So these are gifts that I made last year, yes, last year. I meant to post about these after the holidays last year but time got away from me.
I had to wait unti after the holidays obviously but now that I think about, this is actually better because now hopefully I can give you some ideas for this year. (to those of you who read this anyways). I got all these ideas from one of my favorite places, Pinterest! My husband was ready to take my computer away because I was making so many Pinterest crafts last holiday season. Not only for gifts, but crafts with the kids too. I have lots I have planned to do this year too. Wait and see. But check out these for now....
First up, these notepad holders. Super cute and super easy. I bought clear picture frames and cut scrapbook paper to fit them. I added some ribbon (cuz I love me some ribbon) and some stickers and wall-ah! All you have to do is stick on some post-its. It only cost a couple of bucks to make and I made these for all my friends last year.
I put them in these red bags that I found in my scrapbooking area and made these little tags with my punch. Cute huh?
A fun gift for the kiddies that Santa Gil gave them last year was this candycane playdough. Again, the ingredients to make it were cheap and you can whip up a batch in no time at all. You have to make two different batches in the 2 different colors. The hard part was twisting them together to make it look candycaneish. I bought mason jars to put them in.
I made these calendars last year and thought they turned out awesome. The squares were made from paint samples. That was easy to get since my husband works at Menards. I bought white picture frames and dry erase markers to write the month and dates and attached them with ribbon. My only suggestion is that you buy a bigger frame. I bought 8x10 and it was squishy.
These pretty cups were for Gracie's teachers last year. I bought mugs and put a Starbucks gift card in them. I made a tage that says "Thanks a latte for all you do." I hope they liked them. I'm actually not sure if they were coffee drinkers or not but who doesn't like Starbucks? They have tea and yummy treats if not right?
I made these for our neighbors last year. I bought a box of Ho-ho's and a box of Ding Dongs and tied them together with ribbon. I made a little tag that said "Ho, ho, ho. Merry Christmas. From, your ding dong neighbors." I loved it! Cheap and funny. I have a great idea for this year already too but I'll share later. Pinterest has tons of fabulous ideas for this.
I made this too. The 12 Dates of Christmas. Each month has it's own little card with a little poem that says what you and your significant other will do for a date that month.
I put them in envelopes like this. You can only open the envelope for that month. So really, besides the jelly of the month club, it's the gift that keeps on giving the whole year!
Sadly, as pretty and cute as these little cards looked, we didn't use any of them. Not a one. Sure we had a couple of dates this passed year. A movie here or there, a Kid Rock concert over the summer, a wedding in St. Louis, but that's about it. Maybe that should be our New Year's resolution....make time for dates and spend more time with just the two of us!
We also wanted to make something speical for our little friends too so we made these magnets. Gracie helped me paint some clothespins and we bought the wooden pieces at the craft store for cheap. We glued them on the pins and added magnets to the back so that you could hang it on your fridge and use it to hang up pictures or artwork or whatever. We put each child's name on it too. I thought they turned out cute.
So there you have it. Some neat and inexpensive gifts that you can make. None were very time consuming and they all turned out cute. I am excitedly working on some new ones for this year! Stay tuned find out what they are. Or maybe just stop by this time next year because I'll probably forget anyways!
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