Disclaimer: I refer to the season as "Holidays" not because I want exclude Christianity and Christmas but because I want to include all of the other holidays that occur this winter as I have friends and family of various beliefs.

So, does anyone else make homemade gifts for the holidays? If so, what do you make? I could use some ideas.

So far I have:

Scrapbooked "Grandma Calendar" for my sis who had her first grand baby this year
Various homemade soaps in their own homemade decorative boxes/baskets
Mom's favorite cookies - one batch baked for now, one jar of layered ingredients for later - shipped to Florida
Pantry Packet Cabinet Organizer (my own crafty creation for organizing seasoning and gravy packets)

Your turn. Feel free to "show and tell".

I make peppermint bark and sugared almonds. Sometimes they go in treat bags and sometimes they go in mason jars. The bark also looks pretty on a clear glass plate from the dollar store, with a candy cane tied in the bow on top.

That's a good idea, cm. I used to make cinnamon/sugared pecans, but I recently found a recipe on Pinterest for Sugared Almonds made in a slow cooker. I might try that one.

If you could make really good One Hundred Dollar Bills, they would make great gifts.

Hahaha! I agree, until the moment of embarrassment that inevitably follows.

(heart)

I crochet. I did blankets one year for everyone (even the dogs)

This year I am making infinity scarfs for the girls...

I also crochet two baby boy and two baby girl blankets to donate to the NICU at our local hospitals every year.

I'm not making anything homemade this year, but in years past I've done flavored vinegars in decorative bottles, polar fleece scarves (cut a width of material and then cut fringe on each end), pots of forced paperwhites, bath salts, and dollar store mixing bowls filled with an assortment of homemade muffins. I know there's more, but that's all I can think of right now.

Kathee, my niece recently posted pics of her trying to make and "arm" infinity scarf. You cast on to one arm and knit with your two arms, I guess. I still don't know what an "infinity scarf" is supposed to look like because the monstrosity she ended up with was an epic fail. She said next time she'd try it with "sticks". I think she meant knitting needles. LMAO

KathyG, those are some great idea. Thank you. I had forgotten all about the flavored vinegars I was going to make. I have a collection of pretty bottles for them in my craft room that I bought last summer. Out of sight out of mind, I guess. I also have some homemade vanilla ready to go, but I'll need to make sure I can find smaller bottles for that before I start on new batches. Since it's already November, I'll have to use extra vanilla beans to hurry the process. Boo.

In previous years, I've made Limoncello, toy boxes for my nephews, soap, and food.. lots and lots of food. I don't think I'm doing any homemade gifts this year.

KathyG Wrote:
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> polar fleece scarves (cut a
> width of material and then cut fringe on each
> end)

This is a great item to have a group of kids work on, too! My oldest had a little holiday party with her friends one year. I bought three styles of fleece - animal print, sports team, and juvenile - and they made scarves for their family members. I think the college and NFL/NBA prints are the best value. Purchasing items with those licenses can be very expensive, so getting a scarf as gift that you can wear to game is always appreciated.

OMGoodness.... well, that is how you learn to do things, the best thing is... you can take the knitting apart and start over.

I don't knit, just crochet (which is very different) but the infinity scarf is a continuous loop of a scarf. I like them because they can't fall off. They are super easy and can be as big or as skinny as you want....

Tell your daughter to google a YouTube video and she can probably get some tips on it...

LJ Wrote:
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> Kathee, my niece recently posted pics of her
> trying to make and "arm" infinity scarf. You cast
> on to one arm and knit with your two arms, I
> guess. I still don't know what an "infinity scarf"
> is supposed to look like because the monstrosity
> she ended up with was an epic fail. She said next
> time she'd try it with "sticks". I think she meant
> knitting needles. LMAO

I have sworn off homemade Christmas gifts this year and I think my husband is relieved. In past years, I have come up with a simple idea to make something special for my grandkids, but somehow, after I entered the walls of Michaels or JoAnn's, and I'm still trying to figure out how they do this, I become convinced I am the craftiest person on the planet and my simple idea suddenly becomes very elaborate and very expensive and v-e-r-y time-consuming.

No more individually designed story books, where they were the hero/heroine, who had all sorts of amazing adventures. Gone, too, is "The Giving Game", which taught the meaning of Christmas. (Although it included an endowment from me, it required a lot of parental participation, for which I'm not sure my kids have yet forgiven me.) Wave good-bye to the mini-Christmas trees and on and on.

The good news is that my husband makes candles and sells them every weekend at the flea market. His best sellers include his "classy series", which is very pretty and includes a wide variety of delicious scents, from gardenia to monkey farts (banana) and his "redneck series", which consists of scented candles poured into beer cans. ("No beer was wasted in the making of this candle!" Amazingly, both sell equally well!

I like his redneck coasters, which are 5" slices from a tree branch and I am thinking of combining a set coasters with a candle. Now, which candle?

(heart)

I love to make sugar scrubs. LJ, you reminded me of them when you mentioned soap. Also, I discovered the ruffle yarn where all you have to do is basically gather the yarn with a simple crochet hook - I can't crochet. My favorite yarn is the Red Heart Boutique Sashay. The Concord sequin is my favorite (deep purple).

I love the idea of homemade vinegars and vanilla extract. I have also seen ideas of things you can put in a mason jar - such as the dry ingredients for brownies or cake. Who doesn't love cake?

Still laughing at "monkey farts" scented candles.

Mason jar gifts are another one I'll look into. Thanks. I have tons of jars around here of all sizes.

