LOW COST homemade christmas gifts

Katiehound

Two more thoughts on hampers.
Have you looked at Sticky: The Gift Basket and Hampers Index at the top of this board ? There may be something to set you thinking.

For most of the themes you could make an individual booklet... something like "Phacts & phrases about X" or "Quizzes & Quotes about Y"
a quick trawl on the internet should bring up some interesting items.

Here are some I have picked for chocolate!
Q: Who used chocolate ( cacao beans) as currency?
A: The Mayans. 10 beans would buy you a rabbit or a prostitute. 100 beans would buy you a slave.

A chocolate in the mouth is worth two on the plate.

If they don’t have chocolate in heaven, I ain’t going.

These all came from:
http://www.facts-about-chocolate.com/

I think you could have a lot of fun doing these, and they would be very individual- and cheap!

AmericanInScotland

qwiksave wrote: »

Thanks for this and welcome to the crafty section of MSE. Just to say, I'm also addicted to pinterest and found this link:
http://thehuntedinterior.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/diy-santa-plate-pinterest-fail.html
...which suggested that Sharpies may not fix in your oven so you may need to use a proper porcelain pen. There is a new one out that doesn't need fixing in the oven, it just needs drying - for three days! (just allow yourself enough time).

Thanks, qwiksave. I've just made mine from 2 mugs I purchased at Tesco for 50p each. I've decorated them, and popped them in the oven. I'll check them after they are cooled, and will also allow the 3 day cure to help!

savingholmes

Home made heart from old clothes
Polystyrine balls / could have used rice / could have used tights as stuffing
Ribbon from H0bbycr8ft
Chain with crystals and bells from D8m31m £3
sock monkey

savingholmes

TylersMummy wrote: »

I'm very happy with how they've turned out! I saw in the beginning of this thread that if you post anything to add a little run down of what you used so:
-Plain cards and envelopes
- Superglue or glue that sticks plastic well (I used super glue)
- Bunch of buttons and round/bauble shaped embellishments
- Black fine tipped pen for drawing the lines (but you could get creative - silver or gold on black card would look gorgeous)
- Ruler/straight edge



Just pick out a mix of embellishments that work well together, dot them on the card in the positions you want them, mark where they were, draw the lines and a little blob/square for the bauble "attachment", a little bow and then stick each bauble at the end. So easy and they really are cute. Ebay is great for Embellishments and buttons - you can get big mixed bags for under £2. HTH someone

These are stunning - thank you

savingholmes

continualdiamond wrote: »

and finally, I made this all by myself for my husbands 30th bday last week, it cost £8 all up. It took 9 bags of flying saucers and 2 bags of skittles. I got the pot and oasis for £2 from a charity shop, the pot was a horrible white and I used tissue paper to cover it up, the ribbon was 40p from boyes, obviously glue needed and I used cocktail sticks to hold on the flying saucers. I got the wooden dowel from homebase and just had an experiment. I've kept the shell and going to make him another one for xmas, he loved it so asked if I use it again with different sweets, so going to give it a go.

This looks amazing:T:T:T

kingfisherblue

pinknfluffy28 wrote: »

ok, here goes:
dh - hot stuff
dd(12) - photogaphy (will be getting camera for xmas)
dd(5) - my garden
sdd(16) - chocolate
sdd(12) - sleepover
mum - ladies night in
bro - gaming?
nephews - 2 x craft
neice - baking
friends - 5 x movie night
aunt & uncle - home brewing

any ideas welcome

Hot Stuff - ground chilli, mustard, matches (I bought some that are about eight inches long from an independent hardware shop), candles, something from Ann Summers

Photography - memory card, digital photo frame, mini photo albums, couple of nice frames for bedroom

My garden - kids gardening gloves, seeds, tools, tin bucket, bulbs in a pot, hyacinth in a jar, kneeling pad. B&M usually have some decent gardening stuff for kids

Chocolate - various bars, including popular bars, Fair Trade, etc, novelty Father Christmas, drinking chocolate, mini grater (69p from Dunelm Mill). You could make a hot chocolate Rudolph - add a couple of scoops of hot chocolate to a cellophane cone, top with a few mini marshmallows and chocolate chips. Tie with sparkly pipecleaners, add googly eyes and a red pompon nose. I made these with Rainbows and Brownies and they look great.

Ladies night in - pampering stuff, manicure set and nail polishes, DVD, box of chocolates, bottle of wine

Gaming - errrmmmmm..........

Craft - googly eyes, pipecleaners, lolly sticks, various card/paper, sequins, PVA glue, hobby box to keep it all in. Depending on budget, multiuse pens are good and can be used on porcelain, wood, etc. https://www.craftycrocodiles.co.uk have a great range of craft stuff (cheaper than Baker Ross and you can buy individual items instead of packs). You could buy porcelain vases, wooden clocks, deco patch letters, craft kits, etc. they often have special offers and I received 10% off my first order.

Baking - silicone trays, muffin cases, icing set, mixing bowl (could use this as the hamper), ingredients, rolling pin, apron, oven gloves, children's recipe book, book holder (and cling film to wrap round book when open, to keep it clean)

Movie night - DVDs, popcorn, chocolates, wine or soft drinks, celebs magazine

Home brewing - same response as gaming :rotfl:

You could also print cartoons from the Internet for some hampers. I did this for my sister, about Scouting (she is a Beaver leader). I put them into a plastic pockets display book from the pound shop. It only cost time and ink, but she loved it.

AmericanInScotland

Just a quick note, I made the Sharpie coffee mugs last night, and cured them in the oven. They cooled in there over night. I took them out this morning, and I can't rub the designs off at all, so it worked! Maybe I was just lucky?

qwiksave

AmericanInScotland wrote: »

Just a quick note, I made the Sharpie coffee mugs last night, and cured them in the oven. They cooled in there over night. I took them out this morning, and I can't rub the designs off at all, so it worked! Maybe I was just lucky?

:jOoh, that's good to know, I hadn't tried it myself so I wasn't sure. I wonder whether they would survive a wash in the dishwasher? Maybe a hand wash might be safer.

mineallmine

Wow some really creative things here :j

I did the movie night boxes. With cardboard popcorn boxes. They looked good. No photos but thanks for the inspiration

mrsstresshead

Thanks, I have just spent over an hour reading through this thread but am now very much inspired. Off to town for supplies then back home to make a late start on xmas gifts. I'm hoping that the shoe shop has some empties for the movie night in box, which is a fab idea. Charity shop for dvds & glasses, or wilko's or value range supermarket. I can't tell you how relieved I feel to be loaded with ideas, thanks all xx