Affordable gift ideas are always a creative challenge. Remember your neighbors and friends this holiday season with handmade gifts that can be made in a weekend and mean so much more than a gift card. Ideas include personalized photos, homemade candy, and even something the kids can make. (For more tips on showing appreciation to your neighbors, try these suggestions.)
Create Yarn Ball Ornaments
Crafts blogger Genevieve Gail suggests making yarn ball ornaments — a cute, fashionable keepsake that your kids can make to hang on the tree. Here’s how to get started with just a Styrofoam ball, hot glue, red yarn, green felt, and a few buttons:
Dab a bead of hot glue onto a small Styrofoam ball and secure the tip of the yarn in place.
Wind yarn continuously around the ball in all directions until the entire surface is covered.
Leave a 3-inch tail of yarn at the end, tie a loop for hanging, and hot glue the bottom of the loop into place.
To adorn the top, cut small holly leaves out of green felt and use a black marker to create a stitched look to leaf edges.
Hot glue two holly leaves and three buttons to the top of the ornament near the base of the loop.
Give to teachers, family, and friends!
Make Peanut Brittle
If scissors make you nervous, get in the kitchen! Peanut brittle is tasty and fun. Make it a holiday tradition that the kids will remember forever. Follow this simple peanut brittle recipe:
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
1 cup corn syrup
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups peanuts
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon baking soda
Pour sugar, water, and corn syrup into a saucepan. Stir constantly on low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a boil and cook until syrup is 260 degrees, using a candy thermometer. Add peanuts and salt and continue cooking to a hard crack. Remove from stove; add butter, vanilla, and baking soda. Pour brittle onto a buttered pan. After the brittle cools, let the kids break it into pieces. Take candy door to door and become the neighborhood favorite.
Send Out Personalized Photos
Remember posing for family portraits at Christmas? Enjoy the ease of making those customized cards right from your laptop. Upload a favorite photo to an online photo site such as Snapfish.com to create personalized photos, postcards, and even books! Mail them out like the good old days, and you’ll surprise some long-lost friends by remembering them this year.
Affordable gift ideas
By Courtney Parker
Affordable gift ideas are always a creative challenge. Remember your neighbors and friends this holiday season with handmade gifts that can be made in a weekend and mean so much more than a gift card. Ideas include personalized photos, homemade candy, and even something the kids can make. (For more tips on showing appreciation to your neighbors, try these suggestions.)
Create Yarn Ball Ornaments
Crafts blogger Genevieve Gail suggests making yarn ball ornaments — a cute, fashionable keepsake that your kids can make to hang on the tree. Here’s how to get started with just a Styrofoam ball, hot glue, red yarn, green felt, and a few buttons:
Make Peanut Brittle
If scissors make you nervous, get in the kitchen! Peanut brittle is tasty and fun. Make it a holiday tradition that the kids will remember forever. Follow this simple peanut brittle recipe:
Pour sugar, water, and corn syrup into a saucepan. Stir constantly on low heat until sugar dissolves. Bring mixture to a boil and cook until syrup is 260 degrees, using a candy thermometer. Add peanuts and salt and continue cooking to a hard crack. Remove from stove; add butter, vanilla, and baking soda. Pour brittle onto a buttered pan. After the brittle cools, let the kids break it into pieces. Take candy door to door and become the neighborhood favorite.
Send Out Personalized Photos
Remember posing for family portraits at Christmas? Enjoy the ease of making those customized cards right from your laptop. Upload a favorite photo to an online photo site such as Snapfish.com to create personalized photos, postcards, and even books! Mail them out like the good old days, and you’ll surprise some long-lost friends by remembering them this year.