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!

So how did you know it was her budget?

If you think she's a thoughtless present giver, don't exchange presents with her. People who buy presents can also be thoughtless and people who make them can be thoughtful.

It was within her budget, since she treated herself to that experience (on my behalf).

So either you know her budget was the cost of the experience (in which case tell her how convenient that's my budget too so let's just keep it) or actually she has zero budget for you in which case why are you buying her a present?

The issue is with your friend not knowing what you want. Not with the fact she made something for you.

The issue is that the friend spent the money on herself having a nice time, then decided the output of her nice day was what OP was getting. That's not a gift.

It would be different if a grandchild painted pottery for Grandma. That's something Grandma would like because their beloved grandchild made it. Similar to PPs who enjoy what their mum makes for them. That's not the same as someone, who is clearly no good at art, paying for themselves to do a pottery painting day and calling the resulting piece a present for OP.

It doesn't matter what the budget is, it's clear that's not the point, whether the friend treated herself for £20 or £200 is irrelevant. She treated herself and called it OPs present.

Who is OP to say that her friend is no good at art? Many artists now regarded as geniuses died penniless because no-one understood their work.

Besides, I have a successful side hustle selling my needlefelt creations, won 2nd prize for my jam at the village fete the year I entered, everyone always asks for seconds when my husband makes his Abbey crunch biscuits and last time DD and I made gingerbread for a school bake sale they sold out within the first 5 minutes.

So I'm confident that the things I make are not "cruddy".

The planet is burning so less is more! Very few adults “need” presents, so giving a few low impact homemade gifts to likeminded friends seems like a win.

My tuppence worth is if you like gardening - putting seeds in little brown envelopes (you can also get tiny glass jars with corks) to send with a card. Unusual salvias, pansy seeds, tomato seeds from a reliable cropper, whatever you had that year and enjoyed. I’d prefer that 100x over a mineral based scented candle or another mug. And next year, you may find friends send you their best seeds back! Win win

I have what I believe is known as a "black thumb" despite my Dad's patient efforts with me- everything I try to grow dies! We've had 3 attempts to get berries off a tayberry bush in our garden and every year something has gone wrong and we've lost the meagre crop we had. 4th time lucky for next year though!

But surely (!) she didn't spend the entire experience painting just the one tile that she gifted to you?

I'm knitting MIL a shawl as well as one for my self, chunky scarf, hat and mitts for my adult daughter, Aran knit blanket for a friend expecting a Xmas baby. also making some gingerbread and Xmas tree crochet garlands and knitted baubles

Wow, lucky relatives! I have tried to learn to crochet but couldn't get the hang of it, which I'm forever sad about because I love crocheted things!

I seem to have missed off what I was going to say. Other things I have bought or made for my brother are spices, either whole packets or I have made mixes for eg a korma.

I've also preserved fruit in sugar syrup.

Shortbread, I am no longer allowed to make this.

For a secret Santa I made a couple of chutneys and a couple of pickles, I used small jars so there was only 1 pickled egg that I put in a bento mould so it looked like a fish in an aquarium. They were surprisingly well recieved.

@Loverurarliving01

My carer used to make soap (I wish he would start again but that is another story) the basic ingredients to make soap are

fat / oil
water
sodium hydroxide AKA drain cleaner

The process of saponification turns the ingredients in to soap. You have to 'cure' (basically leave on a shelf for a few weeks) the soap for the chemicals to all be combined or evaporated (that's the water).

Glycerine soap adds alcohol in to the mix and, obviously glycerine.

Fun fact in Fight club Tyler Durden makes soap from the fat removed by liposuction. The type of soap is never mentioned but The Narrator mentions that the place stinks of alcohol so it must be glycerine.

OP

Pears soap is a glycerine soap (all soaps that have that translucent appearance) and surprisingly includes sodium lauryl sulphate which is a skin irritant, but also makes soap and similar products more foamy.

Here endeth the lesson.

