It’s
the thought that counts, and the love that goes into it. No need
to spend a fortune on gifts, your kids will love making them for
grandparents, cousins and teachers, and the recipients will treasure
them. Remember that your goal is to have fun with your child and
give a token of affection, not to exhaust yourself. Hopefully this
list will get your creativity fired up; more explicit directions are
easily available online.
1. Anything from your kitchen: Cookies, jams, fudge,
quick breads, your famous spaghetti or barbecue sauce, your special
trail mix, or a kit with the makings for something yummy, tied with a
ribbon: your perfect pancakes or scrumptious seven bean soup.
2. Booklet of favorite memories: Have your child draw
illustrations and rite or type up his or her favorite memories of/with
the recipient and put it into a binder to make a book.
3: Personalized cookbook: Your recipes, your child’s
comments and drawings, in a binder.
4. Personalized Mousepad: Let your child draw
with markers on a white mousepad. Or use flexible adhesive with
any fabric. Or choose a photo and use iron-on transfer paper.
Instructions at:
http://desktoppub.about.com/od/transfers/l/aa_mousepad.htm
Or just do it at a copy shop or cafepress.com.
5. Handmade bath salts
Mix Epsom salts with essential oils, fragrance, and food coloring in a
decorative jar.
6. Candles
Add crayon chips to plain paraffin wax and dip wicks in to make
hand-dipped. Or just decorate storebought candles.
7. Canvas bags with iron-on designs
8. Homemade calendars with photos of the kids
7. Painted picture frames
8. Tie-dyed teeshirts, sheets, etc.
9. Christmas ornaments with kids’ photos
10. Art: For grandparents, a framed picture drawn
by a grandchild is the perfect present.
11. For friends and cousins: homemade clay,
fingerpaints, bubbles, puppets, a kit of dress-up items, a kit of cool
art supplies.
12. Certificates for your services: A massage,
babysitting, dog walking, painting a room, flying a kite together.
About the Author:
Dr. Laura Markham is a clinical psychologist and the founding editor of
the parenting web site
www.YourParentingSolutions.com, featuring a popular advice column
and parent-tested solutions you can use every day to connect with your
kids and create a richer family life. Her work appears regularly
on a dozen parenting sites and in print. She lives in New York with her
husband and two children.