You don't have to spend a lot of money to give a gift with great weight. Instead have fun and create fun family memories by crafting unique gifts for your kids to give. Each of these four projects has been kid-tested and mother-approved for an enjoyable afternoon of gift making.

 

Personalized Framed Art

Art projects are a simple joy for the children who make them and the parents and grandparents who receive them. We added a few extra steps to turn that art project into a fun, meaningful – and inexpensive – holiday gift. This is a great project for kids of all ages, whether they choose to paint, draw or sketch.

What You Will Need:

• Frames (We picked up ours at the Ballard Goodwill for $1.99 each)
• White craft or printer paper
• Colored construction paper
• Glue stick
• Water colors, markers or crayons
• Krylon multisurface spray paint (optional)

Instructions:

1. Cut craft paper down to half or two-thirds the size of the frame.
2. Let your child paint, color or draw a personalized picture for the recipient.
3. Mount the finished art with a glue stick to a larger piece of colored paper that fits the frame.
4. Let the glue dry, and then place the art into the frame and secure the backing

Tip: Older kids can also have fun painting an old wood frame a new color. Use Krylon multisurface spray paint or a sample-size can of semi-gloss latex paint with a sponge brush. Simply remove the frame from the backing and glass and place on a piece of newspaper to paint.

 

Painted Ornaments

 

These ornaments are not only beautiful, they are also easy to make – and surprisingly, they don’t create a big mess. This is the perfect craft for older children, or younger children with help from a parent. 

What You Will Need:

• Rubbing alcohol
• Clear glass ornaments (available in craft stores or websites such as www.save-on-crafts.com)
• Various colors of acrylic paint in tubes for easy squeezing
• Ribbon ½” to 2” in width

Instructions:

1. Remove hanger and cap from the ornament.
2. Prep the ornaments for painting the day before by pouring a small amount of rubbing alcohol inside each ornament. Swish the alcohol around for a few seconds and pour it out. Place the ornaments upside down to dry overnight in an empty egg carton or their original packaging.
3. Before you start painting, place newspaper down on a hard, flat surface.
4. Start with one color of acrylic paint. Squeeze just a small amount of the first color into the top opening of the ornament so it runs down the side. (Adults can assist younger children.)
5. Rotate the ornament and add another color of paint. Continue to add various colors of paint until you have lightly colored most of the sides of the ornament.
6. Gently turn the ornament on its side and roll it from side to side or gently shake the ornament to start spreading and swirling the paint inside the ornament.
7. Pour out excess paint. Then continue to rotate it every few hours over the next day. This helps the paint to coat the ornament evenly.
8. Place ornaments upside down in their box or egg carton to dry. It may take up to four days to dry completely. Replace hanger and cap when dry. If desired, decorate with ribbon and hang on tree.

 

Christmas Cookie Body Sugar Scrub

Local skincare expert and mother of two, Lisa Francoise Schafer, offered up a great recipe for sugar scrub, perfect for moms, grandmothers and aunts this holiday season.

Schafer, who founded Seattle-based Sweet Beauty, says the sugars act as a gentle exfoliant, preparing the skin for moisturizing by the coconut oil and the grape seed oil, both of which help fight free radicals. Learn more tips and check out Schafer’s organic baby skin care line at www.sweetbeautyonline.com.

What You Will Need:

• 1 ½ cup cane sugar
• 1/4 cup colored sugar (in cake decorating section – pick your favorite holiday color!)
• 1/3 cup melted organic coconut oil 
• 3 tablespoons grape seed oil
• Essential oil (optional)
• Small, lidded containers (We bought a four-pack of mason jars at Fred Meyer for under $5.)

Instructions:

1. Pour cane and colored sugars into bowl and stir. 
2. Add grape seed oil and mix well.
3. Melt coconut oil for about one minute in microwave, and pour into bowl. Mix well. 
4. Add in 3-4 drops of essential oils, like lavender or peppermint (optional). Stir.
5. Spoon the mix into containers for gifting.

How to Use: Massage a few tablespoons of sugar scrub onto damp skin to exfoliate and rinse thoroughly with warm water. Tip: Warm the scrub for 20 seconds before use; this will loosen up the sugar and oils and make the scrub extra soothing.

Terrarium 

With the long, rainy Pacific Northwest winters, a handmade terrarium – a miniature landscape with living plants – is the perfect gift for kids to create for loved ones. Options for creative terrariums are endless. You can make them as little or as big as you want. We found fun glass containers and vases (starting at just $.69) at Goodwill.

To pick out plants for our terrarium, we took a trip to Ballard’s Midnight Blossom (1101 N.W. Ballard Way, Seattle), owned by florists and terrarium experts, Matt and Amoreena Herbage. At Midnight Blossom, they have small, hardy plants for traditional terrariums, but also cool air plants, which sit on top of rocks or sand in a modern-style terrarium. They also had a “Garden Bar” stocked with colorful rocks, crystals, miniature starfish and fossilized wood (starting at $.25 a scoop) for decorating your terrarium.

For a successful terrarium, you can use almost any small type of plant that can be bought in a home improvement store or nursery. Select plants that are labeled as hardy, and grow to less than six inches in height. Be sure to choose compatible plants for your terrarium, plants that require similar watering and light exposure.

What You Need:

• Clear, open glass container (dish, bowl or wide-mouth vase)
• Pebbles or pea gravel 
• Activated charcoal (optional; see instructions)
• Potting soil or sand (dependent on plants; see instructions)
• 2-4 plants
• Decorative colored stones  

Instructions:

1. Put a layer of pebbles in the bottom of the container. Make it about one inch thick. This will allow for good drainage.
2. Put a layer of activated charcoal right on top of the pebbles approximately one half inch thick. This will filter the water. (Optional step. Not required for air plant terrariums.)
3. Put a layer of soil on the top of all of this. The layer should be at least two or three inches thick but you can vary this according to the size of your container.
4. Poke small holes into the soil and transplant your plants into the container.
5. Place some miniature colored stones or figurines in the container for an interesting look.
6. Water plants according to the instructions included with the plants. A terrarium needs to be watched carefully for the first week. This is to ensure it is getting the right amount of light and water.

Tip: Keep all the information tags that come with the plants so you always have a reference for sunlight and watering. Include these with the recipient’s gift card.

Amy Hatch is a Seattle-based freelance writer, devoted godmother and mom-in-training. 

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