Handmade Gifts

[kestrel5287]

What are some good handmade gifts?? They don't necessarily have to be crocheted. I was looking at gifts in a jar and those seemed kind of neat. A lot of handmade gifts that I've looked up just look cheesy though. I want to try to make a lot of handmade gifts for christmas this year and I need to start now. Between my fiance and I, we have 9 sisters ranging from 7 months(age in december, his step mom is pregnant right now and due in May) to 18 years old, 3 brothers from 3-6, 3 Dads, 4 moms, and about 345870943 cousins/aunts/uncles lol so anything and everything is appreciated!! I'd like mostly small easy stuff that can be put into gift baskets no afghans lol

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Krystal

[bettycrackpot]

one year i made DOZENS of cookies, went to my local restuarant supply store and bought some cute carryout boxes. set everything up on a table and told everyone to take what they wanted......it went over well!

[nowaybud]

I like to make up slippers, gloves, mittens, hats and scarves, then if anything is left over I donate it to local orginizations who can find a home for them.

[Addey]

Hats and scareves are cool. I made a set for a niece last year. I made my other niece a bunch of scrunchies and a scrunchie holder. They're small and quick. The 'cookies in a jar' are cool. You could crochet dishclothes to tie over the lids and make them look extra special. slippers are fun.

Ornaments for trees or doors could be cool for the older crowd. I made my Gram a door hanging of beaded snowflakes sewn onto a midnight blue velvet background (leftover material from a dress....) that is hung with a rod and a snowflake ribbon.

If you know of someone who makes handmade soaps, or if you can, make up soaps and wrap them up in crocheted dishclothes....

For the guys I suggest hats and scarves if you want to crochet. They're fast and 'manly'. Or there is always bookmarks of various kinds, bookworms love those....

Ok, that's about all the idea I have in absolutly no order or rhyme....

[SheriB626]

I just got back from JoAnn's, where I got the materials to make dreamcatchers. They're nice and pretty once finished. If you want instructions, just send me a PM.

[jmccrochet]

CANDY! and scarves. That's what I did this year. I have only my sister but her hubby has a big family and they always catch me off guard with gifts. Anyway, buy a big block of chocolate or white chocolate, melt it down and dip pretzel rods in it. Make up a batch of chocolate peanut clusters and I even did Oreos covered in chocolate. Then I bagged 'em up in corsage bags tied with a ribbon.

 

Another thing is mason jars filled with potpourri. Then you buy a votive holder that fits in the neck of the jar, hotglue a ribbon around the neck of the jar and little candle/potpourri tchachkes. Oh, another thing I recently did was wine glass charms for my sister for her bday. I think it cost me less than $10 to buy all the stuff to make them and I made her six, me one, a friend one and still have plenty of beads and rings left to make more!

 

(But, I'm not a really crafty person)

 

Joyce

[julie5813]

For the baby, maybe a Baby It's Cold Outside sweater? There's a CAL for this here, and the pattern is here. Someone mentioned bookmarks above. I've made several Book Thongs from Donna's pattern. They are size 10 thread, but they work up very quickly. I can usually make at least a couple in the evening.

 

To satisfy a sweet tooth, here are links to two fudge recipes that I've made in the past. For the Deep Dark Fudge, I made it exactly as the recipe is written. For the Creamy Peanut Butter Fudge, I put the marshmallow creme in with the sugar, brown sugar, butter and evaporated milk and then bring it to a boil. It will taste good if you follow the recipe as written, but I found that including the marshmallow creme in the mixture to be boiled made it even creamier.

 

Going on with the food theme, if someone likes flavored nuts, this site has several recipes for making spiced, sweetened, or candied nuts. Click "Category Search", then choose "Appetizers", and then "Nuts" under the Snack category. I've not made any of these recipes, but I subscribe to their magazine and most of the time their recipes are good.

[eyrthmother1]

I was thinking of making some dishcloths for folks this year, but in the past for my clients I have made amish friendship bread (on 1 hand folks dont want to this due to needing to work w/ it for 10 days....HOWEVER, if instead of breaking it up and giving starters to your friends/family you only break it in 1/2 and do the recipes w/ it, you can get like 4 small loaves (not mini loaves) from it at a baking of 1/2. Thusly, if you do 2 or 3 bags of starter at the same time, could pop out like 16-24 loaves from just 3 starters. did that make sense?? lol).

