Budget homemade gift people go WOW over?

[lukenick1]

So why doesn't someone go start a new thread titled "inspired by the homemade gifts threads" or something similar, where the topic can be whether you appreciate homemade gifts or not, which ones are acceptable or not, etc.

Sheesh, even go start a thread titled "what's the tackiest gift you've ever received, homemade or otherwise?" Those threads can be quite funny. I used to wait for one Dis-er to post her wacky MIL gift every year. And they're not offensive, because that's the purpose of the thread.

I bet the OP would even participate in some of those threads since I definitely get the feeling the whole gift giving thing is stressing her out a bit too.

But to come on this thread, which was clearly meant to gather ideas for gifts folks can make, and rip the OP's idea to shreds and/or discuss homemade gifts in general is off topic. And I find some of the responses to be flat out rude.

Amen..........thanks for your defense.

 

[krcit]

banana split in a jar. I don't put chocolate in mine...I think it would look really muddy and unappealling. I also cut the sugar down to 3 cups...it was plenty sweet enough. We'll put a jar of chocolate sauce in the baskets along with a jar of maraschino cherries (I don't put them in the jar, either). I thought it sounded absolutely disgusting but made it anyway and man, oh, man! Is it good??....YUMMMMM

http://chickensintheroad.com/cooking/banana-split-in-a-jar/

hmmmmm...i think i'll make a couple fire hazards outta of some gorgeous wintery grey goose bottles i have in there with the white lights.

The grey goose bottles would be so pretty!! They are pretty bottles to begin with but adding white lights would be gorgeous. I have a friend who would love that but I'd have to buy the grey goose and then drink it, lol!

 

[HALEYSMOMMOM]

Thank you to those of you who actually stuck to the topic. I Love some of your ideas! Those of you who are interested in making the wine bottle decoration for yourself or others, make sure to clean the bottle out good with bleach or vinegar. I think they are pretty and have only made one for myself and my Mother. She loved hers and I have gotten many compliments on mine lit up in my house.

I genuinely really like the pic that was posted of the wine bottles and lights. Not sure what that makes me, (tacky???) but I really do, and I think I might try it. I have decorated my home mediterranean style, and I think it would be pretty, so thank you. I won't be making any for gifts, because I don't know anyone else that would like it for sure. Not everything's for everybody, and if you don't like it- as my mom used to say-" If you don't have something nice to say just don't say anything at all"
I am appalled and really ashamed at many of these responses. Totally uncalled for. A gift with thought behind it means so much, even if you really dislike it. Like I tell my children, "SAy thank you, act like you like it, and we'll return it later if that's what you want to do" In these cases, give it away later, or throw it away later, whatever. Rudeness is not acceptable, especially at christmastime, and if you did that to me,(give it back, make rude comments) that would be the last present you got from me. Really are we all adults here??

That being vented: cookies, and candy always go over well at our house, as well as anything that has to do with pitures of loved ones anything at all.

 

[rockundergirl]

I'd rather have the wine that was in the bottle than the bottle itself. lol

Me tooooooooo!
I can't say i would like the bottle of lights, but I can say I would love to have a friend that took the time to make me one. With that said , like any sort of gift, know your audience. Anyone that knows me , knows that I don't like a lot of nick-nacks, decorations and stuff like I like most things simple and plain, so my friend wouldn't give me a wine bottle filled with lights, my mom however, would think you invented Christmas if she got a home made gift like that..... Kwim?

 

[lukenick1]

Call me crazy but I don't ever remember asking what anyone thought of it???

 

[luvsJack]

Umm, just because it didn't catch fire yet, doesn't mean it is safe. Placing electrical wiring in a small enclosed space where it can overheat in a glass container that was never meant to withstand high temps. Glass can overheat.

By using your line of thinking, it hasn't caught fire yet so it must be safe, then I could give a child a gun and let them play with it. If the child hasn't shot themselves (or someone else) yet then it must be safe.

I have the mason jar with lights and poupourrie and have had it for years. Its beautiful and doesn't get hot at all.

These same method can be done with a glass brick--the kind you see in bathrooms with a glass wall. A hole will need to be drilled in the brick/block (they are usually square). Then wrap a beautiful ribbon around it and put a bow in the center, like a gift box. Its so pretty all lit up. We all have them in our offices at work.

Somebody made mil one and its one of the few gifts that I see her display.


As for a wow factor, one of dd's favorite gifts last year was a calendar made from pictures of her and characters at disney. I think I made it on Snapfish.com, but all of them do them and real cheap this time of year. Anyway, I picked one picture each for each month and put an appropriate saying like "Have a Very Mickey Christmas" or with a picture of Tigger signing her book "T-I-double G-ER. She loves it and is already trying to figuure out a way to display the pictures in her room when the calendar runs out. I think I will make mom one this year with pictures of dgd for each month.

One both my mom and mil really liked was a basket with all kinds of homemade candy in it (fudge, divinity, bark, brittle, pralines), a book, some homemade bath salts and fluffy slippers. Not completely homemade but enough so and they really loved it.

 

[Nik's Mom]

Call me crazy but I don't ever remember asking what anyone thought of it???

I'd never call you crazy. But people are always going to give opinions on a message board.

You did ask for other ideas, and I think you've received some nice ones. I mentioned pot holders a couple pages back. Can you sew? In my opinion, a pot holder will always come in handy, and I bet they aren't much to make.

 

[lukenick1]

I'd never call you crazy. But people are always going to give opinions on a message board.

You did ask for other ideas, and I think you've received some nice ones. I mentioned pot holders a couple pages back. Can you sew? In my opinion, a pot holder will always come in handy, and I bet they aren't much to make.

no I cannot sew

 

[SILLYANDI]

no I cannot sew

You can do it! My 3rd grade Brownies did a potholder for a sewing badge! Go for it!

http://math.arizona.edu/~rbt/GS/GS_Quilt_Home.htm

User Friendly instructions with pictures here!

