A Heartfelt Handmade (Less Expensive) Christmas

 I don't know anyone who's not feeling the financial crunch these days, but even if the economy were doing well and everyone were feeling comfortable about the future of their employment, I think that the unsureness of our times has inspired many of us to instinctively "hunker down." Things being what they are, many of us have no choice but to be home bound! 

The bright side of this? We have every reason and opportunity this Christmas to get back to the real roots of the season, to remember what we are celebrating -- or I should say WHOM --  to dial down on the commercialization, and zoom in on our loved ones in a more than usual personal way. You know where I'm going with this: HOMEMADE Christmas presents. 

Don't groan. Even if they aren't perfect, the time and effort put into a homemade gift makes it exponentially more meaningful. Certainly to us Mom-types, anyway! And, if we've raised our children outside the glitz of the mainstream, they will appreciate a homespun Christmas just as much as we do. Especially since, with access to how-tos on the internet, we can get really creative -- and make some pretty cool stuff! 

We have a month and two days until Christmas. Plenty of time! Except -- not for me, really, since I'm in Germany and will have only two weeks to get my act together once I get back to the States. And a limited budget. So, I went on a hunt looking for ideas...

 Run over and take a look at the Instructables for lots of inspiration and very whacky projects to keep kids busy. For instance, our two youngest sons and oldest grandson would get a real "bang" out of the homemade marshmallow shooter ! No rubberbands to wound one another with; only mini marshmallows all over the floor... We've seen these in catalogues, but how much more fun to make our own!

Here's an easy pattern for Toasty slippers that look easy to adapt to any size and can be a good use for our worn out blankets.

Using a tube and some old cds, you can make a keen kaleidoscope. I know our Granddaughter Littles would get a kick out of these. I'll just have to make sure they don't come apart easily...

This tutorial for Magnetic paper dolls uses a pretty ugly example for the dolls, so please don't be put off by it. It does give a good idea of how it can be done, though. I'd be more inclined to print out pictures of my own little girls and make dresses for them. (Wouldn't that be fun?)

Though this one's not as easy, I've long wanted to make a checkerboard game table .

Get a 50% off coupon for Hoibby Lobby online and get a bub of plaster of paris,. Lots you can make with plaster of paris, but I'm thinking about a batch of homemade sidewalk chalk . Looks fun and easy.

For the kiddos to give parents or grandparents (ahem), we can easily make these boxes and fill them with chocoloate hugs and kisses. There are tons of ideas here for "mugs of hugs."

The very crafty lady at Pretending Sanity has a great lip balm recipe I'd love to try. she's also got some links to places to get supplies, if I don't find what I want at Hobby Lobby. It actually looks like a pretty simple, one afternoon project.

And, while we're at it, we could put together little soap and lotion combos from Teachsoap.com and maybe make little gift baskets. (They have a recipe there for Chocolate Lip gloss that we'll have to try!)


Here's a link to a good handful of baby toddler toys to make. And here's another. I like their idea for a really easy homemade book, and I know some grandkids who would like this "giant kerplunk can."

Over at the Dollar Stretcher, there are tons of inexpensive gift basket ideas for all occasions! And here are more that are specifically on-a-budget Christmas Gift Basket ideas.

Let's not underrate baked goodies! Here's one exhaustive list of Christmas treats -- and here's another.


If I had money to spare this year, I would shop from the Lehman's catalogue. We've never bought anything from Lehmans that we were not 100% tickled to death with. The Amish really do build with quality and integrity. Recommended if you have a little extra money for a special gift! (World's best fly-swatter, for that one person who would really love a leather fly swatter for Christmas!)

I also love "dream shopping" in places like Treasure Box Toys, and Hearthsong. When we have spent the money on quality toys, we've never regretted it. We've had a deluxe "busy bead" set, for instance, that we bought over twenty-five eyars ago (now at Paul's house, I think) which has had constant use and still looks good as new.

Most years in our family history, I'd start early on the garage sale circuit looking for quality used toys, as well as checking out all the thrift stores for "refurbishables"... We're not shy about that. In my mind, you can't call yourself a recycler if you aren't willing to make use of thrift stores and garage sales! We got the best Melissa and Doug castle for Shelly and Ben's girls a couple years ago in this way. Books are also a great thing to find at Garage sales, thrift stores and online second-hand stores like Abebooks and Thriftbooks. Real readers don't care if a book is brand new or not! If it's a family gift, especially, no harm, no foul! If it's for someone not in your inner circle, consider making a little gift tag or sticker saying: "proudly recycled: saving the planet one book at a time." (Also saving your checking account, one gift at a time, but they don't need to know that... 😉 )

So, there. This exercise has forced me to organize myself with links to work from when I get home! I hope it might have given someone else an idea or two as well! (Hopefully the links still work, as I've purloined a good portion of this post from one I wrote several years ago -- but seeing as it's mostly for my own benefit, I'll fix links as I go!)