 

Some craft stores sell the stuff to make soaps and candles fairly inexpensively (not looked lately, but they used to have wax that was sort of granulated.... could pour that in a container over a wick and put something over the top to keep it from pouring out if tipped...whalla. easy peazy candle.)

 

The cakes/brownies/cookies in jars.

 

Another thing I'm trying to do is make up snowflakes to give as gifts. They are small and generally work up fast, if you can actually get time from other things to work on them. lol.

 

Another year, I made "reese's balls" which were just peanut butter, confectioner suger and melted chocolate to dip the balls into.

 

**OH!! the amish bread and the reese's balls freeze quite well, so could make ahead and store in freezer.

 

I've seen some patterns that were sets of dishcloths and potholders, or coaster sets (drew's sandle coasters are nice).

 

I'll hush now

Sandy

[The_Virginia_Hooker]

Scented colored bath salts. They can be made, put into those small Ball jars, and a ribbon tied around the lid.

[Empress Busy Bee]

I agree the book thong is a great choice. I've made a couple.

Also the Baby it's Cold sweater is a good choice.

 

For the little girls, these tiaras have gone over really well with my friends and they take almost no yarn so you can make several colors for each girl:

 

http://www.moonarts.com/blog/free_patterns/pages/crochet-crown-print.htm

 

I ususally make this purse in a matching yarn:

 

http://www.crochetnmore.com/duffelpurse.htm

 

How about crayon bags with a box of crayons included? Change the colors to boy colors and you can make everyone one:

 

http://suzies-yarnie-stuff.blogspot.com/2006/07/crayon-purse-pattern.html

 

Or treasure bags and fill with goodies. I made these for my daughter's ballet class for Valentines.

 

http://members.aol.com/crochetwithdee/TreasureBag.html

 

I've made many of these lip balm holders and included flavored lip balms:

 

http://www.bevscountrycottage.com/keychain.html

 

How about teacups for the moms. You can fill them with tea bags, candy, candle holder with candle, etc.

 

http://www.christinesflowers.com/christines_teacup.html

 

An intial pillow would be a great gift for nearly anyone:

 

http://wovenspun.com/alphapillow/alphapillow.htm

 

Manly (anyone really) pillows:

 

http://www.bhg.com/bhg/story.jsp?page=1&storyid=/templatedata/bhg/story/data/pillows_crochet_09302002.xml&categoryid=/templatedata/bhg/category/data/Decorating_QuickAndEasy.xml

 

If you go through CPC slowly and really look through the catagories and click links, you'll be surprised at what you can find that's simple and cute.

 

http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory.php

 

For non crochet gifts, this past year I made digital scrapbook calenders and travel mugs.

I got the calendars at Michael's for $1 each and the travel mugs at Wal-Mart for about $8 each.

Everyone loved them.

I also give a gift basket to my husband's great aunt. I make a few home made things like chocolate chip cookies, banana bread, and this year biscotti. Then I buy extras like fun sounding candy (choxie from Target), crackers, preserves, tea, hot chocolate, coffees, and candles.

She loves it and looks forward to it every year. My father in law even hinted at wanting one now.

 

There are lots of food things online (and in magazines) to make and give. I think a starter soup in a jar looks fun but I have yet to make any.

[nutz4crochet]

I love this....http://www.sweetbabymedia.com/recipes/allbynumber4/017449.shtml

 

I never baked this myself, but have fond memories of it being given at Christmas time and it is yummy.

[missamorphosis]

For my closest neighbors, I always bake some goodies and either put them in a nice basket or bag or I'll tie them up pretty, depending on what they are. This past year, it was 3 small loaves of different breads. The year before, it was a basket full of candies and cookies.

 

For my SO's parents, who are 86 & 90, I always make them a scrapbook, full of pictures from the year.

 

I've decided I was going to start making everyone in my immediate family an ornament every year. This will be something new for this next year. I'm just hoping I don't get too busy to do it.

 

If there are people on your gift list who enjoy writing, you could always make them a nice journaling jar, and give them a homemade journal and a "special" pen to use.

 

I'm sure I could come up with more ideas as time passes.

