Crafts and Gifts to Make

From last year's list.......

1. Service - Certificates for supper at a restaurant, a spa treatment, a music lesson, etc can be lighter environmentally and can help local entrepreneurs. Offering services yourself (such as landscaping, washing windows or shoveling snow) is also a great option.

2. Plants - I put this is "Gifts to Make" because it's this is especially good if the plants are native outdoor varieties, so you need to do some prep; You may have to give a gift certificate this time of year but then you can offer to plant it in the spring! (Easter would be perfect if the weather is right).

3. Tickle trunk – Make a tickle trunk with an old trunk or suitcase filled with used clothing, hats and jewelry. This is a great opportunity to express your own creativity - you can decorate the trunk or suitcase and you can add homemade items. You can continually add new props for subsequent birthdays and holidays.

4. Stories – Write a story for children on your list and illustrate it yourself. You can have lots of fun with the illustrations – use outlines so that children can colour them, create “dot-to-dot” images, etc. Children will like your hand-drawn images (even if you draw like me!) but if you prefer you can make collages or download clipart & images from the internet. See the "Family and Community Activity" section for Story Night ideas to showcase these......

5. Bountiful baskets – Fill a basket of homemade and/or purchased items. Great homemade options include baking, homemade candies or preserves and cookie mix.

6. A calendar for family with everyone's photos and birthdays. Grandparents love these.

7. Books on tape are great if you have two or three people on your list that will enjoy the same book, it only costs time! Grandchildren, neices and nephews love these.

8. A hand made recipe book including a compilation of recipes from your family, and your friends' families. If you do not have time to complete this for this year, you can start collecting recipes now for next year!

9. Make a puppet (hand-or finger- sized) from a sock or glove.

10. Bake your favourite holiday treat and pack in a recycled tin.

11. Paint an empty wine bottle with non-toxic paint and fill with olive oil. Top with an oil pour spout that can be found at a gourmet cooking shop.

12. Make a birdseed ball. (If you start to feed birds, you need to keep feeding them for the rest of the winter)

13. Start a stamp collection for a child with the stamps that you receive from Christmas cards.

14. Baking or cooking kit with non-perishable ingredients mixed and a recipe for final preparation; stay tuned for some actual recipes here!!

15. See the "Family and Community Activity" section for things you can do with kids - if you do these with your kids, the activities are the gift of your time (and possibly some sports equipment, entry fees, etc.) If you're doing them with someone else's kids, well, it's a gift of time, attention and fun for the kids and - some time for their parent(s), too.

16. Older folks - Don't sweat the presents for them. In my experience, they really want to spend time with you more than anything. Pictures with them and the kids sent later seem to be big hits as well as their favorite foods. It's good for the kids to be along on these visits, ultimately everyone gets something out of it; the kids get a sense of Christmas being more than "more stuff" and the older folks get - just what they wished for, your presence. (This suggestion is doubled up in the "Gifts to Buy" section, too.)