Homemade castle not good enough for Christmas??

Bettyxx

I only have my son (and two nephews) so he has no siblings

I make sculptures (not out of card or wood) and do work for magazines and sell & exhibit my pieces...I did a piece specially for my sister a couple of years ago and my mum said it was cheap and mean making presents...that going to a shop and spending money shows people are worth it ;( you'd think I'd stop listening but it's difficult!!

X

whitewing

You do this for a living. For goodness sake, learn to ignore your mother, and really value your extraordinary talent.

pinkteapot

When we were kids, dad made me a wooden farm (had fields and a farmhouse where the roof opened) for my farm animal toys, and my brother a multi-storey car park for all the Matchbox cars he was obsessed with.

One of the best presents we both got.

I completely disagree with your mother - it takes 5 minutes to walk into a shop and buy something. It takes a lot of time and care to make a home-made present. I find her attitude quite offensive I have to say - is she suggesting you get into debt to buy people presents? Does she know you're on a limited budget?

JimmyTheWig

Bettyxx wrote: »

my mum said it was cheap and mean making presents

With some people there's no way of beating the ingrained idea that for something to be good it has to be bought.

krlyr

I did a "homemade Christmas" one year, made every single present. Everyone was just as happy with their gifts that year as any other year (but next year I went back to buying - all that effort for one day was too much for me!) as I'd tailored the presents to things I knew they'd like rather than picking up any old tat from the shops.

jubilee14

someone already said if you are good at it then of course you should and by the sounds of it you are. It would also mean you could put in special things specifically for him like say characters he likes or nursery friends as knights or call rooms after things that mean something just to him. Children love one thing more than anything and that is something unique to them as it shows how special he is i think he will love it.

Birdie85

I think this is a wonderful idea! Ignore your Mum, there's so much more thought put into a handmade unique gift than just going into a toyshop and buying the same thing that every other child could have! Surely if you'd paid a fortune for a handmade castle for your Son from a shop your Mum would think it's amazing, how is that different to spending half the cost on materials and making it yourself?!

If you haven't already looked, check out Pinterest for ideas; I'm sure there'll be loads of hints and tips for making dolls houses from scratch or using a bookcase as a base (which you can then twist to make it into a boy's castle rather than girly house!).

As for the Santa issue, maybe you can give him the castle from you, but Santa can give him the figures to go inside?

PasturesNew

Your castle would be 10x better than the shop bought one ... and if you catch him playing with it but looking a bit confused and you ask why and he says "it'd be better if there were a drawbridge here too so my horses could .... " then you can simply change it and make him even happier.

Homemade castle = the gift that keeps on giving.

DO IT!

jakes-mum

Do you know how many times ive been asked for the empty box by my 2 kids when we buy something? every blinking time My kids love home made (by them or by me ) and the eldest is 11!

When my niece was little, her first christmas I got a load of her old clothes and made her a patchwork play mat for christmas, the stitching was a bit wonky towards the end (ran out of time) and it wasnt completely square if im honest, but that play mat took me over 4 months to make and had pride of place in her room and my sister loved it. It was totally unique and had as much love as I could pour into it (and a fair bit of sweat and tears)

Your son wont give a fig if its from the shop or made by you, he will just be thrilled that he has a castle! Believe me if I hadnt been banned from ever making anything out of wood again by my G.C.S.E woodwork teacher after my attempt at a sewing box, i'd be making one for my daughter too

P.S Maybe remind your mother that every single thing she has bought as a gift has been made by someone and a darned sight less love has gone into the making of that carp than into your castle

POPPYOSCAR

I think it sounds wonderful!!

Quite possibly it could turn into a family 'heirloom' and last much longer than some plastic thing which always seem to break.

You go for it.