Homemade Christmas Gifts Offer Personal Touch

Contrary to popular belief, handmade Christmas gifts are not just for the kids. While many may not have the luster as a "store bought" present, it will have a more personal meaning than anything will that is bought. In most schools, children are taught crafts around the holidays while making handmade Christmas gifts for their family, which can include macaroni pictures and handprints in plaster of Paris.

For those who are handy with wood working tools, making handmade Christmas gifts can be a nice wintertime project. Gifts for children can be small vehicles made of wood or even a puzzle. By taking one of the child's favorite pictures it can be divided into pieces about the same time. Thin wood can be cut into the appropriate shapes with a coping saw and picture then glued to one side of the wood. When the pieces are put together, the puzzle becomes one of the handmade Christmas gifts the parent can keep and hand down to other children or grandchildren.

Holidays displays can make nice handmade Christmas gifts, especially candles in a glass jar. Start with a one-quart jar and place a small pillar candle inside with some holiday greenery or holly leaves. Around the top, ribbon of holiday colors can be tied or glued around the opening to create handmade Christmas gifts. The top can either be left off or put in place with a holiday picture on the lid. Spraying the outside with artificial snow can complete the craft.

Clothing Makes Nice Holiday Present

While not everyone knows how to sew, there are ways to make handmade Christmas gifts of clothing that are so easy just about anyone can make them. Computer programs can take a favorite picture and print it in mirror form, backwards, and print it on transfer paper. The paper is then used like an iron-on transfer onto a t-shirt or sweatshirt to create handmade Christmas gifts for anyone in the family.

People with a little bit of talent can learn to turn crafts into holiday wreaths or other decorations to hand out as handmade Christmas gifts. To get ideas for the wreaths you can visit craft stores and peruse the ones on display. Failing that, you can always go to a craft show and see how other, more talented folks put them together. Although you may be tempted to buy your handmade Christmas gifts while at a store or a show, it may lack some of the person touches expected in a handmade gift.