What can I make for Christmas?

[yesiamyesiamokaycallmeback]

I don't want to buy anything for Christmas except for secondhand books and soap from an easy shop which I love.

I want to make presents for my family and children this year. But I have no idea what I can make for a main present

I so far have
-knitted hats/ scarves/ mittens
-christmas cookies

thats it. thats all I can think of.
what can I make thats sustainable (ish)
I have a printer so was thinking of making some Harry Potter bbbeans and maybe a magic wand each for the kids but it seems pretty lame for Xmas.

the kids have tons of toys. I don't know what to do. I don't want to buy toys they don't want just because I think they should have more to open.

any idea? anyone else doing a more simple Xmas?

kids are 3 5 and 7 so a range of ages.
adult gift ideas too please
God help me

I don't want greedy children. they will have what they are given. end of.

Just to say, it is not greedy for a 7 year old to want new toys. It is normal, and of course we all have to manage their expectations without making them ashamed of wanting stuff because it is too old for them, or because we can't afford it.

I think it is important to be clear about your own motives here - it can be upsetting to have to say "we can't afford that". It might be tempting to go for the more middle-class-acceptable "we are saving the planet by hand making everything this year". It would not mean the children were greedy or entitled if they didn't love it.

@JemimaTiggywinkle no idea there even was an ethical living section
I will thanks

aibu is ... well we all know

How horrible to suggest children are greedy for stipulating a want for Christmas. Want doesn't always get, but to pooh pooh all requests in the bullshit quest of being virtuous is nasty.

I suggest you use the money saved for therapy. They're gonna need it.

Harry Potter wands

If you have a stick, or an old chopstick and a glue gun, you can make amazing Harry Potter wands, Look it up on youtube, DD did it when she was about 10 and it was fab. You then need some acrylic paint to paint it.

Add a cape, and /or knit a HP scarf (do you know which house your kids woudl be in?)

Have a look at home made paper, and then make some blue paper and make into a Spell Book with a large silver/black ribbon holding it together. You can either leave it blank to write in, or put simple recipes in.

I'm half way through the thread and pretty pissed off with the 'your kids will be disappointed' comments.

Some of my kids best presents were unique things made for just them, mostly by my mum.
I posted this on another thread:

Can you sew?

My mum used to make dresses/outfits for dds build a bear toys.
She also make dressing up clothes (I remember dd had a tinkerbell party and had a tinkerbell dress, I made her a cape, bright green fleece with white fur edge, like in the winter tinkerbell stories and it was a favourit item for years)
She also made bespoke things like a cushion for their bedroom with their name on it, or a pillow and quilt for the dolls bed/buggy.

Home made does not = crap.

Also, there is no way my 7 year odl would ahve got a console. I did not want him on a console at that age.
he not only survived, but recently in a conversation he told me that we were right about restricting the time he had on consoles growing up.

You need to know your child.
dd1 - never dressed up
dd2 - always in a twirly skirt, so all dressing up went down a treat.

But dd1 loved HP. I could have made her a wand, but actually for her aged 7, she would have wanted the stuff to make her own set of wands. So, I would have bought her a pack of chopsticks, and a cheap glue gun, made one example, and printed off the 10 different versions, and she would have been set for the rest of the holidays.

I assume OP knows her own kids

SOme lovely ideas here www.mysewingbox.co.uk/blogs/news/100-gifts-to-sew-for-christmas

I especially love the dressing up dinosaur tails, the fish drawstring bags (could make mermaid ones from the same pattern too) and the hair accessories tidy.

[quote yesiamyesiamokaycallmeback]@Hiccupiscal I was going to abandon this thread because it was making me embarrassed.
yes my kids are so into the planet.we grow our own food already so giving them some seeds for their patch (and a sign ) will be well received

attitudes are changing around plastic crap and consumerism. I don't want greedy children. they will have what they are given. end of.[/quote]
We should be friends, op.
I grow my own too, give away food we don't consume (olio), buy second hand, we have chickens, try and avoid plastic, walk on the school run and back, litter pick, my DC gets involved with it all, he knows the environmental impact of things and the value of money..

I think its a wonderful way to being up children, after all the planet is in a right mess because of our consumerism! And it won't get any better.

Your thread has been awfully derailed, when all you were truly asking was for inspiration!

Feel free to message me privately if you like

After Christmas, OP, please do come back and tell us how much your 7 year old was thrilled with a twig Harry Potter wand.

For info, you can buy a PAYG mobile from Tesco for £15 - has zero bells and whistles no internet or camera but he can text his friends.

How nasty to say a child asking for a present at Christmas is greedy. I feel very sad for your 7 year old in particular who obviously understands and has asked for specific things. And as much as you keep saying your kids are into ethical living it's very clear your 7 yr old just wants toys like every other kid.

For info, you can buy a PAYG mobile from Tesco for £15 - has zero bells and whistles no internet or camera but he can text his friends.

At 7?! No way. Thin end of the wedge.

It's perfectly possible to live an ethical lifestyle and enjoy gardening and making stuff AND buy your 7 year old some black panther lego among the twigs and macrame coasters.

And 7 year olds telling you wjat they'd love to get for Christmas isn't 'greedy'. Saying they want a particular game doesn't make them Verruca Salt

For info, you can buy a PAYG mobile from Tesco for £15 - has zero bells and whistles no internet or camera but he can text his friends.

SERIOUSLY??
He is 7.

