller to cover it. I made them for family so made them as the family members ie dad mum and child. My sis was pregnant so made her penguins with an egg to resemble the unborn child. Use a (painted) pine cone as a Christmas tree. And a slice of tree trunk to set them on. Can also make little salt dough parcels/snowballs. Make sure to varnish them fully when painted so they don't get damp. Great for kids and adults to do.

Also paper quilling - can make Christmas cards or pictures and easy to do - lots of tutorials on YouTube and lots of images online for inspiration. Can take a long time to do if you're doing a particularly detailed picture. You'd need quilling paper, size template, glue, quilling tool (forget what it's called but it's to wind the paper up).

Needle felted Christmas ornaments. You can get kits for this but you'd need felting needles, coloured wool, and some polystyrene shapes - i got some cute snowmen ones from the range last year. Cheap to do but they're so cute.

We don't have much money at the moment, so for Christmas we are planning to give our families small baskets/hampers filled with produce....
Eggs from our hens
Homemade bread
A box of homemade brownies
Jars of homemade jams and chutneys.

I make jams and relishes from home grown fruit and veggies. Use empty sauce jars to bottle them in.
DK's The Preserving Book is my bible - loads of recipes for jams, preserves, pickles, syrups, chutneys etc etc.
Ideal time to do it if you grow your own, or use whatever is cheap and plentiful in shops.

Wow. Thank You generously sharing your suggestions. Sorry if I offended anyone by mentioning the December holidays( trying not to repeat offend) , but as on a pretty tight budget I collect bits weekly for different making projects.
Also , definitely a good time right now for cheaper or even freely hedgerow harvested ( with permission when appropriate) fruits and veg for preserving and bottling, or my favourite idea so far, liqueur....ummm🍷
You are fabulous and so kind to share your creative ideas. 😘

Xmas idea for kids to make: Get plain white crockery and tea towels and decorate with sharpies. Put crockery in a cold oven then heat slowly so design is set.

@celestia26

I’d be absolutely made up with a gift like that. My husband agrees. Hands down MUCH better than the vast quantities of stuff you don’t need you end up with.

I may be a bit gushing but I couldn’t think of anything more lovely than fresh eggs.

I fully intend to give everyone glitter wine glasses this year after visiting a friend last week and admiring hers. I thought they were from John Lewis or somewhere similar.
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/m.wikihow.com/Glitter-Wine-Glasses%3famp=1

They look classier on champagne flutes IMO

Food. Anything else is likely to annoy someone/ not be used. Loads of people are particular about soaps and beauty things and as lovely as handmade pictures and cross stitch is it will rarely get used or put up. At least with food you can serve it to guests if you don't like it.

Last year I made scrabble pictures. I bought deep box frames and a selection of wooden scrabble pieces (found a seller on Amazon where you could request certain letters so I didn't spend lots trying to get the right ones). Then created a scrabble-style picture with the first names of their family unit linked. A few pretty flower embellishments (from the scrapbook section at Hobbycraft) and I had personalised gifts for not too much money.

Nothing. They are all poor gifts , made for the giver not the receiver.

We need a link to a Facebook tat homemade thread at this point!

My daughter has decorated plain picture frames and we have put a drawing otpr photo inside. Frames from Wilks or idea and embellishments from the works. Decoration can be as simple or elaborate as you like.
We also do picture calendars for our parents with pictures of our daughter on. I select photos for each month and use snapfish. Once you have got your head around it, it doesnt take to long. I save it as a project and wait for an offer.
We have done little scrapbook albums/printed photo books from snapfish too. My mother in law came on holiday with us, so we gave her an album with holiday pics in.
I some times put a hamper together with things I know the recipient will like, including special cheeses, crackers, condiments, biscuits chocs etc.
Not a chwap option, but we have a lovery pottery painting studio so dd has painted christmas decorations.
Dd and I both make cards for family.

A basket with homemade butter, jam and a loaf of bread.

Teacup candles!

I'd rather have nothing than one of those glitter wine glasses. They are shit. I'd put it straight in the bin.

Beeswax clothes for wrapping food in... So cheap to make but expensive to buy. Just Google making beeswax clothes. I've made lots and kids love to make them.

Thanks Glueandstick! I hope they like them.

I gush about freshly laid eggs too, I'll tell anyone who will listen how lovely our hens eggs are, and give them a half dozen to try! 😂