Holiday Season – Make Your Own Gifts
It’s the season to get crafty.
Holiday shopping can be a bit of a nightmare. It’s not just the stress and hassle of ploughing through the crowds to get what you need but also just working out what to buy for each person. Making your own gifts is an easy way to ensure that your Christmas gifts are unique – plus you can save cash and cut the cost of Christmas. You might even learn a new skill along the way too.
A bespoke lighted canvas
There’s nothing like getting a hand made piece of art as a gift, especially one that looks like it’s been crafted by the professionals. Creating a good looking lighted canvas is pretty simple but the impact that it has will impress everyone. All you need is a white canvas, which you can decorate with a stencil or design of your own. Make holes in the canvas with a pair of scissors and then poke fairy light bulbs through from the other side. Secure the lights to the back of the canvas and you have a unique piece of art that makes a memorable gift.
Bath bombs
Anything that feels luxurious and pampering always goes down well during the holiday season. Home made bath bombs are especially decadent and thoughtful, especially when well executed. To make peppermint bath bombs sift together 1 cup of baking soda with half a cup of citric acid. In a separate bowl mix together half a tablespoon of a carrier oil like grape seed with your essential oil of choice (in this case peppermint). Mix it all together and then spray with water so that the mix is just about damp – they key is to avoid over moistening. Pack into something to shape the bath bombs, such as a silicone mold or a muffin tin. Turn out and leave to dry over night.
Home made picture card game
This game uses the concept of matching faces or pictures to win but you can customize it for someone special by choosing family members or places with shared memories. A standard deck has 54 cards, which is 27 pairs and you need to make sure there’s two of each. Make them at home by printing out the photos, pasting on to card and laminating or search for “customized playing cards” online and hand over the production process to someone else.
Bird seed cake
If you have children who are learning about nature then giving them a practical way to interact with it – and support it – is a great way to use gifts to create young, informed minds. Bird seek cake is fun to make and you can craft it into shapes and give it with information or instructions on the birds it will attract. You’ll need to dissolve a pack of gelatin in half a cup of boiling water and then add three quarters of a cup of flour and three tablespoons of karo syrup to make a gloopy mix. Add three cups of wild bird food and then spoon half the mix into a shaped mold. Stand a paper straw upright in the mix to create a hole for threading through hanging twine and then leave to set in the fridge over night.
