Have your child give a gift of himself at the next holiday or any time he wants to do something nice for someone else!

Supplies you’ll need:

• Crayons, pencils, paints, or other art supplies
• Paper
• Packaging from around the house
• Your child’s special gift

What To Do

Talk to your child about gift giving. What does it mean to give something to someone else?

1. Instead of buying a gift, have your child make a gift. Does your child have a special talent?
2. Maybe your child would like to sing or write a song for a relative? Is there a chore your child could do? Maybe wash the dishes for a week. Is there a special toy that could be loaned to a sister or brother for a week?
3. Use materials from around the house so that little, if any, money is spent.
4. If the gift is an activity or chore, have your child make a card with a note on it, telling what the gift will be.
5. Have your child use imagination in making an inviting package. Perhaps your child could paint a small rock and wrap it in a big box. Or make an envelope out of the comics from the Sunday newspaper.

Hopefully, this excercise will help teach a child that a gift that shows effort and attention can mean more than a gift from the store.

This is a great family craft because everyone can do it. Small children will have fun with it because often they are learning how to set the table, how to help out at mealtime. Everybody has their own chair at the dinner table (or the kitchen table in most houses…).

Children can make placemats for the whole family, designing them with some of the materials to look similar in design so that they match each other.

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It is time for a confession. I am a crafter. There, it is out in the open. I have been searching for a support group, perhaps called something like, Crafters Anonymous.
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Gift baskets are a great way to make a personal gift for family
or friends. This article includes many ideas of containers and
themes to help you get started on a gift basked for everyone on
your list. Gift baskets can be a lot of fun for you and the
recipient and don’t have to cost a lot of money.

One of my hobbies is to turn photographs of flowers and garden plants into scented greeting cards and notelets.

Mixes in a jar are thoughtful and inexpensive gifts to give to anyone for any occasion. The idea is to layer dry ingredients of a cookie, cake, biscuit, muffin, beverage or other recipe decoratively in a jar and add directions of how to complete the recipe. The jar can be a mason jar or a recycled, clean mayonnaise or other large jar that has a lid and can then be decorated with fabric, ribbons, paint, etc.

I have seen these jars of mixes sell in retail stores for around $8.00!
Imagine the savings if you were to make your own! A few inexpensive ingredients like flour, brown sugar, chocolate chips and a jar don’t cost very much! Gift recipients will love receiving a homemade mix from you so they can easily prepare a treat to enjoy and when they prepare the treat, they’ll be thinking of how thoughtful you are.

Mixes in a jar are excellent for gifts that need to be shipped because you don’t have to worry about baked goods getting smashed or getting stale. A mix will allow the gift recipient to freshly prepare the treat when it is craved or needed. They are also great to give to children’s teachers, neighbors and acquaintances because of the ease and money savings involved.

Here is a delicious mix recipe for you to try:

Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookie Mix in a Jar

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups packed confectioners’ sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Layer ingredients in order given in a 1 quart wide mouth canning jar. Clean the inside of the jar with a dry paper towel after adding the confectioners’ sugar and after adding the cocoa powder. Be sure to pack everything down firmly before adding the flour mixture, it will be a tight fit. Store in a cool dry place away from a heat source so condensation and clumping does not occur.
Instructions to attach to Jar:

Peanut Butter Cookies

Empty jar of cookie mix into large mixing bowl. Thoroughly blend mix.
Add:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla.

Mix until completely blended. Shape into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheets. Press balls down with a fork. Bake at 350F degrees for 9 to 11 minutes until edges are browned. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheet then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Makes 3 dozen cookies.

If you’d like more mix recipes, check out the Creative Mix Recipe E-book here:
http://homemakersjournal.com/mixes.htm

©, Monica Resinger, 2002


About the Author: Monica Resinger publishes an e-mail newsletter Mon-Fri for homemakers that poses fun questions to readers about organizing, crafting, gardening, frugal living and other homemaking subjects; readers can respond to the questions and receive the resulting, very informative ‘tip sheet’. If you’d like to join the fun, send a blank e-mail to: HomemakersJournal-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

excerpt from “Basic Clothing Construction”

As we get caught up in trying to get sewing projects completed
and move on to the next one in the limited time available it is
so very easy just to jump from project to project without giving
any thought to whether or not we have the right needle in the
sewing machine.
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