Scuff's Year of Gifting Homemade

Scuff

I've set myself a challenge of making all my gifts for 2013. I thought this would be a good place to keep track of how I get on if anyone wants to join me you're more than welcome!

These are the gifts / dates I have to make (I'll add more as I remember!)

27th Jan: Girl cousin (11)
16th Feb: Dad (56)
18th Feb: Friend's wedding anniversary (1)
9th March: Girl cousin (19)
4th April: Friend (26)
5th April: Girl cousin (13)
31st May: Auntie (52)
13th July: Stepdad (48?)
9th Sept: Friend (33)
18th Sept: Mum (51)
30th Sept: Friend (27)
10th Oct: Grandad (73)
9th Nov: Friend's daughter (6)
15th Nov: Friend's daughter (3)
20th Nov: OH (27)
28th Nov: Nanna (71)
30th Nov: Friend (27)
29th Dec: Friend (27)
31st Dec: Boy cousin (17) - this one may be the death of me...

& then there's all the Christmas gubbins

I can't wait!

mum2one

Getting the list done, half way there, any ideas yet, - were going for more homemade gifts this yr - try to save the budget xx

Scuff

hey mum2one ive had a few ideas, scrubs / soaps etc for hampers for the ladies, little sewn things as I've got lots of scraps of fabric I should be able to do stuff with. Hampers might be better suited to Christmas + gives me time to acquire all the bits slightly worried about the littlies but I've got millions of crafty books that I've been having a good look through, hopefully I can find some more ideas there! and hopefully you lovely people will be able to help me too x

Own_My_Own

Here are the links for homemade gifts I added to our new thread.
You can come join us if you want.

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showpost.php?p=58123953&postcount=16

taken from

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4357703

stiltwalker

For little little, little ones a number of years ago I painted a sturdy cardboard box and filled it with homemade dessing up outfits for my then BF's kids as we were seriously skint that Christmas and I have to say it when down better than any of the bought presents they received that year. From memory I made a selection of masks and crowns/hats some shields and swords, a couple of cloaks, simple dresses and trousers in various colours and designs - eg raggedy bottom pirate ones and spaceman silver ones.

Your teens all seem to be girls so in which case jewellery is always a good option - you can pick up cheap bits of costume stuff in charity shops/bootsales etc and repurpose the beads and fittings to make something trendier or more to someone's taste. You can make felt beads very easily from merino wool tops, soap and water and you can get creative with rolled paper beads.

It really depends on what stuff (if anything) you have in your craft stash and what your crafting skills are like. I could make homemade gifts in just about any craft for about the next 20 years from my hoard so if you let us know what you have to hand that may help.

babyshoes

If your sewing skills are up to it, (mine aren't) then puppets are always good for littlies, both boys and girls. For little girls, dolls clothes may also be welcomed, and hair accessories are quite easy to get creative with. Kids/teens may not appreciate the effort in home made items, so for some of them you may need to resort to something bought or 'bribery' i.e. sweet stuff!

Jams / jellies / chutneys etc are easy to make with very little extra equipment needed if you have a kitchen with the usual large pot, wooden spoons, bowls, ladle, cooker etc. I'd recommend you get a thermometer - they can be found fairly cheaply, but most other equipment can be improvised to start with. Later on if you continue, a proper jelly bag and stand is jolly useful, but can be improvised with a piece of muslin & string or even a tea towel initially. We still use a cut off 2l milk bottle as a funnel as it works so well, and recycled jars well washed and sterilised for storage of the produce. The start of the jam-making year is marmalade - look out for seville oranges (sometimes labelled marmalade oranges) in the supermarkets around the beginning of Feb. The timing does vary a bit from year to year depending on weather in Spain. Through the year you can either forage for fruit, go to a pick your own farm or even buy it in the supermarket. We tend to forage for some of it and PYO most of the rest - the jam really does taste better made from fresh, properly ripe fruit. Also, don't panic if it doesn't set well, a sloppy 'set' is tastier in my opinion!

We also homebrew (2l sparkling water bottles are good for storing beer and make a good pressie for a beer lover) and make fruit infused liqueurs. Damson gin is my favourite fruit liqueur, but needs to mature and mellow for at least 6-12 months after removing the fruit before drinking, otherwise it just tastes like fruit flavoured petrol! A small bottle carefully packaged with a pair of little glasses is a good present for any drinkers on your list. My OH liked the raspberry vodka, but I can't really stomach vodka so didn't sample much of it. For youngsters in late teens/early twenties, you can infuse spirits with their favourite sweeties such as skittles, jelly babies, chocolate etc. There are also recipes around for home made versions of popular cream liqueurs like Baileys. These may be a bit too sweet and sickly for more adult palates though! Chilli vodka is always a good 'challenge' present for crazy youngsters and couldn't be easier to make - just wash your fresh, whole chilli(es) and pop them into a bottle of vodka, then leave them to infuse for as long as you can - at least a few months. One hot chilli per bottle will probably be bearable for those who like hot food. More or hotter chillis will increase the burn accordingly. Make soon for Christmas if you have anyone who would appreciate it.

This year we did little boxes of sweet treats; fudge in plain and chocolate versions, and various things dipped in chocolate - nuts, dried strawberries (YUM), coffee beans etc. Some years we do candied orange peel - fairly easy but a long process. We also re-gifted presents from previous years for those who needed more than a token present.

Melt and pour soap can be a lovely present as you can customise it for any age and gender. I haven't done much recently, but wrote a fairly comprehensive tutorial about it some years back. You can see it here if you like.

Bath bombs and liquid soap products such as handwash and shower gel are also pretty easy once you buy the base products, and you can use colours/scents from soap making.

Good luck and let us know how you get on, it can be really rewarding giving home made presents. Some people have had a poor reaction to their efforts, but you will know if anyone on your list is likely to be unimpressed!

ETA - the fruit from making damson gin is too boozy for most people to eat as-is, but went really well mixed half and half with fruit mincemeat in our mince pies this year. A visiting friend managed to eat around 8 of them before they even left the cooling rack, and felt tipsy when she stood up!

esmf73

Baby shoes, that is a fantastic post! Thank you.

Scuff, I too want / need to do homemade this year and would have just panicked at the last minute. The idea of listing the dates and ages is fab and one I will be doing. My common sense has disappeared in recent weeks as I have overload!

mysk_girl

I've also undertaken to do this in 2013! I need to do my list if birthdays though... The first one is Friday, and I've made a pair of these

http://www.crochetme.com/media/p/90002.aspx

in blue and attached some pink flowers. Pinterest is a fab source of ideas and tutorials, my skills are in sewing and crochet, so this is mostly what I'll be making. Just got to get these to the post office today :-)

Back later with my list...

A

Igamogam

I hope you are going to post pictures

mysk_girl

Fingerless blue gloves with pink flowers. Will get my diary and address book out later to compile a list for the year. But I definitely have 3 weddings, 2 christenings and at least 1 new baby to sew for...

THIRZAH

Babyshoes-there was a letter in the Daily Telegraph last year about using up the fruit from damson gin. The author mixed it with melted plain chocolate and then let it set. I haven't tried it yet as I didn;t get round to making sloe or damson gin last year.

I'm planning to knit socks for DH and DD1, some kind of soft toy for DGS and wrist warmers for DD2.

DD1 gave DD2 a lovely hamper at Christmas. Some of the food was from her local farm shop but she included little pots of home made jam, chutney and chilli jelly.She also managed to get some walnut oil from a french friend,Her father grows the nuts and sends them off to be pressed every year.The squirrels get most of our nuts so I can't try that idea but I did think I'd include home made jam in BILs hamper this year.