How to Help Children Make Christmas Gifts for Relatives

As much as you love your extended family, purchasing gifts for everyone is not always in the budget, especially if your children want to give gifts to two sets of grandparents, various aunts and uncles and a gazillion cousins. Save money by helping your kids create homemade gifts for your relatives. Focus on one type of gift that the kids can give to everyone and that you can make using materials you already have or that are inexpensive to purchase. Your relatives are likely to love any gifts your kids make.

Things You'll Need

  • Mason jars
  • Cellophane
  • Graham crackers
  • Chocolate squares
  • Marshmallows
  • Craft sticks
  • Child-safe paints
  • Googly eyes
  • Ribbon
  • Red pom pom balls
  • Clear plastic cups
  • Personal photos
  • Poster board
  • Permanent markers
  • Sticky note cubes
  • Holiday stamps

Instructions

    • 1

      Bring the kids into the kitchen to make homemade food gifts for relatives. Many kids are happy to help out in the kitchen, especially if they get to sample some of the goodies. One simple idea is to make cookies in a jar by filling Mason jars with the dry ingredients needed for a variety of cookies. A decorative label should list what other ingredients are needed and the baking instructions. Using scoops or funnels, the kids can layer the ingredients to provide a decorative look. You could also have the kids create their own trail mix to put in the jar, or s'more kits, filling decorative cellophane bags with graham cracker squares, chocolate squares and marshmallows. Use red and green holiday marshmallows if you can find them.

    • 2

      Break out your craft supplies to help the kids make cute ornament gifts to give to family. For example, using simple craft items, the children can make reindeer: Paint three craft sticks brown. Glue to of them together in V shape. Glue the third stick across them, a few inches from the top, to create a triangle reindeer face with antlers. Glue on googly eyes and a red pom pom nose at the bottom of the V. Glue or tie a ribbon on for hanging. Another Christmas gift children can make iwth simple craft items is a photo ornament: Poke a small hole in the bottom of a clear plastic cup. Insert ribbon into the hole, and make a knot so it doesn't slip out. Next, each child sticks a picture of himself into the cup, upside down. Trace the cup on poster board and glue to the cup as the ornament's bottom.

    • 3

      Help your kids make holiday-themed gifts that can be useful for the relatives. Provide each child with a plain, coffee mug and permanent markers in holiday colors. Let the children personalize the mugs with each relative's name. Let the kids then draw Christmas decorations or pictures on the mugs. Another idea is to purchase large cubes of plain white sticky notes, as well as holiday-themed ink stamps. The kids can stamp the sides of the cubes with tiny Christmas trees, snowmen and snowflakes and words like "joy" and "holiday," perfect for the office desks of family members.

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