Homemade Christmas?

[CatherineID]

Anyone preparing for a homemade Christmas? What are you making?

[Dawgus]

My wife makes things for xmas every year. Everyone gets a "goodie basket" of homeade breads, jams, jellies, butter, etc. Sometimes, depending on the person, even pickles or homeade spaghetti sauce. They all get the usual baked goods as well, and everyone got quilts that the mrs made the first few years. She's also tossed in some homeade candles with some too. Though I'm WAY outta the loop on making any of this, we both think homeade gifts are more from the heart than something in a box from the store, people seem to appreciate it a lot more.

[Katrina-Sisu]

Honestly I haven't thought of Christmas much but I should.

Tote bags are simple to make and you can do all sorts of neat things. Tote bags are always useful. I got cute fabric for cheap from JoAnne's fabrics and made tote bags.

One of the most popular Christmas gifts is a homemade sampler basket of sorts. I found some pretty baskets from the Dollar Store and filled them up with travel size soaps/lotions/sprays. I also put in candy and memo pads and everyone liked them :).

Kat

[JakeLeg]

we do every year. me make gifts for about 12 every year. each package is nearly the same unless someone has a dietary restriction.

last year: i made layered recipes in jars (cookies, brownies, soup, chili, etc) eight quart-sized jars, total. wife and I made wooden boxes about the sizee of a large show box w/ removable lid. painted w/ a green undercoat and a red crackle finish. xmas colors, natch. boxes are always made to be reused in a decorative fashion.

year before: i made candies. fudges, brittle, drops, turtles, bark, about 8 recipes altogether. wife and I made wooded old-timey style toolboxes (the long narrow, open top type with a long dowel handle across the top) boxes were distressed and stained with red barn stain.

year before that: I baked for a week. pumpkin bread, zucchini bread, focaccia bread, homemade soft pretzels, cookies, etc. there were about a dozen items per box. i made sorta oversized slatted orange crates. wife stained and antiqued them and stenciled a logo on the ends.

this year, wife's going to make handmade cloth shopping bags and customize them with embroidery. i'm going to package herbal tea blends from my herb garden to go in the bags.

all of our reltaives think they are the best gifts ever except for one. her overly materialistic father told her, months later, after the first handmade year, that 'handmade gifts are bad because it's not something that the gift receiver wants" (she was in tears for about 2 days) since then, he has not gotten a handmade gift. he's normally here in early december to come and collect his birthday present. he'll see the pile of in-progress boxes and tell her that he wants one. she doesn't say anything, but he doesn't get one. she won't let me tell him why he's not getting one, because my explanation to him would most likely make him crawl into a hole and cry himself to death.

[pcrowder]

I'm knitting socks, making tied quilts, and going to give all the female members of the family a Vol. 2 of my homemade cookbook.

[pcrowder]

Oh yeah, and also homemade goat cheese if I can keep the girls milking that long!

[GoodDaughter]

:'( I wish some of you guys were my relatives. :'( I would love to get handmade, homemade stuff like this because these gifts are not only thoughtful and show caring, but they are also useful! I mean, how much more perfume can my brothers and SIL's buy me (just gave away three boxed sets--the parfum, spray cologne, and body cream) of Ralph Lauren's 'Romance' and 'Pure', and a Perry Ellis somethingorother. Beautiful gifts with one flaw....all three fragrances reeked on me :'( )

One year one family member gave homemade wood gifts, things like turned bowls, old fashioned tops, etc. My brother actually ridiculed them! I felt ashamed of my brother for being so snotty.

I really love the ideas of the jars of mixes and the homemade boxes, especially the long tool box. What a neat, inventive idea!

[Deberosa]

Packages of home grown meat - pork and maybe beef. Plus whatever jams, jellies, applebutter, etc. I figure people will always find that kind of thing useful.

