The frugal Christmas post started me thinking about things that I could make as gifts for Christmas, and things that my ds (5) could make for his cousins and grandparents, aunts and uncles for Christmas, because, as you all know, the bigger the family gets the more expensive the holidays get!

So, let's get these ideas started.

For some of my husband's family, I have started knitting and am going to attempt to make felted bowls.

I found an idea in this month's family fun magazine - pom pom scarves! You need 40 2" pom poms, some embroidery thread, and a needle. All you do is to thread the pompoms on to the thread and you have a scarf! I am going to make these for my two nieces.

I have some leftover homemade soap making stuff, so I may attempt to make soaps as well.

And baking... we do a lot of baking.

Now, some things my son can make - help!

What are you going to make as Christmas gifts?

I just recently got an embroidery machine, so everyone in my family will be getting something either monogrammed, or with their name on it!! I also just saw in a magazine how to make soaps with laminated pictures inside, so I am going to try that. I am also going to try to get some scarves knitted to have as backups. We'll see how productive I really am!

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Moms of little boys work from son up 'til son down!

Can you post the instructions for making soaps with laminated pictures inside???

I'll try to find it today and post it. I need to find it again anyway so I can get on it!

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Moms of little boys work from son up 'til son down!

Okay.... found it. Here goes:

You''ll need
Laminated snapshots (have them laminated at a copy center), 2 two pound bricks of glycerin soap, one clear and one white, cut into one-inch chunks, glass pitchers, spoon, plastic soap molds, spray bottle filled with rubbing alcohol, soap dyes or food coloring.

1. Choose your photos. Cut them a little smaller than your plastic soap molds.
2. Melt the soap. Place a cup of oap pieces into a glass pitcher. Microwave on medium in 30-second intervals until soap is completely melted; do not boil. Remove and stir until smooth.
3. Pour the soap. Fill molds a quarter full with clear soap; let soap solidify for a few minutes. Spray surface of soap with rubbing alcohol (to eliminate bubbles) and immediately place a laminated photo, picture side down, on top of soap.
4. Make a colored layer. Melt another cup of clear or white soap. Once melted, add colorant and stir. Spray embedded photo and soap with rubbing alcohol; pour colored soap on top. Let harden for two hours. Release soap from mold, package in pretty box and wrap.

This came from the May 2006 issue of All You magazine.

Please pm' me your email addy if you would like me to scan a copy and send it to you so you can see the picture.

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Moms of little boys work from son up 'til son down!

Last year my dd made trivets for grandparents and aunts. I got 6x6 ceramic tiles and had her decorate them with sharpie markers and then I put a sealer on them. Then I hot glued felt on the bottom so that they wouldn't scratch anything.

I think that the whole project was less than $15.00 for 10 gifts.

I also made Caramel Apple Butter for gifts for teachers and office staff at school. Even some of the family received this too. It's very easy and made in the crockpot. Peel, core, slice apples (I fill my crockpot), sprinkle cinnamon and ginger on top, cook on low all day. After the apples cook down and are mushy I blend them with a stick blender in the crockpot, add an entire bag of caramels and turn cp to high and cook with the lid off. After the caramels have melted into the apples I put it into 1/2 pint jars and process on the top of the stove. It can be used either cold on toast, ets or served warmed over ice cream. Yummmmmm.......

I am trying to come up with something else she can make this year. I am not very crafty so any easy ideas are appreciated.

You could let them do bath salts- they're really easy and kids can have a lot of fun making different color patterns. I use baby food jars w/ material on top to put them in. I've been making these for bath gift baskets for the past couple christmas's and everyone really likes them. All you need is epsom salt, food coloring and fragrance oil. I use old sour cream and butter dishes to mix them in so I can do a bunch of different colors, then you can swirl the colors together like sand art. Also, oatmeal bath sachets are really easy too.

Wow, thanks for the GREAT ideas. I think I will try the Carmel Apple Butter and the Soap ideas. I will be on maternity leave and will have more time than money to make these kinds of things. Any idea how much the soap would cost me, I've never made anything like it before. (I will pm you for a scanned copy of the instructions - Thanks!)

Does anyone have any reciepes for creating jars of cookie/bread igredients with simple instructions? Last year, someone gave me a jar of hot cocoa mix, and I think I have seen the jars that have everything you need for chocolate chip cookies minus a couple igredients and some simple instructions.

One year I tried to make ornaments, but they never saw daylight - it was a failed attempt.

A couple of years ago when my son was around 5 we used the Perler Beads to make gifts for family and friends. You can buy large containers at Wal-Mart, Hobby Lobby, etc. so not too expensive and find design ideas online. We made initial squares (giant T for Tommy...) for cousins, DS friends, etc. and made either Christmas ornament style or suncatcher style for aunts, grandparents etc. They took my DS a long time to make so you have to start early. I was pretty picky about having HIM do the work as I've worked hard to instill a 'giving' attitude in him, not a getting/gimme attitude. We worked on them almost every night for over a month. The next year we made tic-tac-toe games with the Perler Beads for his cousins, friends . . .

Trivets & apple butter are great ideas!

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Better to give your kids the values you have
than the valuables you can't afford.

carleighsmommy -

Do you have certain fragrences that are big hits? Also, do you have a formula for how much fragrence to add and where do you get it from? I'm really getting inspired by this thread...

2kidz4me -
what does process on top of the stove mean? Sorry, I haven't done too much cooking, still a crock pot novice!