Hand Made Christmas

One way to save money at Christmas is to make gifts and decorations, especially if you make them with things you have on hand. We have not traditionally been big decorators in our home, but because we are hosting a few parties, we are going to be decking the halls a bit. In order to save money on decorations, we gleaned a bunch of greenery from the tree farm where we purchased our tree and then made wreaths. 

We made ours with a grapevine base and hot-glued floral tape, but the above tutorial uses wire and a wire base. Both would be a little more invisible, I just used what I had.

We used additional greenery over the tops of many of our surfaces including the piano, bookshelves and the mantel, as well as placing greenery stems in vases. We then interspersed it all with lights we had on hand.

Our history co-op is celebrating Colonial History this month and as part of that celebration, we will be having a White Elephant gift exchange with gifts that we have made. This colonial spirit motivated me to also make a few little gifts, both for the exchange and for friends. 

We started off with some lavender bath salts. I have lavender flowers which my gardener mother gave me and which I have been saving for this purpose. My daughter mixed a box of epsom salt with a teaspoon of lavender oil and 1/4 lavender flowers. This will make a lovely, relaxing soak. 

The next handmade gift we created was our Altoid tin dolls. These were made with scraps of fabric and stuffing. I first made a little pattern with a peaked hat and cut two pieces of fabric from that pattern.


























Then I cut a little round hole for a face and on a small piece of white fabric, stitched on a simple mouth and eyes. I stitched the face into the hole to look like a baby in a bunting and then sewed right sides together. After turning and stuffing, I sewed the opening up and made a little blanket and mattress.






I made one as a gift for our Colonial Day, but my children were so delighted by them, that they asked for one as well. I also have a little ninja cut out and waiting to be sewn together in my basket. These can be purchased from the Milk and Violets shop on Etsy.

Making gifts with and for your children is not just a way to save money. It is also a lovely way to enjoy the quiet, cool days leading up to Christmas.

For more ideas on Bountiful Living on a Budget, check out my book.

For many more lovely ideas on having a wonderful Christmas with your children, check out the Wonder Bundle from Wild and Free, a beautiful homeschool community. An article featuring our Prairie Christmas Party, as well as many other tutorials, gift ideas and handmade craft and food recipes are included.