Home made gifts by children - ideas please!

[Turtleoo]

My DS makes a small gift for the grandparents each year, so he has something to give them and it's a lovely Christmas activity for us to do together.

So far we've done:

• Santa salt dough hand prints
• star shaped bird seed feeders (not a huge success, really crumbly!)
• bookmarks with bleeding tissue paper

Can anyone suggest any ideas for this year? DS is 4. I'd prefer something that has an actual use rather than just being art.

Chocolate drops - melt chocolate and just drop on to a sheet of baking paper in a circle and get kids to sprinkle with whatever they want and then put in gift bags once hardened

Home made mince pies

You can get plenty of cheap kits from hobby craft to make home made decorations for the tree to then give as gifts

I find key rings normally go down well. Baker Ross do good sets that are easy for little ones to do.

Jam jar lanterns/tea light holders - decorated with glass paint or tissue paper and sequins

Keyring thesweetestoccasion.com/2015/07/diy-wooden-bead-keychain/

Pen pot www.redtedart.com/pencil-holder-diy/ - we’ve used both Pringles tubes and tin cans. We used a taller Pringles tube for a kitchen utensils holder

Plastic bottle plant pot - www.cravingsomecreativity.com/soda-bottle-animal-planters/ We put a plant inside as part of the present

Last year I bought some plain canvas tote bags and some fabric pens. Daughter (4 at the time) did lots of drawings all over the bags. I put gifts I had bought for family in the bags so also used as a gift bag. I still use the one she did for me, it’s just in the pile of shopping bags

Fantastic ideas so far, thanks everyone! Am already spoilt for choice. The choc drops sound great but there's a real danger they won't make it out of the house 😂
Also loving the tote bag and plant ideas in particular

A calendar? Your child decorates a pic and you stick a mini calendar on the bottom. These can actually be quite useful and fun. I used to laminate snow scenes and snowmen made by my daughter.

A tree decoration? My daughter is 15 and still makes these for family lol

Xmas soap? Melt and Pour soaps are quite fun obviously you'll need to ve in charge of the pouring into soap mould but your child can mix in the colour, cent and glitter. A Christmas tree mould works perfectly. I make these most years for friends.

I'm a childminder and every year the children make a bauble for their tree at home. I get a large clear glass bauble and then they add a handprint depending on their age 1 y/o do Rudolph, 2y/o do Santa and 3 y/o do each finger as a penguin. We do the handprint in acrylic (get it off then hand quickly) and then I add details. Parents love them!
Pinterest has loads of inspiration.

Years ago we made cookies in a jar which went down well (grandparent and child baked together). Child enjoyed weighing out ingredients and creating layers and designing fancy label and writing out instructions.

This sort of thing : www.verybestbaking.com/toll-house/recipes/chocolate-chip-cookie-mix-in-a-jar/. We bought some red gingham cotton for lids and some gingham ribbon.

And another gift that went down well was key fobs. The fob rings themselves came from old handbags we cut up (the D rings or circular rings that attach handles to bag) and we used lettered beads to spell granny and grandpa with coloured beads in between, all tied up with colourful cord or ribbon.

Coasters - cute picture on very thick card or you can buy wooden coaster blanks.

Following

Plant some bulbs

Was going to suggest this also- we have just used sharpies for this in the past.

also white mugs decorated with a snowman face using black & orange porcelain pens- if you look on Pinterest there should be examples of this.

Or could get DS to draw a picture then take a photo & get it printed on something- eg you can get cheap personalised glasses cleaning cloths on eBay

Great ideas, thank you all!

One year we bought 100% cotton aprons and DD decorated them with fabric paint.

She. was a bit older and did a proper picture but you could use stamps if you want a more "tidy" picture or just let him loose.

All were used for several years by the grandparents.

For her childminder she once decorated a plant pot we gave with a indoor plant for her kitchen.

I got a load of white tea towels and drew the outline of a Christmas tree on, and dc used fabric pens/paint to decorate the trees. I still see them coming out at various home at Christmas time!

We get those empty clear baubles every year and measure out a length of curling ribbon (different colour for each child) and put them in the bauble with a little note of what colour is which child, and give that to each grandparent, then they can see how the kids have grown, year on year but can also put on their tree if they want too.

Second the bulb idea. Hyacinth or similar bulbs in terracotta pot that child can draw on/paint.

Could be a calendar with custom decorations. You make an actual calendar with family birthdays and important days highlighted (via Photo calendar creator or Canva) and leave enough space for drawing and stickers, then print it out and the kid does the decorating part. You can get stuff that is used for scrapbooking, like pressed flowers, ribbons, 3d stickers etc. Etsy has lots of that.

Go to one of those ceramic painting places and paint them a serving dish, fruit bowl or vase and get it fired.