Creative Christmas

I’m a absolute Christmas freak, and I love choosing gifts.

This year, however, Christmas gift giving was so hard because I barely have a pot to piss in, never mind spending the hundreds I usually end up spending on gifts. So I went the home-made route this year. I wasn’t spending a lot of dough (that I didn’t have) but I was spending a lot of time! So here are some Christmas gift ideas to do on the cheap, that are very thoughtful.

I got some brown paper bags for the dollar store, decorated them instead of doing a card. Inside I put a few dozen cookies and a homemade calendar I made in school. Overall it costed me about $30 ($20 to print the calendars and $10 for supplies) to make about 6 gift bags aside from the larger gifts I bought earlier. This allowed me to get everyone in my family something.

 

 

 

Anything edible is always a safe bet. I made an assortment of shortbread and chocolate chip and gave a few dozen with each gift. I used a cookie press to get the tree shape, and to speed up the process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

From thin pieces of cardboard you can cut out Christmas shapes. Trace various size circles to make ornaments and snowmen. Then paint away. I used a darker shade of each colour to add depth and shape. Make sure the brush is almost dry before dabbing on the shading. Then I created a kitschy border with a black sharpie.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is an example of a snowman bag, before it’s all glued down and decorated. You can find cute embellishments at the dollar store, as you can see on the hat. I also decorated the trees with little gold stars.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a different option for wrapping. You can find little cardboard or wooden boxes at the dollar store or craft store. I made a large snowman face for my grandma to put her tea lights in with lots of embellishments. Every year she puts her tea lights for Christmas in an old kleenex box hidden in her table, now she has something pretty to put them in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a pic of the card I made my mom that hid a Starbucks gift card in the back (her obsession). And yes, drank is spelled purposefully for my mom’s sense of humour.

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, you can really create something more thoughtful and unique than something you picked out at the store (and less expensive).