 

[Petals & Pixie Dust]

I make jewelry, scrapbooks, and cards...I started iwth the cards years ago...now they are pretty much expected

 

[minnie1012]

I have the wine bottle with lights that I bought at a craft show. It looks so pretty lite up. It also some decorative garland looking stuff in there. It is wirey and has hearts on it. The bottle of wine is called "Mommy's Time Out" so that makes it extra cool!

 

[beansmom]

i just made four of these tonight...the hardest part was jamming the lights inside. They are really cute on the stairs leading up to the living room.

FYI, the Kraft blocks you can buy at Hobby Lobby, already has a large rubber plug in the bottom that you can take out in order to put things inside the block.

 

[beansmom]

The grey goose bottles would be so pretty!! They are pretty bottles to begin with but adding white lights would be gorgeous. I have a friend who would love that but I'd have to buy the grey goose and then drink it, lol!

doh...it's actually the belvedere bottle with the trees and building...i snagged them out of the bin behind our favorite french restaurant last winter. I'm gonna light them up...they will be so pretty.

http://www.grandwinecellar.com/sku1..._medium=feed&utm_campaign=BELVEDERE VODKA 80@

 

[minnie1012]

i just made four of these tonight...the hardest part was jamming the lights inside. They are really cute on the stairs leading up to the living room.

FYI, the Kraft blocks you can buy at Hobby Lobby, already has a large rubber plug in the bottom that you can take out in order to put things inside the block.

I think these blocks or something similar are in the AC Moore circular for this week. They wrapped some with ribbon and another one they made a snowman out of if people need more ideas or a visual.

 

[luvsJack]

i just made four of these tonight...the hardest part was jamming the lights inside. They are really cute on the stairs leading up to the living room.

FYI, the Kraft blocks you can buy at Hobby Lobby, already has a large rubber plug in the bottom that you can take out in order to put things inside the block.

Oh really?? I didn't know they had blocks that already have the hole in them!! I will have to go get a few and make some teacher gifts plus some to put around the tree.

 

[disneycruising]

The best homemade gift I ever gave was a "Memory Jar". I cleaned out large glass jelly jars, attached some fabric and trim to the lid,and wrote mom, dad, or name of person on lid in glitter. Then I wrote all my favorite memories of/with that person on separate slips of paper, folded them up and put them in the jar. My 6'4" father sat quietly reading. When someone asked why he wasn't sharing he said he thought he would cry if he read them out loud. He kept that jar on his dresser until he died and my mom keeps it their still.

Love it!

 

[disney_dreaming_mom]

I'm trying this homemade craft that I found the other day. You make it with family photos and it arrives looking like a card then recipients can turn it into an ornament for the tree. It isn't expensive to make either! -Perfect to send with a tin of homemade cookies!!!

http://familyfun.go.com/christmas/ornament-crafts-for-christmas-814365/#Cool Cube Card;10

 

[dhardawa]

Just curious, do you have to get a special bit to drill a hole in the wine bottle? I struggled to drill a hole in my Swiffer Wet Jet bottle and it is plastic.

Personally, I think they are pretty, but not as gifts. They are obviously just Christmas lights in a bottle and could be made in a matter of minutes. It is the thought that counts and they don't seem like something that a person put a lot of thought into. Now, if you want to do them yourself for your house, I think they would be pretty.

 

[ChisJo]

ok...seriously...what happened to the act of giving at Christmas? I feel like I have read so many threads on here about people who just cannot handle tacky gifts, or able to downsize their Christmas because their family deserves a great Christmas. Yes, you will get gifts you just will not want to display, but did it ever occur that someone out there is thinking of you at Christmas? And what about those people who have no money and still scraped together some money for supplies to make Christmas gifts this year?

Sorry - its just becoming infuriating. If someone is actually thinking of you at Christmas to get you a gift, no matter how tacky, just be thankful! There are so many people out there who get nothing! Again, sorry! It is just so hard when you work in an environment where you see neglect, and poverty, and the lack of anything that people have that you see people complaining about GETTTING gifts!

To the OP, I think anything that you give, is wonderful! As for a homemade gift, I give cookies in a jar. Look up allrecipes.com and search for cowboy cookies. They taste wonderful and look great. It costs about $4/jar (depending on the cost of the jar).

Sorry again for the rant....

 

[lisa6373]

I think what a lot of people are saying is that a "dust catcher" like lights in a bottle wouldn't appeal to them. TBH, if someone gave that to me as a "homemade gift from the heart", I would think they didn't know me very well and it might hurt my feelings a little because of that. I have a small apartment and I'm not fond of dust catchers, plus I have my own Christmas decorations already. So if you felt obligated to give me a gift and didn't know me well enough to know I hate dust catchers, I'd go for the $5 gift card or nothing at all so I don't have to get rid of it and you don't waste money on me. Does that make sense?

In the vein of good homemade gifts, I like baking breads. People love baked goods, and cookies get done a lot. So making some nice cranberry bread or something else fruity and festive, especially all wrapped up in colored cellophane and ribbon, can have a different kind of "oomph" than what people are used to getting.
.

Interesting how someone else's idea is referred to as a "dust catcher" but when talking about your idea, you comment that "people love baked goods". It has been my experience that we give what we would like to receive in a lot of cases. Not homemade, but i buy pajamas as a gift a lot because I love pajamas! So as not to throw the thread totally off course, I also have received homemade gourmet caramel and chocolate dipped apples that had a "wow" factor for me...and therefore,I will be attempting to make them this year!