Originally posted by griffin alison great idea. we will now get my BIL and SIL's families museum victoria family memberships.
my dh is so impressed with my gift choice but i had to fess up that it was an amity mama's idea.
thank you
You are very welcome! I'm glad it sparked an idea for someone else.
On the museum membership idea I've discovered something interesting. If I buy a pass at a local museum I get partial reciprocity (like 50% off) at other local science museum b/c I live in an area w/alot of them. If I have a pass from another area (say Cincinnati Oh ) I get in them for nothing.
I'm asking the grandparents in Cincy for a science museum pass from thier area (you can get one from anywhere online tho.)
__________________
Amelia
mama to Olivia (3/98) and Michael (10/99)
*~*~Sell crazy somewhere else, we're all stocked up here~*~*
Hey Val~
Just thought of another idea along the lines of your origami paper crane mobiles...
Buy a small string of 25 white lights and make those origami balls (they actually kinda look like cubes). There is a hole in them when you finish and you put one over each light.
I see them all the time in catalogs for $$, but they are actually very easy to make. Somewhat time consuming, but very cheap. Depending on the colors that you use, I can see them strung in a kid's or adults bedroom. They are beautiful when lit up.
What a great thread! I've found some great ideas in here for my own extended family.
Since we moved 1300 miles away from our families to the land of beaches, I am going to make some seashell and sand picture frames (just glued to those cardboard frames that they sell at JoAnns) and put in pics of the kids for our grandparents.
I have been wroking on a quilt for my grandmother for over a year now nad I will get it done in time to mail for Christmas this year.
For my daughter, I'm going to attempt to make a hideaway like the ones they have in the Hearthsong catalog.
For my son, we're going to attempt to make a puppet theater and puppets.
We'll see how these creative endeavors go.
Michelle
__________________
~Michelle
Christian homeschooling mama
to a Jumpin Bean (1/01)
and a Pumpkin Head (4/03)
Wow, you guys have some really great ideas. We are flat broke this year because we just had our transmission replaced, so we are also going to make a lot of our gifts.
This is what we are doing:
Parents, Grandmas and sister: decorated picture frames (given to me for free by a friend) with pictures of Cheyenne. Also monogrammed dish towels made with MILs embroidery machine.
Nephew # 1: I am adopting him a snowy owl. It is $25 and they send you a certificate and a stuffed snowy owl. He is very into Harry Potter, so I am going to tell him he is getting his own Hedwig. It also reinforces the values my sister and the rest of the family would like to teach him. I am also giving his mom an "I'm bored" jar. I know someone who made one of these. You write a bunch of ideas for things to do on pieces of paper and put it in a jar. When he tells his mom he is bored she can hand him the jar and he can pick something to do.
Nephew #2: inexpensive books (he is 16 mos and I have no idea what he would like)
Close friends, neighbors and BIL/SIL: wallet sized pictures of Cheyenne. Also a small gift basket containing a $1 notepad from Michaels, a monogrammed tea towel, homemade cookies and fudge and a vintage tea cup ($.25 at the flea market) and some tea I got for free from work.
I have a friend who is getting married on new years and a friend who has a baby due at Christmas. For my friend having the baby I am crocheting a baby blanket and using MILs embroidery machine to embroider some onsies.
For the friend who is getting married I am knitting her a scarf (her request) and embroidering a table cloth.
DH and I have agreed not to buy presents for each other this year. Cheyenne will get more than enough toys and clothes, so I am going to make her a special keepsake. She is obssessed with spoons. Because of this the soda fountain we frequent has given her a bunch of spoons to take home. I am going to drill some holes in the top of the spoons, string them on fishing line decorated with beads and make a windchime. She likes watching me garden, so I can hang the windchime out in the garden. I think she will really like it when she is older.
Next year I will be more prepared. I am already planning next year. I am going to make some wine and beer and some candles, bath salts and soap. I am going to make a few kinds of gift baskets. One will have a bottle of wine, cheap ikea wine glasses, candles, a table cloth and some chocolate candies. Another will have beer, pretzels, popcorn and cheap ikea beer glasses. Another will have a bottle of wine, soap, bath salts and candles. Another will have coffee, tea (free from work) coffee mugs and hot cocoa.
something that became somewhat of a tradition when i lived at home was that at christmas time for presents we gave out baskets and plates.
Baskets were for the neighbors families and usaully delt with drinks or something. One year we did home made flavored chocolates, coffee, christmas dollar store mugs, and chocolate dipped spoons in a nice basket with a bow. Another Year we did bath ones .. with a pieice of natural Spounge from florida, candles, soaps, and shells to make it look oceanish.
One year for a gift at work for under $5. I got a wire heart shaped box with a lid, lrg Votive candles, bath beads, primary colored christmas tissue paper, cinnamon sticks, a little angel ornament, a bunch of teeny flowers on long stems and floral wire. i put tissue paper halfed into the bottom of the box so the paper layed over the edges quite a bit then filled it with different color votive candles then put bath beads in to full the rest of the spaces then folded over the paper. On the top i crossed 2 cinnamon sticks and then placed an angel on top and wired all if it to the top and tucked flowers into the angels hands to cover where i had wired the waist to the top .. then i attached it securely to the top so that it would not pull off, by wiring it. Then i wired the top to the bottom so that the 2 top rounds of the heart would act like hinges and then there was a holding wire at the bottom angle. The ladies i worked with totally went bananas over it and truth to be told it cost about $17 to make 4 nice boxes with left over peices.
