|
No present is more appreciated than one that is specifically made with you in mind. It is a wonderful feeling to know that someone has gone to the effort of spending time on making a gift for you that is both personal and thoughtful. It is especially pleasing when this gift has been made by a child or toddler, with all the accompanying bumps and paint streaks, as it is something you can treasure forever (not to mention being able to haul it out at the child’s twenty-first, for everyone to laugh at!). Below are some new ideas that you can do with your child or he can do on his own.
A popular gift for friends and family is a hand or foot dough print. Allow your child to mix up some dough (flour, salt, baking powder and water) and add some food coloring to make it interesting. Then dust your child’s hand thoroughly and get them to press it into the dough. Make sure they press firmly, as the dough will rise but do not go through the mixture. They can use their feet as well. Cut around the imprint in a circle, and make a little hole through the dough at the top. Then bake till hard. String with a ribbon and date on the back with the name and age of your child. This is a wonderful gift for grandparents as well as close family friends and parents.
How often have we heard people lamenting the cost of picture frames? Your local hardware store should stock the necessary items for your slightly older child to make an inexpensive picture frame. Get four narrow pieces of wood (about 10mm in width), some paints, wood glue and cardboard for a backing. Allow them to paint the wood pieces and let those dry. Glue the pieces of wood together to form a square. Cut the cardboard so that the edges of the wood fit neatly on top. Then glue on the very edge of the cardboard so that when a picture is placed inside the frame (from the front), it slides in neatly between the cardboard backing and the wood.
If you have a child that can sew, get them to sew a cushion. An added thought would be a joint project between two children, where one paints the fabric (inexpensive fabric paint is available from most craft and fabric shops), and the other child sews it up. Home painted T-shirts are also a favorite gift for smaller children to give. Let them loose on a shirt you have placed on paper and see what their creative genius turns up!
An enterprising gift for the homemaker is a bottle of vinegar or salad dressing; the secret to the gift however is how it is presented. Get your child to paint a bottle and make the dressing using an easy recipe. (For salad dressing a simple recipe is 100ml salad oil, 25ml lemon juice, 12.5ml vinegar and 5ml salt all mixed together. For variations you can add chives or spring onions and a sprig or two of rosemary or other herb to the bottle.). Bottles can either be bought at a craft store, or you can recycle your old spice and salad dressing bottles.
If your child enjoys getting his or her hands dirty then painting is a delightful way for them to make gifts. Your local craft store will have the right bisque you can use as well as the paints. Place lots of newspaper down as well as the plate or mugs and allow them to paint their hands and then pick up and hold the item. Little finger marks in different colors will then be scattered all over the item. A friend of mine was leaving the country, and knowing her parents would miss the grandchildren she painted her children’s bottoms and sat them on the white plates. It left a very effective reminder of their grandchildren! Mugs, plates, jugs and bowls can all be used for handprints, footprints and even just general painting. You can then have the goods fired and glazed to prevent the paint coming off.
You can also bake cookies, banana loafs or other goodies and place them on one of these plates or in a bowl, then wrap in cellophane and present the gift.
From the ‘kit’ section of any shop you can purchase candle making goods as well as soap making, and cushion painting kits. All of these are easy to use and can make wonderful personalized home made presents.
For the older boys and girls who are handy with tools, a simple bookshelf is easy to make. Nails, three or four boards of wood (about 1m x 20cm, for shelves), another two boards about 1.5m x 30cm, for the frame), a hammer and some paint is all you will need. Measure the distance between the shelves on the longer pieces of wood and mark them with a pen. Nail the shelves, at the previously marked levels to the longer pieces of wood. You can then paint the shelves or leave them plain as required.
Our computers have made home presents as easy to make as buying presents. For a small child you can write and design a book using pictures copied from art packages and the Internet, though check for copyright on the latter. Print this out on a colour printer and place between two firm pieces of cardboard to which you can stick more colorful pictures as well as the ‘front’ and ‘back’ of the book. Using ribbon or staples firmly tie or staple the book together along the length of the spine. Also with your computer you can design wrapping paper for smaller gifts, as well as pictures you would like to stick on boxes which contain gifts, for the personal touch with your presents. Of course your PC will also allow you to design all the Thank You cards you will be sending out when your little darlings get tons of presents from family and friends. Ahhh, the age of technology.
| 
