can any body help me with christmas 2008

maria_and_the_imps

hi im maria, im 23 and mum to joshua 4 and mia emily almost 2. i'm thinking about christmas and as with everone at the moment money is a litlle tight, so im after ideas, i'm making gift baskets and art boxes for some people but want to make the stuff to go in them so for example im doing my niece a pink themed basket and want to make her a bright pink apron, but need to find out how to make it first and also some pink bath salts!!!! we are going to make all the cards. we are also making nannies and aunties decorated diaries but dont know how to decorate them????
and men i know they are trouble at the best of times but at christmas they seem to be a bigger pain oin the rear end and i have no ideas at all for them.
so basically i am after any cheep but nice ideas, im quite good with a sewing machine and will give any thing a go so any ideas are welcome
thanks in advance
maria and her litlle imps
xxxx

cookiedough38

have a look through the hamper thread or the crafty for christmas thread. There are lots of ideas there, including how to make bath salts etc. Set aside a few hours though the threads are long but well worth a read

SugarSpun

For men I'd make fudge or biscuits and also a non-food item. Mine are getting jars with 365 facts in, or 365 ways to say Good Morning in various languages.

rainmac

Hi Maria, if you're interested in making the fact jars pm me with your email address and I'll send you my 365 facts. Well I say mine but they have all been pinched from odd sites on the web!

You could decorate a diary/notebook cover with different sized flowers cut out of coloured/patterned papers - may find some links to freebie download sites for patterened papers on the card making thread.

For blokes, how about a guiness/lager glass made with flannels - thread on this board somewhere. Fudge and biscuits are always good for pressies for men too.

HTH :-)

scrivette

Hi Maria,

Could you let Mia Emily and Josh decorate the diaries for the grandparents? It would be very personal then. Or you could have them do some drawings and frame them (nice cheap frames in poundshops) as I am sure that Grandparents would be pleased.

For the men you could do beer/lager hampers, a couple of different bottles of beer, a pint glass and a pair of socks with something to do with drinking on?

La-Cara

you could do a car care bucket for the men if they drive. Woolworths are selling off a lot of car stuff at the moment, e.g. wax, shampoo, sponges,air fresheners etc for under a couple of pounds.

growingafamily

we've done movie kits for family gifts, 6 in total for £30.
A plastic popcorn bowl (£3 each inc p&p)
Two bags popcorn (£0.80 each)
4 x Blockbuster rental vouchers (used Tesco deal vouchers so free from shopping points)
These are per family not per person so have saved us loads esp as we just had DD 4 weeks ago.

Little Bro (aged 11) is getting a Harry Potter style sweetie hamper (idea from someone on here), in a box marked Owl post direct from honey dukes.
In it are:
FIZZING WHIZBEES: Flying Saucers (39p/3 for £1)
Sherbert Lemons (39p/3 for £1)
INVISIBLE MINTS: Glacier Mints (50p)
WIZARD MONEY: Chocolate Coins (79p)
Fizzy Snakes (39p/3 for £1)
Chocolate Mice (39p/3 for £1)
WIZARD WANDS: Liqourice Wands (39p/3 for £1)
HELLS MOUTH FIREBALLS: Hot Gobstoppers (45p)
GOLDEN SNITCHES: Forerro Rocher (79p)
BERTIE BOTTS BEANS: Jelly Beans (89p)
POLYJUICE POTION: Panda Pops (green cola, blue raspberry, tizer) mini bottles
All in Brown Paper sweet bags with home made labels.

If I could sew I would make more gifts, probably package the sweet hamper in a drawstring bag with a lightning bolt on it.
Maybe make a superhero cape with initials on it for DS.
A nice shopping bag for gparents (could even get kids to decorate a panel with fabric pens/paints) now most supermarkets charge for or don't have plastic bags (or if they're like my mum for all her library books)
Take a look on etsy.com for loads of handmade items to give you some ideas.

maria_and_the_imps

thank you for all the ideas please keep them coming in

mary43

Don't forget your local charity shops...............I';m having a 're-cycled' xmas this year (along with a few bits I'm trying to create myself that will cost not a lot). Amazing what you might find

NikNak_3

La-Cara wrote: »

you could do a car care bucket for the men if they drive. Woolworths are selling off a lot of car stuff at the moment, e.g. wax, shampoo, sponges,air fresheners etc for under a couple of pounds.

I've done this for my cousin for xmas this year. Asda have loads of pink car care stuff, all popped in a pink bucket, with a pink cupcake tax disc holder I had for xmas last year but would never use.

Bucket 99p
Car wash shampoo £1.98
Sponge mitt 99p
pink fluffy dice 99p
chamois leather £1.20
cupcake tax disc holder (already had)

total cost £6.15!

Chell

growingafamily wrote: »

A nice shopping bag for gparents (could even get kids to decorate a panel with fabric pens/paints) now most supermarkets charge for or don't have plastic bags (or if they're like my mum for all her library books)
Take a look on etsy.com for loads of handmade items to give you some ideas.

Scroll down on this page for fabric bags and wax crayons for fabric. They are reasonably priced.