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Inexpensive DIY Christmas presents - edition 1.
- Sep 10, 2009 at 9:27 PM
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Christmas is rapidly approaching... seriously ladies, September is half over! That leaves us only 105 days (as of Sept 10th) to get everyones gifts done and squared away. Theres another problem. Budgets are tight this year! Seriously tight. And while alot of us have great crafting skills and can make everyones gifts.. for those who dont, here are some super simple gifts anyone can make.
Edition 1:Teacup crafts
-Teacup candles* as featured on DailyBuzz last year! They are SUPER simple to make, and cheap too. I found four teacups at Salvation army, with saucers, for only .50c each. Garage sales, estate sales, and craigslist are other great places to look. A good resource for wax, wicks, color chips, and scent is candlescience. Their soy wax is FANTASTIC and so are their scents. Not to mention well priced. A 10 pound bag of wax is only 14.00, and will fill TWENTY 8oz teacups. A pound of wax takes 1oz of scent, so I'll break it down here:
Wax: 14.00 for 10 pounds (160 oz)
Cups: being generous, I'll estimate 1.00 a piece.
Scent: 13.99 (avg.) for 16oz (enough for 16 pounds)
Wicks: .99c for a 5 pack of 6" pretabbed wicks.
Color chips (optional: 1.99 for 20 pieces (more than enough, use one chip per pound of wax, or two for more intense color)
So.. each candle would work out to $2.69, if you make 20. Total project costs would be 53.98. Maybe you can find a friend who wants to make 10, and you make 10.. and you can split the costs! This would also be a fun thing to do with older kids to give as gifts for grandparents.
* This works great with other cups too.. you can hit the dollar store and find all kinds of cups/votives/jars to do this with, and there you will pay $1.00 or less for whatever container you use. Wineglasses, goblets, mason jars, ceramic pots, use your imagination!
-Teacup bird feeders, as featured on P Allen Smith. However, I have an easier way to do it than what is listed here on his site. It requires no drilling, just a strong epoxy.
you will need: 36" long threaded pipe, and a pipe end cap that fits the pipe. Copper is generally recommended but its expensive. Cheaper pipe could be spray painted to mimic the same copper look. Glue the teacup to the saucer, let that dry overnight. Then glue the end-cap to the bottom of the saucer. Let sit another 24 hours. Thread the pipe in, and voila, done! Give as a gift with a small baggie of bird food in the cup. The cup can be unscrewed from the pipe so that the pipe can be firmly pounded into the ground and then screwed back on. It will cost a bit more to make but they are REALLY cute and just about anyone will appreciate it.
Bonus: Totally free gift ideas!
Kind over matter: Printable Affirmation Gift Set, this takes alot of cutting out but its adorable and a great gift for a friend or sister!
Kind over matter: Printable Potted Plant, send it in an envelope for someone you dont really want to SPEND on... but you still want them to feel special! Maybe an office gift?
Edition 2 with two more inexpensive Christmas gifts coming next week! I'll do as many as I can for the next few weeks and see what we can all come up with! Post your inexpensive gift ideas too! We all need help this year I think. My goal is to make everything this year, and what I dont make I will buy handmade.
Comments:
Make your own ornaments! You can get colored foam sheets that are great because it won't turn brittle like paper and it's not breakable! The various colors make it easy to make bright, colored ornaments.
Traditional: Use a round cookie cutter to trace a circle and cut out multiple sheets at a time. Let the kids go crazy with glitter, glue, glitter-glue, and beads
Reindeer: Trace your child's hand and foot. Cut out the shapes and glue the hands on the top, over the toes. Draw or glue on googly eyes and add a red circle or pom-pom for the nose at the bottom (where the heel is). Let your child sign their name if they're old enough and put the date...it's a great keepsake of how small they were that year and you can make one each year as a fun growth tracker!
Christmas Trees: Cut out trees shapes and stumps and glue them together. You can also add a star if you want at the top. Again, let the kids go nuts and get creative with glue and glitter/beads/etc. (Can also be adjusted to Menorahs, too! Just cut out the shapes!)
At the top of all of these, use a nail or push pin to create a hole to whatever size you want. Use either curling ribbon or fishing line to create the "hook"! They make great presents for grandparents/great-grandparents who have everything!
Decoupage plates:
Buy glass plates at Walmart or the Dollar Store. You can get the decoupage glue at Michael's or Walmart/Target. Get holiday themed napkins from the Dollar Store, as well. Then, cut out the shapes you like on the napkins and coat the plate with glue. Start laying the cut outs on the plate, printed side down, and brush the glue on the back of it. Continue until you have a pattern you like or cover the whole plate! Let dry and then spray with a sealer.
This can also be done with votive holders or glass bowls for floating candles.
Napkins don't have to be holiday themed, either! You can find cheap napkins for anything, so you can tailor the project for the person you love!
Total cost per project usually comes to about $4 or $5 (that's $1 for the plate, $1 for the pack of napkins, and split costs for glue and sealer).
ornament hand or foot prints...
get a box lid or cut a box down to about 3 inches high. line with saran wrap or plastic. cut strips of cardboard to use as barriers and place in box according to the size of your child's hand
mix plaster ($10 from a c moore) according to directions and por into molds.
allow to set for a moment then have your child put their hand in it and hold it there for a minute. allow to dry and solidify(half hour to a day depending on what kind you get)
when they are dry pop them out and attach string and decorate
we did this for my mom for mothersday with my son. it took a couple trys because he was so yong but we had paience and it turned out great.
Having an artist child I have to deal with a ton of broken crayons. This year we are remelting them into christmas ornaments using telfon candy forms. It will cost about $1-2 for the forms at the dollar store and the crayons we already have. Add a pack of holidays hooks and it's very inexpensive.
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Check these out!! http://kindovermatter.blogspot.com/2009/05/thank-you-for-nursing-in-public.html
Thank you for nursing in public cards.. free to print. Very cool
- LuminousMom
(Original Poster)