Homemade Christmas- Idea Sharing

[ImmortalNowBabyDoll]

In the interests of being a bit more intentional about gifting this year, we've decided for our adult friends and family we're going to do homemade gift baskets as a family for Christmas. We've pre-warned them and said there is no pressure to reciprocate (everyone is busy) but if they do want to make instead of buy a gift that's lovely. So far, we are planning:

Me:
Needlefelt Christmas decorations (a nativity set for our religious friend, baubles for everyone else)
Felted soaps
Lavender sugar scrub
Summer berry jam (frozen berries)
Winter spice coffee syrup

Husband:
Caramelised onion chutney
"Abbey crunch" dupe cookies
Beeswax wraps
(He's currently trying to come up with some more ideas)

6 yo daughter (with help ofc!):
Salt dough ornaments
Gingerbread people

Who else is doing homemade Christmas gifts this year? Or has done it previously and has ideas for things that were well-received? Disaster stories also welcome, I'm sure we will encounter some on the way!

I found buying jam sugar an extremely edifying experience this week 😆

I don't understand the negativity. Some people love handmade, some dont. You need to know your audience. My SIL is not a handmade person, she likes expensive 'looks handmade' things from chain stores. However, I did make a seaglass picture when she married my DB and it's still on display! I expected it to go in the wedding memorabilia box.

Can you explain why it makes her a rude, ungrateful cow not to be delighted to receive a badly painted tile? I wouldn't be thrilled.

By far the nicest suggestion on this thread is the person who makes each household a cake. What a lovely idea, especially if it's guaranteed to stay fresh well into the New Year. I make a rum cake for us every Christmas but would be delighted if we had something else stashed away to tuck into at the end of January or in February when Christmas is a distant memory.

Home made truffles or cake. Yum!

I like the suggestion of bookmarks too.

Late to this but we did something similar two years ago. Fudge, spiced nuts, and a jar of pickled red cabbage. Cost almost nothing. People genuinely liked them.
The one rule we learned: only give food to people you know will eat it. My aunt got the cabbage. She hates cabbage. Still hear about it.
Salt dough ornaments with a six year old sounds lovely by the way. Ours are still on the tree.

Yes, I'm shocked at the vitriol and the entitlement of being so rude about gifts that friends have lovingly made for them. My Mum is a keen crafter too and we really treasure the paintings, ornaments and other beautiful things she has made for us over the years, much more than anything that could be bought in a shop. And we always enjoy when she gifts us a tin of flapjack or a jar of lemon curd. Maybe I should consider myself lucky that I was brought up to value the time and love put into a gift rather than getting whatever expensive item of the moment is. I love sea glass art, sadly we don't live close to a beach or I'm sure I'd get into it.

I realise not everyone likes homemade but my circle is small and everyone in it will value it. Hence why I didn't ask if it was a good idea, I know it is.

Because her friend painted that for her with love. She took time and effort to do something nice. She could (and should) have just given her nothing. If my friend painted something for me, even if it wasn't perfect, I'd be touched and keep it for a long time.

Whoa, really! Totally uncalled for.

Honestly, yes, someone making my present being their enjoyable, expensive, fun day out isn't OK in my book. Incredibly selfish. I'd far rather have had the opportunity to paint pottery myself than my gift to be to pay for them to have a lovely experience.

Unless you have a professional level of skill, homemade gifts really aren't wanted by anyone, however polite they are about receiving them.

Nope, my friend fancied a fun day out pottery painting, and used the budget for my present to treat herself to it.

I know. She's verging on comical.

Did you see that part where her 6yr old kid will be making gingerbread for people, and too bad "their loss" if they don't like it. How considerate. This is allllll about an image OP wants to portray.

We all know one. I tipped their flavoured vodka down the sink last year, and no doubt will this year too. Rancid stuff.

Evidently, if you get homemade shite you're too polite to refuse, from someone who makes it to satisfy their own delusions, that makes you an ungrateful cow 😁😁

Wow, I am astonished at this thread. OP, I would be delighted to receive homemade gifts like these. What a lovely thing, in the midst of SO much pointless commercialism and unsustainable 'stuff' that is bought at this time of year. Maybe check out the Poncetastic Christmas thread as I think you'll find more agreeable people there!

I often gift homemade chutney (Nigella's Christmas chutney is fab), homemade fermented chilli sauce (big hit with my friend's who love spicy food), and then brownies/gingerbread/florentines....If someone is a decent cook or baker, these things will be infinitely nicer homemade than from a shop...

Why don't you just say, NO I DON'T WANT THE VODKA?! Just stop swapping presents with this particular person you absolutely hate but can't stand up to!

If you know the recipients will be pleased then that’s what matters.

As a family we’ve been given matching homemade tie dye socks which we all loved.

Beautifully presented sachets of mulled wine/cider herbs?

Why are you being so presumptive as to think your friend had a budget for your present? Does she share her spreadsheet with you?

I mean, why bother with presents if you have to give the recipient exactly what they tell you to a specified budget? Why not just say "I'd spend £20 on you, you'd do the same, let's call it quits and not bother".

There's a lot of Scrooge around at the moment.

Please refer to this thread for prime example of how accepting people are that their homemade gifts are shite 😅. Always with the defence that "everyone loves" their stuff. That's what my vodka maker and chutney maker would tell you.

You're very odd for thinking making rancid vodka makes someone "hateable".

The only way you should be handing out homemade stuff is if you are of professional standard. Trouble is, most of these types truly think they are.

OK, crack on then. Enjoy your vodka and chutney!

That's not what she meant, as well you know.

Never have, never will. Inedible shite is consistent if nothing else.

But then it's not about what the recipient wants, it's about the gifters ego.

That lavender sugar scrub sounds heavenly

I absolutely love this idea

I usually give jam, chutney and/or blackberry whisky/ sloe gin/damson gin.

So how DOES she know what her friend's budget is?

Thank you.

The irony is, that I would have bloody loved a voucher to the pottery painting for myself, even better if it was us both going together. I would have so appreciated that. But it's a bit 'Here's your gift, a pottery painting experience. Oh by the way I did it myself on your behalf. Here, have what I made as a memory of the lovely experience I had.'

To add to list once you've mastered the sewing machine:

A plant in a stitched planter. Find a fabric basket pattern and use a carrier bag/freezer bag as the lining.

@StockingsByTheFire hard agree. Vodka flavoured with sweets just tastes like vodka with sugar in it. I only like 2 types of chutney I would have a go at making it myself if it was good I would offer it to people but I wouldn’t give it as gifts. Now if I knew an amazing baker I would 100% take a Black Forrest Gateau off their hands

I have no idea what my friends budget was. I would have preferred to enjoy the experience (that was cleatly affordable to them) myself, rather than them enjoying the experience on my behalf as my present.