Christmas Gifts That Kids Can Make

Ideas for Children to Create Homemade Presents This Yuletide

Oct 8, 2009

Gifts that kids can make include memory books, personalized calendars, gift baskets, CDs or DVDs featuring the children and homemade greeting or Christmas cards.

Christmas isn’t for children to receive gifts only. They should also be involved in the preparation of the big celebration.

Parents can organize some Christmas gift-making activities at home with children to create meaningful and budget-friendly homemade presents this Yuletide. Here are inspiring ideas to help children make their own Christmas gifts for loved ones.

Memory Books for Close Relatives

A memory book makes an excellent gift for a grandparent or favorite aunt, particularly one who lives far away. Ask the child to select pictures featuring her and her loved one on special occasions. Stick the photos on to a scrapbook and caption them, describing the highlights of the events.

Add also the child’s drawings and other mementos like zoo ticket stubs, sweet wrappings and postcards of places visited together. A list of the child’s favorite things such as pets, cartoon characters, food, sports, games and best friends can also be included. Decorate the cover with the person’s favorite colors.

Personalized Calendars as Christmas Gifts

Not only are personalized calendars meaningful, they are very practical gifts as well, especially if they include space for writing notes and appointments. Again, the family album is a good place to start searching for pictures. Children’s artwork can also be used. Stick these photos and drawings on 12 sheets of large and thick craft paper. Use the Internet to print out calendar details. Attach these next to the pictures. Children can also make personalize calendars easily. Use the Internet to find free yearly calendar templates.

Christmas Gift Baskets

Enlist the help of children when making Christmas gift baskets or hampers. The kids can help with sorting out fresh fruit, homemade cookies and jam, Christmas pudding and cakes or any items that need to be put in the gift baskets. They will be proud to have lent their assistance with the preparation. Alternatively, they can make their very own gift baskets. Get them to fill each basket with their own photos, poetry, craftwork, etc. Buy empty gift baskets from bargain stores or re-use old baskets.

CDs or DVDs as Christmas Presents

Grandpa and Grandma may long to hear the voices and see the faces of their grandchildren who live 300 km away. So why not create CDs and DVDs featuring the kids? The children can read poetry or stories or sing some of their favorite songs and have them recorded on a CD. They can act out Christmas plays or other stories too while their parents record these with a camcorder. Parents can also film the kids on special days like sports day, birthday celebrations, previous Christmas, weddings and holidays, compile those clips and put them on a special DVD for Grandpa and Grandma.

Make Christmas Greeting Cards

Again, the Internet is a great resource for helping children to make their own Christmas cards. Look for free printable Christmas cards using search engines. Parents can also encourage kids to recycle old Christmas cards. Cut out shapes and pictures from old cards and use them as decorations on new, plain craft paper. The kids can write their own messages and greetings.

Create Yuletide Decorations and Confetti

Once more, old Christmas cards will be very useful to create Yuletide decorations and confetti. Get the kids to cut out shapes like hearts, Christmas trees, circles, stars and Santa from old Christmas cards. Match them in pairs and stick them back to back. To prevent tears, laminate these shapes. Punch a hole in each item so that a string can go through. Make them into a brightly colored cord to decorate a Christmas tree or just hang it over a door or window.

Parents can also put children’s love for punching holes on paper with a hole puncher to good use. Ask them to punch holes on old greeting cards, wrapping paper and old magazines with colorful pages to make Christmas confetti.

There are many Christmas gifts that kids can make. Parents looking for ideas for children to create homemade presents can encourage them to make memory books, personalized calendars, gift baskets, Christmas cards and decorations. Parents can also record children’s singing, story-telling, dancing and acting and put these performances into CDs and DVDs for loved ones.

The copyright of the article Christmas Gifts That Kids Can Make in Kids Holiday Activities is owned by Wei Yin Wong. Permission to republish Christmas Gifts That Kids Can Make in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.