HOO’s CRAFTY www.FamilyAndKidsGA.Gifts com
29
Kids Can Make & Give
(That Won’t Break Their Piggy Banks)
As holidays and birthdays approach, are your kids
scrounging to buy gifts they can hardly afford?
Offer them these fun ideas for gifts from the
heart. It gives them an activity to keep busy and
create, plus a memory for the receiver to cherish.
Service coupons. Offer a free evening of
babysitting, a week of taking out the trash, making
your sister’s bed, pet sitting, lawn mowing, weed
pulling, ironing, or another task you can do.
Handprint ring dish. Purchase air dry clay.
Roll out clay and place hand on top. Cut clay to
outline of hand. Smooth edges of clay with a little
water. Place handprint curled over on a small ball, let
sit ‘til firm. Paint as you wish.
Shaped bird feeders. Prepare 2 gelatin
packets per instructions, mix with bird seed until
firm enough to form. Pack mixture into a candy
mold or cookie cutter with a string to hang placed in
middle of mold. Refrigerate until firm.
Decorative shape soaps. Grate bars of
inexpensive white soap. Then mix approximately
½ cup of warm water with a cup of shredded soap.
Add food coloring to the water to create colored
soap. Knead the mixture and add additional warm
water as necessary until it forms like dough. Next,
fill cookie cutters with the mixture, or flatten it on
a sheet of waxed paper, and trim into shapes. Let
the soap dry slightly, then press with small leaves or
other designs. Allow the decorative soaps to dry for
24 hours, flipping them occasionally.
Make a placemat. Choose a subject of interest
to your gift recipient, such as model cars or Barbie
dolls. Clip pictures from magazines and catalogues,
and glue them to an 11” x 17” sheet of paper. Overlap
the pictures to create a collage or spread them apart
and share details about each. When you’re done,
laminate the design with self-adhesive laminating
sheets, or have it laminated at an office supply store.
Give magnetic photos. Cut a piece of
cardboard from a cereal box to match the size of your
photo, and then glue it to the back of your photo for
support. Last, glue a small magnet to the cardboard,
and now you have a photo magnet.
Fashion a holiday pin. Buy a package of
large safety pins and a small package of multicolored
beads. Open one safety pin and dangle
several safety pins onto it through the eye at the
bottom of those pins. Close the open pin and then
thread colored beads onto the dangling safety pins.
You can design a Christmas tree, heart, flag, or
whatever your imagination desires.
Compose a memory book. Buy a
composition book from the office supply store,
cover it with construction paper, then design and
decorate the cover. Inside, write your memories of
special times you’ve had with the person to whom
you’ll present it. Memories might include a trip to
the zoo, a favorite holiday celebration, a special
gift, something funny, and lots of other experiences
you’ve had together.
Produce glittery pens. Buy a package of
pens and different colors of glitter. Pour glue onto a
sheet of waxed paper. Roll one side of the pen lightly
in the glue leaving one inch from the tip without
glue. Coat the pen with glitter, and then let it dry.
When the glue dries, repeat these steps on the other
side of the pen.
/www.FamilyAndKidsGA.Gifts