[flatwater]

One year I made walking sticks with deer sheds for tops and a carved wood spirit on the stick somewhere , then on the top of the sheds I would flatten out an area and take a dremel with a cut out bit and make a cross then melt some silver solder and fill in the gap. Sand and steel wool and it looks like a silver inlay.
Flatwater

[8kids4me]

Great ideas here! So far, I have only thought about what to do for the grandkids....but maybe I will knit up some expandable market bags, and fill them with apple butter, jams, and spaghetti sauce. I have one daughter that would probably not appreciate this, so maybe a gift card for her.

[TNDadx4]

I'm toying (pardon the pun) with the idea of building my youngest (5 y/o) daughter a dollhouse.

I, too love giving and receiving homemade gifts. They show more thought and love IMO.

[MYellowRose]

Last year my DD bought a small tree to go on the table and crocheted all the decorations for it. She just decided on what she wanted and sat down and made them. Wish I had that ability!

[kerryms]

Now I know I've got to get started now that you've brought up x-mas.Last year I made a scarf for my daughters half sister(she's6, and calls me granma) she was so tickled to get the scarf cause granma made it just for her. I liked the ideas and have been thinking of a family cook book with stories about the family included. Guess I could make some more scarfs,that's the only thing I know how to make with yarn! Candies sound good too!

[woodchuck]

How was last years x-giving?

<woodchuck>

[walls0stone]

Thanksgiving, eh.... just the day I use to put on fat before deer season, or as I like to call it, father's day :)

Take the new dogs out and chance the bunnies this year. ;D

[Bruenor]

I typically don't do homemade Christmas gifts, but I do try and find something useful for my brothers. At Big Lots I found some genuine Swiss Army knives, regularly priced $17-$20 at the box stores, for $7. I picked up one for myself, and the other two that I could find. Once I find another, I'll have one for each of my brothers.

Money is tight for my older brother and his wife, especially since they just had their first little girl, so I'm thinking about getting them about 100 pounds of beef from the local butcher. Good, healthy raised beef would be a gift that I would love to get, and that's the standard that I use when giving gifts. Also, my older brother and I are going out hunting this year together. He's been once (never hit or saw anything) and I've never gone hunting, so we're taking my wife's cousin who's been hunting for years. I figured as another present for my brother, I'd pay for his tags.

I'd rather have something useful than the usual junk that you see people in stores buying during Christmas time. I have a theory that people buy junk to fill up their houses just for an excuse to get a bigger house, with more storage, to fill with more junk. I don't really understand it. Give me a homemade scarf, hat, and mittens sit any day over the latest iGizmo in the stores.

[MNMOM]

So far, I've knitted 9 pair of mittens, everyone on my list will get a pair, I have to make 15 pair, but they knit up fast.

I've got only 1 quilt started and it's been down in my sewing room waiting for me for quite a while.

I also will be giving homemade mozzarella to each family.

[kerryms]

X-giving! It was great because I was born on Thanksgiving day 1960. I thought everyone had Turkey dinner for thier birthdays. ;D

[jan_in_georgia]

I used to can lots and made homemade gift baskets out of that. This year we've decided that we're giving only to our parents, my brother, and to kids in our family, so we'll need lots less to come up with. Right now, I am planning crocheted blankets for two nieces (made bed size blankets for my boys last year and the girls envied them, so...). For my mom, a selection of crocheted dish cloths and a holder to hang a hand towel conveniently. Haven't decided about the 2 dads yet. Brother is living away from home for the first time, so I'll give him a calendar with family dates marked in it and lots of non-perishable food stuffs that I purchased on sale. When he left home, I gave him a kitchen trash can full of ramen noodles, boxes of mac and cheese, etc. I thought he would cry!

[hillbillygal]

I've decided to try and make the cloth gift bags this year. We'll see how that goes. I'm going to give some people on my list canned sausage and some pear butter if I can get it made. I bought some flower bulbs on clearance today at Dollar General so those will probably go along with the canned goods.

I really wish someone in our family would buy us some beef for Christmas. That would be a great present.