[Tracey4610]

 

Another year, I made "reese's balls" which were just peanut butter, confectioner suger and melted chocolate to dip the balls into.

 

**OH!! the amish bread and the reese's balls freeze quite well, so could make ahead and store in freezer.

 

 

Round these parts, we call 'em Buckeyes...

 

If you want to get creative, Shelleden has a great Sock Monkey Hat Pattern for $3. She's quick to get it to you, too, if you use PayPal. I bought it right after she made the pattern available last fall, and I think I've made about 20 of them, each of them different from the last. I believe an adult hat only took about 1 1/2 hours to make, including the embroidery of the mouth, nose and eyes. I made each of my cousins a hat, and personalized them to match my cousins' personalities (one served in Afghanistan, another likes pirates, another hunts/fishes, and I've sold numerous others). I also made scarves to match.

 

Snowflakes are always good, and so are kitchen britches (see CrochetRN's blog for instructions, etc). If you want really nice facecloths, you can start following dishcloth instructions, but using #10 thread. It's sturdy, and doesn't hold germs as much. If you want to make a "terrycloth" face/washcloth, use a fur-stitch pattern on one or both sides of the cloth. The textures of either the smooth or the "terry" work well to exfoliate and polish the skin, and since they're handmade, they'll last quite a while. Wrap two or three of these (maybe one of each?) up together around a bar of herbal soap (I can get mine inexpensively from World Market or Pier One, or even 1,000 Villages. In my area, folks list this soap on Craigslist, and Amish Country is only a 2 hour's drive from here). Thread ribbon through your stitches around the edges to make a soap sachet. Or, do the same around homemade bath salts (these can be made by taking coarse sea salt and adding essential oils to them. Pour some into a small, pretty jar and seal. Label it with the fragrance and bathing instructions, then wrap your cloths around it, etc.). For the ladies, choose scents that are what each person may like. For the men, perhaps masculine scents of maybe sandalwood, cedar, musk, combined with something citrus or leather--maybe some shaving powder with a brush inside a small stoneware crock?

 

For gag gifts in the past, I did "rat bedding" (we had rats as pets). This was basically a rice krispie treat recipe only with raisins or chocolate-covered nuts mixed in. It was served on dollar store plates and wrapped in cellophane. Another year, I made Puppy Chow with Chex Mix, semi-sweet chocolate chips, peanut butter, and powdered sugar. When it was cooled, I filled 2 stoneware pet dishes (found at Wally world for $3 ea) after they had been cleaned and dried, then wrapped them up. Both of these were a hit. I also had the Abominable Albino Sock Monkey Hat (the Sock Monkey made in white yarn). Every year, whatever gift I bring gets fought over. It's hilarious.

 

If you live in a warmer area, or end up having a mild Christmas like we did this past winter, you could do this: Take a bottle of water, make miniature hat, glove/mittens, and a scarf, and a few buttons. Glue each piece onto the bottle. Include the following instructions in the package: Do It Yourself Snowman Kit. Place in freezer. When Snowman melts, repeat.

[Auntie Kellie]

One Christmas, I had so many people to buy for that I knew it would be impossible on the tight budget I had at the time. My solution? I went to the dollar store and got some lovely Christmas themed tins and boxes and a ton of the chocolates that are wrapped in foil in a netted bag. I opened the net bags the chocolates came in and filled the tins and boxes with different shaped chocolates, topped them with a bow and name card then handed those out to the adults. For all the kids that were old enough, I bought them art and craft supplies from the dollar store. For the babies of the bunch, I got Christmas themed baby items like bottles, little stuffed animals, bibs, etc. Everyone got something and they loved their gifts.

 

Hugs and Cookies

Auntie K

[SheriB626]

I've had one person PM me for instructions on how to make the dreamcatchers I mentioned. Would anyone else be interested in how to make these? I could make a thread with instructions and photos, if people are interested.

[kestrel5287]

I've had one person PM me for instructions on how to make the dreamcatchers I mentioned. Would anyone else be interested in how to make these? I could make a thread with instructions and photos, if people are interested.

 

 

I'd definately be interested in the dreamcatcher instructions!

[froggy]

Empress Busy Bee, Thanks for your list there were several things I kept in my favorites to be used as gifts for different occasions! I especially like the crocheted tea cup pattern!