Home made Xmas gifts (merged threads)

Taplledraw

Thanks for the bath scrub idea. Please could you tell me what proportion oil to salt as knowing me i will dissolve it! I was thinking I could do one with lavender oil and put a bit of my dried laveder tied round the jar lid.

If you can sew (Im hopeless on a machine!) I saw some very expensive bags for putting your undies in they were pretty fabric with an appliqued pants on the front I thought these would be great for people who travel and not cost too much to make.

scuzz

What about some home made sweets? Kendal mint cake's pretty easy, or truffles, or fudge

Or if you've got some preserves left from harvest time, you could make a little hamper out of them

Bargainloverbec

I am knitting scarves for all the ladies in my family - big chunky wool and needles, cast on about 20-25 stitches then it's garter stitch all the way.

If you've got time one year I bought an old wooden chair from a junk shop for about £5, sanded it all down then stencilled it. Took ages though so this is not a quick one. Have also done something similar with those little wooden chest of drawers from Ikea, you can paint straight onto them.

sarahlouise210

I absolutely applaud you for having the time (and energy)to make christmas presents when you have a 16 month old and are pregnant as well!! I have (in the past pre baby!) bought relatively cheap bubble bath in really nice bottles and painted the recipients name on the bottle in glass paints and different colour liquid leading.

Downsizing__for_sanity

R.mac -

So far I've only used some nice ones my mum has had as gifts, (with oils etc in) with proper lids, but we've also got lots and lots of blue and green victorian-type lemonade bottles. You alway find them at antique fairs, car boot sales and such. They look quite expensive but I'm assured they're not valuable, and they usually have nice wide necks (to put in the garlic etc). I was thinking about whittling down some wine corks for stoppers and sealing with wax or something.

Taplledraw -

Fill the jar half full with salt, then add some olive oil. stir round until the salt soaks up the oil. Add some more salt, then more oil until you've got a nice thick consistency and the jar is full. You want a thick paste as otherwise oil will drip everywhere when you use it! Lavender sounds lovely, you could probably soak some of your own lavender in the oil for a bit to scent it if you don't want to buy aromatherapy oil.

This lasts really well and is brill on bum and thighs! If you like the Sanctuary range (which I love and only buy when it's on 3 for 2 in Boots!) you could add a splash of their massage oil.

I've also made up a "sugar scrub" for hands based on one that Virgin Vie do, using sugar, unscented hand lotion and a squirt of a body shimmer cream I never used.
However - I had tried all these things on my own skin and was happy to mix the products - this may not be suitable as a gift for someone with sensitive skin.

Happy mixing!

squeaky

We have a number of Home Made Gift ideas among our collections that should help you out with lots of inspiration.

You can find the gifts in our "Indexed Collections" sticky at the top of the forum listing, or you can follow the clue in my signature any time you see it or...


..you can use the Indexed Collections link in the Blue Bar at the top of every page which looks something like this:-

blue-kat

I'm planning to make celery salt as foodie Xmas gift.
sorry can't find the link, but the recipe is basically this:

• chop up a head of celery into small pieces, and leave to dry out in low oven with door oven, this will take a long time, possibly overnight.
• then cut it up really fine in food processor and mix with Maldon sea salt.
• decant into nice containers.

good plan to prepare Xmas before baby arrives !
-
Katya

Happyroly

Now is the time to get out and cut back the lavender that has finished flowering. It will do the plant the world of good but don't cut into the old wood or you will kill it! You can collect the cuttings, hang them in the shed or garage, when dried, strip off the flower heads and make up some small bags. Try to use lilac/purple/pink coloured material which complement the contents, you should be able to find some at the car boot sale or in the charity shop. Put them in a basket with some lavender scented/coloured soap and you will have some inexpensive Christmas gifts.
Also, if the plant has already produced seeds, don't waste them, sow them in Spring and or you could strike some cuttings now to give you
plants to give as birthday presents next year. :j
Happyroly

dianeydunfor

Thanks everyone for all your ideas, am overwhelmed by the quick and helpful response! As its mainly girls i need to make for i think the toiletries are going to go down very well, but keep those ideas coming!

mrsm

some great ideas here, have made a note for when i get a chance

for close family i'm going down the child labour route. I have a 21 month old and a 5 month old and am getting the eldest to decorate plates for her grandparents. we're also going to bake biscuits that she will decorate.

Last year we bought the grandparents 2 cheap but nice photo albums and put photos of my daughter's first year in. This year they'll get another set of a years photos of both babes to add to the collection (some printed free, some printed cheaply using the boots money off thing). Also hope to make calenders again. Last year I dressed my daughter up in monthly themes, party hat and streamers for new year, witches hat for halloween, made a maypole for mayday etc took photos and using computer made a personalised calender. The calender was a doddle (getting her to pose was a different story) but i hope to do something similar again with the 2 of them this year

good luck (and two babies close together is hard work but so much fun)