We also got cheap but strong HUGE plastic plates and a little before christmas we would bake about 20 different kinds of cookies and make Chocolate truffles. then using a styrafoam cone upside down which was covered in foil. we would place the candies on it using toothpicks. Then after it was completely full put in a few peices of holly and other chistmasy greens.. then make a full bow and put floral wire on it so we could stick it on top and then the tails of the bow would drape down the "candy christmas tree" and then around the whole of the outside there would be cookies and candies all over the plate. ( that was REALLY great for pot lucks or family dinners to take as well .. plus we got cookies WOOHOO hehehehe )
the truffles were very simple and i cant rem the recipe exactly but it was like a bag of semi sweet chocolate chips, sweetened condenced milk, and a few drops of your favorate oil flavoring ( and nuts if you wanted).. and you could heat it in the microwave and then mix until smooth and then put it in the fridge to cool so that you could form it. And then roll them into balls which made the middle .. and then melt either decorators chocolate or semi or milk chocolates. And dip the centers and let them dry and then dip them again. If you are making multiple kinds it helps to mark the flavors by decorating them with stripes. We made flavors like Orange with semi sweet, Peppermint with milk, Butter Pecan with/without pecan peices and milk, Rum with/without walnuts with milk or semi sweet, raspberry, Vanilla, cinnamon and several others.
We had a bakers kit which i WISH i had with me now.. it had gel food colorings, oil food flavors, a cake decorating kit, sprinkles and colored sugars and other little bits and peices that you tend to need only little bits of when you bake, but last for a long time. And trust me it is SOOOO much less expensive in the long run to buy gel food colorings if you can find them, because one teeny dab from a tooth pick can give you a primary color in white frosting or dough, unlike liquid food colorings where it changes the consistancy before you get the color you wanted.
Ohh BTW .. all of our neighbors really seem to prefer our cookies to getting other presents ( after i have moved my mom said that the neighbors want cookies but she just doesnt have the time by herself to make them all) because it gives them cookies for the holidays with out them having to make 20 different full kinds of recipes that they might not like.
We would make about 10 kinds every year that we LOVE and the that are traditional ( you know you can't do with out snickerdoodles, peanut butter blossoms, and maccaroons for the holidays *lol* Or atleast my grandfather says you can't ) then the rest were different every year. Sometimes we make one weird kind of cookie just to try it.
We ended up spending a lot less then we would per neighbor then we would have going out and buying each member of the family a little trinket gift from the store. Although for close family we made cookes and got presents like my grandparents and aunt and uncle and usually those were things they needed.
Location: When I dare to be powerful -- to use my strength in the service of my vision, then it becomes less and less important whether I am afraid.
Posts: 9,813
How is everyone doing with their Christmas Prep? I am a little behind because we had sick kids... but my trade box for Meeshi is done, and the pants for the other trades are cut out (6 pairs in all.) And I have some crane mobiles done... found where I need to get the magnet boards... got lists all over the place and now just figuring out how to trade for a roll of butcher paper so I can wrap them all up! LOL! We have saved a lot of Funnies this year so we can wrap gifts in that, but the kids want to make stamp wrapping paper too... and I am making some bags... but they are getting batiked, so they are taking a while.
After the great success Tracey and I had with our present for Miss Sophie's first birthday, I know what I'm making for my 11 month old nephew - a tote bag (brown, so it's definitely a boy's market sack) full of beanbags. Sophie's are all different shapes with different fillings and different textured fabrics. Developmentally right on for that age. Plus, I still have enough of the fabric I dyed to do more.
Rowan is getting doll clothes and diapers for her waldorf doll. I don't know why - it's always naked. ButI feel compelled to do something with all this fabric.
I don't know that I'm making much else. If I think of people who like things I'm capable of making, then maybe.
Crafting supplies:
Shaving cream (unscented is great, but whatever¡¦s cheap)
Soap flakes
Powdered tempera
White glue
Glycerin
Old screen (for paper-making)
Wooden paint brushes
Cheap rice and pasta shapes
Food coloring
Rubbing alcohol for coloring rice and pasta
salt
Chocolate pudding mix
Washable paints
String
Popsicle sticks
Val,
I'm glad you bumped this. It is kind of entertaining to read! It took me a minute to figure out how old it was. I am trying to figure out why I was asking for glycerine in the craft supplies? Maybe bubbles?
Weird.
__________________ Jody
Mama to two boys (5-10-98 and 6-01-01), and two girls (11-18-03 and 1-11-07)
Ebay user sedona2 sells "rare earth" magnets - super strong magnets for the back.
Silicone sealant, generic kind.
Make artwork - kids draw stuff, or cut out magazine pictures, or use photos or pictures. You can print pics and have them shrunken and color copied at Kinkos. Or use pieces of fabric.
Silicone seal the fabric, photo or artwork to the glass marble. Let dry. Trim around the edges really neatly with a razor blade. Then glue the magnet onto the back.
craftster.org - crafty hipsters share clever ideas - their forums have a ton of ideas. There are many variations on the marble magnet idea posted there. I have a pdf with instructions from arasmama and dehart that was posted over at Sewing Mamas (I think, or maybe it was here?).
We just got all the supplies ordered and here, and over this Thanksgiving week (my kids are off the whole week) we will be making these. I plan to spray paint or cover/decorate Altoids and other mints tins and will give several magnets, maybe a themed set, in a tin to teachers, friends, family, etc.
After the great success Tracey and I had with our present for Miss Sophie's first birthday, I know what I'm making for my 11 month old nephew - a tote bag (brown, so it's definitely a boy's market sack) full of beanbags. Sophie's are all different shapes with different fillings and different textured fabrics. Developmentally right on for that age. Plus, I still have enough of the fabric I dyed to do more.
Wanna trade some unfilled beanbags for beads or beaded jewelery?
) I get in them for nothing.
Ainsley Grace (7/01), Finley Paul 
and 
Jody
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