[Catalpa]

I try to make up a package of baked goods/canned goods to give as hostess gifts when the family gets together, but aside from some cool things for my DD, we tend not to give gifts, but 'days'. For birthday and Christmas each year, we can choose any project we need help with, and the rest of the family will come work on it for the day. It's led to some wonderful project accomplishments! For my brother this year we stained, painted, and helped build a large roofed area out over his deck that will eventually become a three-season room. Everyone came to my house a few weeks ago and moved some heavy stuff, unloaded a trailer of sand, and laid the groundwork for the patio I'm building.

We still do gifts when it's something needful; like last year we went in together and bought new tires for my Dad's truck.

Love the holidays!

[hillbillygal]

Any more ideas? :)

[rivahmom]

For my nieces and nephews I'll be making a quilted throw out of polar fleece for each of them. I was juggling the idea of making a sleeping bag out of the same material with an attached pillow sham for sleep overs. My son collects hot wheels so my husband wants to build him a strorage garage for all of his cars. He will also be making a barn for my daughters my little ponys. Our teenage daughter may get a hope chest filled with a cosmetic crafting kit and a popcorn popper for when she starts college.

[theresehirko]

Well, we do a homemade Hanukah-does that count? We have been making fruit butters and homemade candles. Last year everyone got handcrocheted blankets. I'll put a loaf of homemade challah into each basket. The baskets that I use are insulated zipped cloth grocery bags, that the recipient can reuse. We also make homemade liqueurs for the of age adults.

[Emerald]

I love, love, love homemade Christmas presents. Most people do like recieving them, but there is always someone who thinks because you didn't buy it, it's no good. It takes so much more effort and care to make something than it does to pick out a generic gift for someone that they will probably return anyway. Here is a sampling of some of my knitted gifts last year. I also do lots of candy/baked goods and food baskets with canned items. Everyone likes hats/scarves and I always have requests for purses. I love the shawl in this photo, it was so pretty that I made another just like it to keep for myself.[br]
http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j247/meowgoddess/BHM/KnittingProjects020.jpg[br][br]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j247/meowgoddess/BHM/100_1523.jpg[br][br]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j247/meowgoddess/BHM/KnittingProjects074.jpg[br][br]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j247/meowgoddess/BHM/KnittingProjects009.jpg[br][br]http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j247/meowgoddess/BHM/100_0789.jpg[br]


[Adjusted image code ~admin]

[pcrowder]

Emerald: That shawl is gorgeous! do you have a pattern you could share? The stocking hat and scarf are really gogeous too! I'm trying to home make stuff for Xmas, but life is sooooooo hectic right now I don't know if I'll get everything done by then or not!

[Emerald]

Sure, I have the pattern & it's really easy too. *The color of homespun yarn I used has been discontinued since, but Tudor or Quartz would be similiar if you like the colorway. *Here is another one I made for my MIL in Baroque. *Sorry I can't get it to post in this message, but here is a link: http://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j247/meowgoddess/KnittingProjects018.jpg

Easy Triangle Shawl
Lion Brand® Homespun®
GAUGE:

8 sts = 4 in. [10 cm] in St st (K on RS, p on WS). BE SURE TO CHECK YOUR GAUGE. When you match the gauge in a pattern, your project will be the size specified in the pattern and the materials specified in the pattern will be sufficient. If it takes you fewer stitches and rows to make a 4 in. [10 cm] square, try using a smaller size hook or needles; if more stitches and rows, try a larger size hook or needles.

SHAWL
Cast on 5 sts.
Row 1: (RS) K 2, yo, k 1, yo, k 2 – 7 sts.
Row 2: Knit.
Row 3: K 2, yo, k 1, yo, place marker (pm), k 1, pm, yo, k 1, yo, k 2–11 sts.
Row 4: Knit.
Row 5: K 2, yo, k to marker, yo, sl marker, k 1, sl marker, yo, k to last 2 sts, yo, k 2 – 15 sts.
Row 6: K 2, p to last 2 sts, k 2.
Rows 7–8: Repeat Rows 5 and 6 – 19 sts.
Row 9: K 2, *yo, k2tog, rep from * to 1 st before marker, yo, k 1, yo, sl marker, k 1, sl marker, yo, k 1, **yo, k2tog, rep from ** to last 2 sts, yo, k 2 – 23 sts.
Row 10: K 2, p to last 2 sts, k 2.
Row 11: Repeat Row 5 – 27 sts.
Row 12: Knit.
Repeat Rows 5–12 for pattern 9 more times – 171 sts. Do not bind off.