I love the idea of fabric plant pots. Larger sized pots for mature houseplants are really expensive to buy and large enough ones rarely on sale. I'm always dreaming of finding some way of making them (fabric, pottery, basket weaving, mosaicing over plastic) but don't have the time and skills.

One suggestion for hone made gifts might be craft kits. A small amount of the nicest type of materials you use and a promise to come and show the other person how to work with them. You say your friends are crafty so maybe there are craft skills you can swap between you and share the experience as well as the output?

My DD has just put on her Enid scarf I made her (from Wednesday) and has asked for the sequin top I'm making. So I guess she didn't like the scarf but being 12 and Uber polite about everything* she wouldn't ever say "yuck, why did you make that mummy".

*As if

And you hate making them, right? You are forcing yourself to do so for the recipient?

Look it's lovely that your daughter likes the outputs of your hobbies, but recognise that you are doing this because you enjoy it. It's your hobby that brings you joy. It's fine to give the things you make away, but that shouldn't be instead of regular gifting since it's an activity you are doing for your own enjoyment.

The OP made a thread for craft project ideas for gifts. Your only idea is for her to never have the audacity to ever give anything homemade again. You have now made your point, several times, in increasingly bitter terms, and you're still going.

Your feelings about homemade gifts are clearly not unique, but they're certainly not universal.

I like receiving homemade things from my friends. I prefer it to them just buying me something. I like it even better if the person who made it enjoyed the process of crafting it. If someone has a skill (or is working on developing one) I'm glad for them; I don't feel they are 'showing off' when they use it. I don't think it's selfish. I want more craft, art and creativity around me.

I found these recipes on the Sainsbury's website which look really good. I'm definitely going to give some of them a go: https://www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/recipes/articles/41-edible-christmas-gifts-anyone-can-make

As for ideas, I do drawing, calligraphy and printmaking.

I've made bookmarks to go in books I swap with friends. I've decorated the covers of plain notebooks and exercise books for friends who write or use them at work. I've made new dust jackets for when I'm giving old hardbacks that have lost their originals. I've decorated sets of card blanks and tags for people I know use cards and tags. For witchy friends I've made cards/tokens/votives for altar use.

As I said, I appreciate receiving anything handmade, and I'm lucky to have several friends who are great at fabric crafts (I'm not!). Lovely gifts I've received include scrunchies, tote bags and a book sleeve.

I'll be using pears soap as a base for the felted soap which is extremely gentle on sensitive skin.

@ImmortalNowBabyDoll

You say you know the recipients so fine but just be mindful that they really may not tell you everything. I’m allergic to pears - like difficult to breathe allergic - but I don’t really discuss this with people unless I have to. It’s not a staple in most recipes and I can usually avoid consuming or buying it in cosmetics because I check packaging.

My point is to maybe include a list of ingredients alongside your gifts in case people do have allergies or intolerances that they don’t shout about.

Do you hate buying gifts for your friends? Is it a massive chore? Do you judge gifts based on how much the giver hated the process? It's clear you've never committed to learning a creative skill because it's a lot of work. Yes, I enjoy it, but it's hours of time and it would be 100x easier to just buy something from a shop. The Nativity set, which I'm making early, and which my friend specifically mentioned he would like, has taken me about 10 hours of work to make so far and I am only halfway through.

Part of the reason I decided to do this is because when I do ask people what they want they often say, "Would you make me a....?" So rather than asking in December and scrabbling to add something to a gift I've bought I'm starting early and going all out.

Oh wow, yes the people I'm giving to are all people who spend a lot of time in my house and we have always have pears soap in the bathroom so I know they're not allergic to it. But we will put ingredients lists on everything we make.

I craft plenty, cook, jam make etc. I do it because I enjoy it, and I do share my outputs with those that like them. I still buy those I love thoughtful, individual gifts. I recognise that crafting and cooking is my hobby. I do it for me. It's not a gift for someone else for me to spend time enjoying my hobby.