I loved last week’s post about Handmade Gifts and got so into it that I went to the craft store and bought stuff to make some of the gifts decided to do a similar Top Ten this week. This time it’s about kids’ gifts—made BY kids FOR kids. These are the perfect gifts for kids to make for their friends, siblings or classmates.
So, get your kids ready! These are my…
TOP TEN EASY HANDMADE GIFTS FOR KIDS BY KIDS
1. Matching Game from Yay! I Made It
This is made from juice lids and pictures off the internet. How easy is that?! You could personalize them with your kids’ friends’ favorite toy, character or even pictures of the kids!
2. Bleached Out Tees from Design Mom
Design Mom is actually the one that inspired this list. Their tradition is that the kids make handmade gifts for siblings. I LOVE THIS. This is an easy sticker-and-bleach thing that any kid could do!
3. Slime from Impress Your Kids
Why, yes, this is my very own tutorial. But hey, it was fun! And kids love slime! It would be fun to make and give! I did find some cute packaging from HomeSpun Threads!
4. Homemade Smell Dough from We are The Joneses
I adore this idea–this is gingerbread, peppermint and cherry scented playdough! What a fun gift to give–you could just tie them up in tissue paper and tie some Christmas cookie cutters with it. Fun!
5. Recycled Crayons from Make & Takes
This one’s been around a lot—I even made it for Lydia’s friends a few years ago. We used star muffin tins and it was really cute. I was going to do pirate crayons for Asa’s birthday and time got away from me…plus I thought skull and crossbones crayons were kinda weird for kids…
6. Embellished Gloves from Design Mom
Another fun one from Design Mom. I just love the idea of making the same thing for all of your siblings and personalizing it for each of them.
7. Shrinky Dinks at Impress Your Kids
Leigh made these with her boys for Father’s Day. But you could easily make zipper pulls or backpack tags for friends. Plus, if you don’t want to buy shrinky dink paper, you can use #6 plastic (like the tops on take-home containers) and it will be FREE!
8. Bottlecap Necklace
Now, I made a Thanksgiving Turkey bottlecap necklace on Impress Your Kids. But, I don’t think anyone would want it for a gift. What I really want to make is one where you fill the inside with stuff and glaze over it! I love these from Obstinate Pursuit. It looks pretty easy, too.
9. Simple Notepad Holders from Let’s Explore
Lydia loves having her own pad of paper. She loves to make lists or write us notes and then stick them on our doors. This would be her favorite gift ever!
10. Poem or Story
I think it would be super cute to lead your kids in an easy poem (like this !) and frame it. I know another kid wouldn’t appreciate it as much as an adult would, but I think it would just be so cute to open up a personalized poem or story from a friend. I can just imagine Lydia thinking up words to describe her cousin Nora, she’d never feel insecure or unimportant in her life after she read that thing! Lydia worships the air Nora breathes!
So, what do you think? Fun, right? I think I still have time to whip some of these up with Lydia. Actually, Asa might be able to do some of these—well, with some help. What’s your favorite handmade gift? One you’ve given or received?
:: :: ::
Link up your Top Ten list and join in the Top Ten {Tuesday} fun! All you have to do is WRITE a top ten list, PASTE itΒ below, LINK back to me in your post & then start LOVINβ on the rest of the participants with facebook likes, stumbles, comments and tweets! For better and more succinct guidelines see my Top Ten {Tuesday} page!
I am not super creative … but this year we did Libbie’s handprint on a big ball ornament. When the baby comes, we are going to do his tiny handprint on the other side and dole them out to grandparents!
Whoop! This list is perfect timing. We have to have our “business plan” for Maggie’s Classroom Store for her economics project in by Wed AM. Any of these would work! And, she could do the work! Whoop! You are a lifesaver. Thanks!
Love this post! These are all great ideas. The recycled crayon one is my favorite! Thanks!
My favorite handmade gifts are the ones I posted last week for my top ten Tuesday. π http://www.manylittleblessings.com/2010/12/10-handmade-christmas-gift-ideas/
Great ideas in your post too! π (Love the bottle caps especially.)
Those are all fantastic! I will definitely be doing a couple with my kids.
Last year I gave Lil Man & Lil Bit a pipe cleaner each along with a wide variety of bead and asked the to simply string them on the pipe cleaner in any order they preferred. When they were finished I twisted the ends of the pipe cleaner so the beads wouldn’t come off then shaped them into candy canes. Then I gave them another pipe cleaner and bead and repeated the process until they had created several candy canes. We then tied on gift tags, wrote their names, and 2009 on each tag and gave one to every member of the family. This year those ornaments are hanging on each families tree. This year we’re making mice with candy cane tails. We’re going to initially stuff each mouse with a real candy cane but I’m also going to make pipe cleaner candy canes to replace the real ones before the ornaments are packed way for next year.
My favorite is a simple photo album with personal momentos inside!
Great ideas! I’d love to try the shrinky dinks and the bottlecap necklaces. I think my preschooler could get into those. I am planning on making a soft, stuffed flop chair for my baby (ahem, 17 months old!) like I did for my preschooler when he was younger and wouldn’t you know I searched my blogs looking for a link to it and can’t find it! Gah! I am also going to make my friend a ruffle scarf upcycled from a thrift store T-shirt. Just her kind of thing.
Love it! the kids could do all this on their own which is perfect. My crafts tend to involve close supervision and help. I need more of these!
We are making bookmarks for both Grandpas that are huge readers! they color add a little ribbon through a hole punch and Ta-Da! π
I think my favorite is the matching game and bottle cap necklace. Such cute ideas that I think my girls and nieces would love!