My boys DID make these one year for "aunt" presents. They were probably in early- to mid-elementary school at the time.
>
> This is a great item to have a group of kids work
> on, too! My oldest had a little holiday party
> with her friends one year. I bought three styles
> of fleece - animal print, sports team, and
> juvenile - and they made scarves for their family
> members. I think the college and NFL/NBA prints
> are the best value. Purchasing items with those
> licenses can be very expensive, so getting a scarf
> as gift that you can wear to game is always
> appreciated.

Nearly everything on the Navajo reservation is handmade. Bazaars before Christmas are a really big deal with two or three occurring every day from early November to Christmas. Gymnasium sized bazaars. Homemade calendars with local pictures are a hit. Also those with high quality art. Christmas ornaments with a tribal theme, Navajo angels, Pendleton blanket stockings and wallets, jewelry, of course, shadow boxes with local memorabilia, wooden wastebaskets with a native theme, home made foods such as kneel down bread. parched corn, tamales, or banana bread. There is also pottery, beadwork, quilts, picture frames, native gift baskets, and dried medicinal herbs.

The lesson here is to make something that is themed to the receiver. If they are from Chicago, especially if they no longer live there, give them things they cannot get where they are. Sports team oriented things, reprints from old newspapers, pictures of long ago. If someone were to give me old photographs of old Detroit, I would be thrilled and study it for hours. If they made a display or album (or calendar), I would know they had put a lot of thought into it. It really is the thought. The pics could be from the internet on regular paper. The theme could be occupation or animal oriented. What matters is that it is something the recipient loves.

This won't sound as nice as the thoughtful post above, but my daughter made something really neat with her Girl Scout troop last weekend and I wanted to share.

They took balloons and used a funnel to fill them with baking soda, then tied them. Stress balls! They came out exactly like the ones you buy and are just as addictive.

cm Wrote:
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> This won't sound as nice as the thoughtful post
> above, but my daughter made something really neat
> with her Girl Scout troop last weekend and I
> wanted to share.
>
> They took balloons and used a funnel to fill them
> with baking soda, then tied them. Stress balls!
> They came out exactly like the ones you buy and
> are just as addictive.

Can I order them? Can she make them for my back?

One year I made homemade candles. I do like to bake, so I've done cookies, cakes, and pies. Also, one of my aunts gave me a recipe for 3-2-1 cakes.

3-2-1 Cakes

1 box Angel Food Cake Mix
1 box any other flavored cake mix [fruit flavors seem to work best]

Empty contents of both boxes into mixer bowl. Mix gently, 5-10 minutes, or until thoroughly blended. Store in airtight container. When I give them as gifts, I use Mason jars.

To cook:

Put 3 Tablespoons of mix in microwave safe container
Add 2 Tablespoons of water and mix thoroughly
Microwave on high for 1 minute

Great gift for people who live alone.

I'm going to the store tonight to pick up a few things and I just added the cake mixes to my list. I gotta try this
Thanks!

ETA: Also a great idea for people who are watching what they eat but would like to have a little something on hand for sweet-tooth emergencies without having to bake an entire cake.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/03/2014 12:21AM by LJ.

My grown kids get a little 'Sriracha Sauce' something. This year I'm going to try making Sriracha salt.

Also for my Dtr Significant other Crocs with his fav football team logo.

Other homemade, sort of, favorite or funny pictures on a mug, usually when either a retail store or online store has a sale.
I've made calendars with pictures of a great trip or favorite moments from last year. One year my Dtr got her fav baseball team.

Magnets, again with favorite pics, can be printed on magnet paper or on peel n stick magnets.

If you have someone who still reads real books, there are several shapes of folded book marks that slip on the the corner of the page, make one for each season or holiday.

Lots of good ideas, eveb. Thanks. I'm sending my parents a box of things in a couple of weeks so I might try my hand at the book mark and magnets to toss in the box as well. Sister is getting a scrapbooked calendar if I ever get this monster finished. I should be working on it now instead of sitting here at the computer.

@ James Bond -

I mixed up a batch of the 1-2-3 cake mix today using cherry chip with the angel food. I tried it, and I'm not sure what I think yet. I need to eat some more and decide

Sriracha salt? Please share!

eveb Wrote:
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> My grown kids get a little 'Sriracha Sauce'
> something. This year I'm going to try making
> Sriracha salt.

When I was searching this years Sriracha gift I saw Sriracha salt with this tag line: "Great on popcorn, steak, fries, and so forth. This salt adds not only a wonderful spicy seasoning kick to foods, but also is very lovely too."

I did a Google search and checked out Pinterest for recipes. Seems easy enough, mix either a healthy squirt or measured amount (depending on the recipe) of Sriracha sauce to kosher or sea salt. Shake well so the salt adsorbs the sauce, spread out on parchment paper and let dry. Air drying takes a good couple of days or oven dry which takes several hours. I picked up some spice containers at the Bulk food section and will make some kind of a label.

The kids use Sriracha sauce on almost everything. One year they got ' to-go packets' which were small fill-able containers I got from the Japanese store and a syringe. One year it was t-shirts.

LJ Wrote:
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> @ James Bond -
>
> I mixed up a batch of the 1-2-3 cake mix today
> using cherry chip with the angel food. I tried it,
> and I'm not sure what I think yet. I need to eat
> some more and decide

It sounds wonderful, was it?

(heart)

eveb Wrote:
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> The kids use Sriracha sauce on almost everything... One year it was t-shirts.

They use Sriracha on t-shirts???

IDK Still, one more taste should do it.

LJ Wrote:
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> eveb Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
>
> > The kids use Sriracha sauce on almost
> everything... One year it was t-shirts.
>
> They use Sriracha on t-shirts???

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!