I don’t know about you, but I have this thing about my kids only receiving at Christmas.
Money isn’t totally in their realm of understanding yet, so I try (but don’t always succeed) to have them make something to give as a gift to those who always give them gifts (grandparents, aunts and uncles).
Time and effort? Those have more of an impact on my kids.
But sometimes Christmas sneaks up on me and I need something ultra-quick to give.
These heating-pad rice socks are a perfect gift to make for any age. The ones in this post with instructions were made with deer corn, but in the last few years we’ve used rice because I’m not crazy about the corny scent. I made these with my Brownie troop this week, and a ten-pound bag of rice was just about right for ten socks.
They truly are finished in five minutes, are no-sew and best of all . . . we USE ours. My kids immediately go looking for it when they have an earache. (Put it in the microwave for thirty seconds at a time and the rice heats up. The rice-filled sock also conforms nicely to a shoulder or neck or whatever else hurts.
This year, instead of making the gifts, I’m going to have my kids make the wrapping like in the picture at the top of this post. (We did this in Brownies too.) We cut snowflakes out of white paper and mod-podged them onto plain, red, two-for-a-dollar-at-the-dollar-tree gift bags.
If you can’t remember the details of making paper snowflakes, search youtube. (While you’re there, subscribe to my channel!)
If you have a day to spend, fleece blankets are a nice gift. Last year, we spent a day “making” some and used this edging technique. (We used a safety pin instead of a crochet hook.) The kids really LOVED doing this, and the blankets were a hit.
All of these things are simple and quick to do.
What homemade gifts have your kids made?
Seeing the snowflake reminded me of a quilt I made for my mother about 12 years ago when my kids were still in their teens. She liked Norman Rockwell, and I found a piece of his art (the mail man) on fabric. I added borders and quilted it. I had both of my boys make a couple of paper snowflakes (I made a couple, too). I used them as quilting patterns – traced them into the white areas surrounding the design. I stitched their first initial in the center of the snowflake. My Mom just loved it. I have it now.
I LOVE this idea, Sue! So meaningful!
I’ll try to remember to send you a picture of it – AFTER Christmas! Not hugely busy but I am running out of time!
We don’t do handmade gifts, since I am soooo not crafty. We do however take the kids out to buy each other gifts, and the other parent a gift. What I love though is our school has a holiday shoppe every year. I send the kids in with $10 or $20 dollars, and they come home with presents for all the grandparents and uncles. I love that it is all about the kids, they pick everything out and wrap everything themselves. And I usually use at least some of their allowance money.
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you. I need a homemade gift idea for my family. I started making homemade gifts years ago. Now it is a tradition. We make an ornament to put in each others stocking and a homemade gift to open. I have been so busy that I haven’t given much thought to what we will make this year. The socks will be fantastic. Simple. Easy. And Practical. Thank you.
I LOVE the way you did the edging on the blankets! My daughter made one in her youth group at church and they did longer edge strips and knotted each one off. She loves the blanket, but I agree with the blogger who said the one small knot is more comfortable…and it’s fancier. Heck, I may do some of these throughout the year to donate for next Christmas. I’m a kid at heart. 🙂
Love the rice sock idea, too. I don’t need anymore gifts this year, but having some on hand for anyone around here with sore areas would be a cool thing.
Now I’m going to have to find out what mod-podge is. Those bags are totally cute. 🙂
Oh it’s the COOLest stuff! It’s basically glue that you paint on and then put paper over and then paint over the top. It dries glossy. Love it!
SUCH a great idea! My little guy (age 7) has been wanting to make something for Christmas presents, and I’m going to suggest this. A 5-minute project is really the only thing we have time for, at this point! 😉
Adding some peppermint or lavender eassential oil to the rice in the sock is a nice touch, too.
I like the rice sock . I havent made home made gifts since I was a kid. I would make them for my grandparents and it seemed they would always prefer the fancy bought stuff my cousins gave them. But i am making a receiving blanket quilt for my daughters first birthday.
why do you need to remake them every year? do they wear out?
You don’t need to remake them. We’ve made them for different people, and last year we made them in Girl Scouts.
I have made these in the past but with flax seed from the bulk section of our grocery store. Love the idea of using socks. I love long socks but not wearing them so this is a great way to enjoy cute prints and warm up sore muscles.
when my kiddos were little, they made bookmarks for family (we are a family of readers and everyone always needs bookmarks). I cut strips of colored paper – they picked which color for which family member, they picked out stickers they thought were good for each family member (also makes for a funny memory as to what they thought that person would really like), they decorated the bookmarks and then I laminated them. My Mom still has several of hers that are between 15-23 years old, and we found a couple in my MIL’s stuff after she passed.