He does not need a phone, or a console, or a laptop etc.
My kids did fine without.
First phones when they went to secondary school.
I actually don't know any families that give their kids phones at primary, apart from in year 6.

Honestly, if your kids are so gadget oreintated at 7 then you need to give your head a wobble.
That is the damaging way you have chosen to bring your kids up.
At 7 I would be buying lego. Or toys which require imagination.

I am banging my head against the wall at the idea that a 7 year old has so little imagination that all you can give them fro Christmas is a phone.

[quote yesiamyesiamokaycallmeback]@Hiccupiscal I was going to abandon this thread because it was making me embarrassed.
yes my kids are so into the planet.we grow our own food already so giving them some seeds for their patch (and a sign ) will be well received

attitudes are changing around plastic crap and consumerism. I don't want greedy children. they will have what they are given. end of.[/quote]
Kids are not bloody greedy because they ask for some actual presents instead of homemade crap their mum has bodged together from bits and bobs she found laying around the house.

They are allowed to want real toys... not everyone is going to be impressed by a bloody chopstick or a twig dressed up as a wand

I don't want greedy children. they will have what they are given. end of.

Goodness me 😲

What the fuck is wrong with some of you? Mumsnet is another planet isn't it! No kid needs therapy because their parents didn't buy them expensive Christmas presents.

OP, I grew up in a dirt-poor house and I too wrote absurd wish lists, so it doesn't matter whether its the 80s or today, some kids won't get everything they want and that's life.

The biggest thing I remember every year was that I got a personalised letter from Santa mum with a funny little poem about why such and such toy couldn't be there, but wouldn't I take care of this one instead? And don't tell mum or dad but there's a bundle of your favourite sweets hidden in my sock drawer (shhhh).

You can be thoughtful and personalised without spending a fortune. I absolutely loved Christmas as the best times of the year, and I'm so glad I don't have to look back and think "oh yes, my parents went into debt so I could have the latest Barbie doll".

@Crankley

After Christmas, OP, please do come back and tell us how much your 7 year old was thrilled with a twig Harry Potter wand.

For info, you can buy a PAYG mobile from Tesco for £15 - has zero bells and whistles no internet or camera but he can text his friends.

SMH..

1. The child is 7. Absolutely not. My son got free fake dinosaur mobile phone with a magazine someone else brought him a couple of days ago, hes quite liked play acting calling other dinosaurs from his fake mobile phone.

Hes 6, that's exactly what he should be doing
Playing. What does a 7 year old have to say to hi friends over text anyway? I dont even know another 7 year old who has phone to text.

Mumsnet is bizarre sometimes.

Again, ops thread has be awfully derailed, when she was just asking for nice ideas hope!
hope your not feeling too bad op, theres lot of posters who have been very helpful!

To add, im sure op doesn't think her children are actually greedy for requesting some toys, what's shes trying to say is she doesn't want to raise children who think they should and can, have everything, and consume, consume, consume.
Everything we buy new and use has a footprint and im pretty sure in context she just trying to say her kids of aware of this and ensuring they don't have every whim catered for.

And to those being cruel about ops choice of items to make, I hope she does come back and update you, to say they had a lovely Xmas spent together, doing the best they can with what they have/had, playing and spending time with each other.

Just because its different from how your kids have Christmas doesn't mean its disappointing

(And let's face it, even if it was, the kids aren't going to keel over and die. Learning to be disappointed is part of life. Of course not the lesson intended at Xmas, but op is hardly a child absuser for it. It actually sounds like she spends more Time doing things with them- growing food, making things- than some parents who would give a 7 year old a phone)

You go from saying your eldest child is extremely plastic free to this:

my eldest asked for a games console and a mobile phone and a petrol quad bike (where from I don't know)

That's hardly plastic free.

Look I get that you don't have much money, it's been a shit year, but honestly get second hand stuff. I really don't see this handmade stuff going down well and you're wasting your time. They don't sound as plastic free thinking as you think they are. They are kids, of course they want fun stuff. That's normal.

And to those being cruel about ops choice of items to make, I hope she does come back and update you, to say they had a lovely Xmas spent together, doing the best they can with what they have/had, playing and spending time with each other

I'm sure she will

We do the something to read, something they want, something they need, and something to wear ‘rule’. Works really nicely and no useless plastic tat.

...and no seven year old needs a phone.

When we were kids, my Dad made my sister a dolls house, my brother a garage and a go-kart and me a set of bunk beds or my dolls. My mum was up all Christmas eve sewing bedding!
We were thrilled. And as an adult I certainly don't "look back with disdain"- I think of all the love and thought and time that went into those gifts, and how bloody lucky we were.

all the posters being snooty about the handmade Harry Potter wand- . Would a £1.99 one from Wilkos be better simply because it was mass produced? More acceptable?

Making a wand would be a fun thing to do as an activity. Or if you wanted to make it as a gift, then have it as a stocking filler. Not the main present

Think about how you wrap it (yes, excess wrapping is maybe not the most eco-friendly thing, but something like brown paper can be reused, composted or recycled). I still remember an amazing Christmas when I was 5 or 6 when my mum had wrapped up a huge box, with scrunched up wrapping paper in it, and I had to dig through to find each present. I know I got pajamas, some clothes and a Peter Pan book. I mentioned this to my mum a couple of years ago and she said we were so skint that year that I basically just got stuff I needed so she had to be inventive with the wrapping!