My little fashionistas would love the bleached out tees! I don’t know if we’ll get around to it before Christmas but they would be fun to make for birthday presents for their friends. I’m thinking we could make up a bunch at once and save them. Great ideas!
We’ve done the crayons before (although my chitlins were too young to make them). For really little ones (like preschool), I’m thinking about making a cookie mix in a jar. The kids can scoop and pour into a jar (although it will be messy). We made a soup mix today in my MOPS class and that’s good for families or grandparents but kids may prefer cookies.
My mom used to help us sew ornaments to give teachers when we were kids. I’m not sure that was my favorite, but I remember it. My sister-in-law turned a South American fabric piece into a pillow for me. It’s on my sofa right now. I still love it. I like homemade matching games the best from the lid. Simple enough for me to handle.
We make homemade dog bones for all our dogs, friends dogs and the local animal shelter. The kids friends have even become involved in the last few years.
We also took carpet samples and painted cool designs on them for home made mats to wipe your feet. These were a huge hit, everyone wanted one.
The kids also made ginger bread bean bags, these turned out so cute. Take brown felt and cut two sides, decorate with puff paint and fill with fiberfill or beans.
We took clay and made ornaments with our little guy’s handprint. We let him paint it up and we wrote his name and the year. Each grandparent loved it!
Oobleck is another fun, messy treat for kids!! http://www.science-house.org/CO2/activities/polymer/oobleck.html
And it’s science at the same time! Who doesn’t love that?!
My favorite homemade gift is hot cocoa mix in canning jars topped with marshmallows. I also like giving small loaves of pumpkin bread!
Thanks for the great list!
I love these baked ornaments
http://katescreativekitchen.blogspot.com/2009/12/cinnamon-apple-sauce-ornaments.html
I’m always so impressed with what you creative moms think up!
My two favorites are a tie-dyed t-shirt my daughter made and a little dinosaur creature made by my son in the first grade (out of that home-made play-doh recipe that needs to be baked and then painted).
LOVE to make those pretzel, hershey kiss, m&m treats….just passed some onto my daughter’s bus drivers this morning!
When my kids were younger, they always made gifts for their grandparents. One year we bought a little loom and they made potholders. Another year we bought a simple soap making kit and they made angel and heart shaped soap.
jackievillano at gmail dot com
I absolutely loved this post. I knew some of these, but learned some new ones too. I would like to add a copy of this and link it to my Blog site..
SO here goes a couple cute crafty items for this time of year.
Take a piece of brown construction paper and trace your childs foot. Now take another color like red or green and trace y0ur child’s hands. Cut all three of these out. Now the handprints will become reindeer antlers and glue them on the fatter toe part of the foot tracing. This is the head. You can either glue on a pompom nose or construction paper eyes & nose, or just draw them. The are darling decorations that commemorate your childs small size.
another is take an older glass ornament and remove the top cap off of it and set it aside. Pour some salt and a small amount of water inside and swirl around. This will remove the paint from the inside of the glass ornament leaving a clear one. Now you can add light items like glitter, snowflakes, or I took a small picture, rolled it up, and with stir straws, I was able to tape it onto the little wires that keep the top attached..
Merry Christmas.
Some favorite handmade gifts include: Magnetic clip holders for the fridge, salsa with a bag of chips included, and handpainted mugs and plates!
My favorite handmade gift is quilted patchwork stuffs, from handbags, blanket to tea pot cover.
My favorite handmade gift has long been friendship bracelets made from embroidery floss.
one of my favorite homemade gifts i ever received was from a friend who made her own vanilla extract. i thought that was so unique and useful!
We made salt dough ornaments yesterday, and they turned out great! We put lots of glitter on them and we are giving them to grandparents.
we made cinnamon/applesauce ornaments and soap for their teachers
cute! this is my handmade gift idea for the older set- twentysomethings like me that don’t have kids yet π http://swoodsonshoeclips.wordpress.com/2010/12/12/upcycled-pearl-gold-necklace-diy/
Last year I made everyone aprons for Christmas. I thought they turned out really well. I wish I had a picture to share with you!
A homemade wreath given to me by a friend with all the names of our family members was very special to me.
I am a fan of Nestle on fb.
I get your e-mails.
I tweeted @joycemlinek.
I follow on Google Friend Connect.
We like to make soap or cookies. contestd(at)hotmail.com
My favorite homemade item so far has been the stockings I made this year. It’s fun doing them for the kids and for me and my husband and it’s our own special memory.
My favorite homemade gift is a nativity set made out of clay pots. They are so cute! You wrap each mini pot with a different fabric to create the bodies for Joseph, Mary, and the Angel. Jesus is a mini wooden bead with a round head. So cute and something the kids can help make for any special friend or family member. Just water down glue and let them dip the fabric and wrap around the pot.
Of course, we always make homemade recipes like oreo bark, or cracker candy to give as simple gifts too, π
Love all of these ideas! This year we made a super easy powdered Hot Cocoa Mix (thank you Alton Brown!) and put them in mason jars. The girls also helped make the marshmallows (again, super easy though needs a lot of adult help since there’s boiling sugar involved) and they cut them into gingerbread man shapes. They packaged them all together as a Hot Cocoa kit and gave them to all their friends’ families. It was so much fun and they loved being able to make them with me.
I am making ella custom barbie clothes and kev a harry potter invisibility cloak!
Cupcakes in a jar are sooo fun to do with kids π
My favorite handmade gift has to be being plain silver ornaments, purchasing black paint so the kids can imprint their fingers onto the ornaments and then touch with a little of white paint to make them into fingerprint penguins. They work great as giving gifts to grandparents as a keepsake for them. Thanks π