Instead of hitting the shopping malls with children in tow and all the stress and strain that involves, set aside a Sunday and make it gift-making day. Your kids will love it, you’ll end up with a vast array of budget-friendly presents and you’ll have a kitchen covered in glitter, glue and paint. You’ll also have the satisfaction of spending an enjoyable day with your kids, rather than snapping at them in the mall and succumbing to fast-food feasts to keep them happy.
Here are some budget- conscious ideas for gifts your kids can make this Christmas.
Let it grow
Do you have herbs in the garden that can be separated out?
Mint grows well from a cutting, also seeds such as basil and parsley will germinate quickly in the warmer weather.
Recycle old plastic plant pots from the garden centre by giving them a coat of paint and decorating with stickers or ribbon, then pot up some herbs or scatter seeds on some seed-raising mix and you have a wonderful gift for someone’s windowsill.
You can also attach a recipe for pesto or a sauce that uses the herb, handwritten by your child.
Cookie time
Baking is an obvious choice but make aim to make them as close to 25 December as possible so that the biscuits are fresh, not soft and stale.
Shortbread or gingerbread is great to cut into festive shapes and decorate.
Cheese biscuits also go down well. Poke a hole in them before baking, then thread ribbons through them and they can double as Christmas decorations.
Key Rings
Make a glasses case or a keyring out of felt. These can be hand-stitched by your child and the felt won’t fray.
For the glasses case, cut two oblong pieces of bright-coloured felt and stitch together leaving one end open.
Decorate by gluing other pieces of felt cut into fun or particular shapes, such as a camera for a photography fan or a spoon for an avid cook.
For the keyring, cut out shapes and glue together, not forgetting to leave a hole at the top to attach to a ribbon and then to a ring, which you can buy from the hardware store.
Picture this
Picture frames make great presents for new parents or grandparents. Buy simple wooden frames cheaply from The Warehouse, then paint and decorate by gluing on buttons, shells or dried flowers.
Older children might like to paint a design. Also get your children to frame one of their own works of art.
Heaven-scent
Make bath bombs.
Mix 1 tbsp citric acid with 2 tbsp baking soda. Add ½ tsp food colouring and 5 drops essential oil.
The mixture should be sticky – if not, add a few drops of olive oil and mould into balls.
Leave to set on greaseproof paper for a few hours, then wrap in plastic.
Spice it up
Make up spice mixes. Collect some old glass jars (baby-food jars are excellent) and help your child make ooroccan spice rubs, Italian herb mix or herbed salt.
There are great recipes on the internet.
Then get them to write up recipe ideas using the spice on a nice piece of card and attach to the filled jars.
That’s a wrap
Cards, gift tags and wrapping can often be really expensive, so buy some brightly coloured pieces of card and paper from an art-supply or stationery shop and get your children to paint Christmas trees, stars and angels onto them, using glitter as fake snow.
Use up leftover pieces of felt by cutting out shapes and sticking them on.
For the wrapping paper, try using potato-cut stamps to make a pattern.
The good oil
Whip up some home-made body oils. Take 50ml of avocado, sweet almond or apricot-kernel oil (or a mixture of all three) – or you can use the cheaper but just as effective sunflower, olive or wheatgerm oils – then add to this 50 drops of essential oil.
You can go with one, such as lavender, or mix some oils together.
A good blend is lavender, geranium and jasmine.