FINISHING
Leave sts on needle. * Insert crochet hook through the next 3 sts and slip off needle, yo and draw through all sts on hook, chain 7; rep from * to last 3 sts, insert crochet hook through last 3 sts and slip off needle, yo and draw through all sts on hook. Fasten off. Weave in ends.

[pcrowder]

Thanks so much!

[rockymtngirl]

I just read the most recent BWH newsletter and there are some GREAT links in there for homemade Christmas gifts. *The ones I liked best were the bath salts and the food items. *The link for the food items includes everything from soup mixes to beverages and snacks. *Really cool! *So I'm using this as a starting point for my gift baskets this year. * :D :D :D

[MNMOM]

Here's a site for different dry mixes that could be made up and put into jars as gift's. I originally posted this up in Recipe's.

http://bitsyskitchen.com/drymixes.html

[MHinFox]

I used to give everyone a bought gift (we chose names in a pick from the basket style at thanksgiving) then on the side I would take everyone a case of quart jars of all kinds of goodies jeally,beans, salsa, homemade speggette sauce, ect as well as some wild food selections indian pear jelly, muscadine jeally ect and some baked breads from various berries. Funny what everyone remembers from those christmases is the goodies not the gifts...LOL they would kid me about it mid year and ask when could they turn in their list for winter. It was such a nice feelng to it. We dont get together as often since my mom passed away...but I still like to take them somethings during the year ...and boy do they get excited when they get them...LOL....and to be honest these days when I have a new date I always take them a batch of goodies homemade jeallies, salsas, fresh grown teas, ect...LOL I tell them I dont do flowers but I do bring gifts...has worked great so far...LOL at least when I get a date...:)

[rideaway]

Am starting rice bags that go in the microwave for sore muscles. I was microwaving the "store-bought" rice bag someone bought me, I had a light bulb go on. my boss was getting rid of a whole bunch of quilting material so I took that months ago w/ no idea what to do with it, bought some cheap white rice and as soon as I get a minute I'll be on the sewing machine getting busy. Will bake bread etc this year, probably won't give jelly or jam except to a chosen few as it seems my jars never come back and I can't afford lids as it is for my stuff.

[proverbs31girl]

I love getting homemade gifts. This is my current list of homemade items I am giving, if I get busy!
Scented linen sprays (essential oils in purified water, bottled in a glass spray mister), bath/body scrubs (sugar/or salt mixed with almond oil and essential oils) potpourri mix meant to be simmered on the stovetop, blackberry cordial and a cordial of orange/chocolate, sent with some baked goods. If I get to it, I will add some flavored vinegars/ and herb dipping oil blends with some homemade bread. I know how to cook, and grow and use herbs, so that is what I stick to.

[proverbs31girl]

I just remembered something else I had set aside for some gifts. Last summer I rooted some English Boxwood and will pot them for some hostess gifts, tied with a festive ribbon.My daughter hinted that she would like a wreath made out of Magnolia leaves so that might have to be added to the list of homemade items. Good luck...stay out of the malls!!!

[jan_in_georgia]

Money is really tight this year for all of our immediate family, so we are definitely making gifts! My nieces are getting crocheted throws to snuggle under in their favorite colors. Adults are getting gift baskets full of pear preserves, pear butter, and a few odds and ends (did I mention that I got FREE pears this fall?). Maybe some fresh bread to go with it.

I have a small prayer group at the school I teach at and I would like to loom the kids hats in school colors if I don't run out of time.

[flatwater]

We also decided this year to get some designer lumps of coal for my brothers kids because they were not very good this year.
flatwater

[mtwildflower]

I want to a do a collage of all of my kids and nephews for my mom and dad for Christmas and then have it printed on a 20X30 poster at Sam's Club. I think it costs around $12 to get it done and I know they will love it.