Under His Construction

• Dec. 3, 2007 - Christmas Gift Ideas

I don't know about you, but I love a good idea!  I love to see what other people are doing and personalize their ideas for my own use.  Over the years and even more recently I have come across some really great gift ideas for Christmas.  I am a big fan of family gifts - meaning one special gift for an entire family. Here is a list of my favorites: 1. I love this idea for making Gingerbread Kits. 2. Here is another fun kit idea: Hot Cocoa Kits! And don't forget to make some Merry Marshmallows to go in the kits! This is in fact the gifts we are doing this year. As a coffee lover I go through a lot of coffeemate flavored creamer during the year and realized that when you take the wrapper off the empty bottles you are left with incredible potential for an adorable snowman.  He already had a red hat on (the cap) and just needs a few buttons for his face and down his front along with a fabric scrap scarf! I started saving these so the kids could transform them into vessels for giving cocoa mix in. Fun! 3. A  Put-on-a-show Kit will no doubt inspire little ones to entertain their parents over and over again throughout the year! 4. We are book lovers at our house and so we have read a lot of really great family books together.  We are always drawn just a little closer to each other as we go through the trials and triumphs of the heroes and heroines we are reading about together.  I can't help but think that the gift of family togetherness is passed on when you give the gift of a great family read-aloud to another family on your list. My best recommendation for great books to give would be any of the titles available at Lamplighter Publishing! Incredible stories and incredible lessons! But even a copy of your favorite holiday read would be a great gift as well. Couple this with a Cookie Dough Roll or the cocoa kit and you have given the gift of a night of warm cookies or cocoa and warm memories made! 5. While on the topic of goodies, mixes have become so popular in the last 10 years or so and with good reason! How fun is it to have all of the prep work done when making cookies? And who doesn't love to eat them right out of the oven? Of course giving food gifts does not have to be limited to mixes. We have a recipe we like to make from popcorn called Corny Chocolate Crunch! It is so yummy! No matter which route you go Gifts from your kitchen  are always a great gift to give! 6. Another great idea for promoting family togetherness is to give the gift of a family activity. Give the families on your list a day of ice skating! Or how about a local tour? Maybe you have a nearby excursion train or boat? Maybe you have a nearby 'paint your own pottery' studio? Does a local school or college offer fun and exciting classes? My best friend in high school took snowshoeing classes with her dad one winter and loved it! What a great gift to give a family! Do you have a local theater that puts on family-friendly productions? Last year I took my kiddos to a Celtic Christmas concert and they loved it! Tickets to something like this would make for a great family outing! Check into the events and activities offered locally - you might find something great that another family had never thought to do! And you just might find yourself signing your own family up as well! (  : 7. This next idea is for anyone one your list that would appreciate some ' Heat and Eat Dinners' from your kitchen. I am thinking widowed grandparents, shut-ins, college students.... I just love this idea! 8. Have any kids on your list that you struggling to come up with ideas for? One of my favorite things to give kids is kits. When my two oldest nieces were little they loved to scrapbook so one year I put together a kit for them. They would come and stay with us for a week or so every summer and they would always bring their kit along with them. How much fun we had working on their scrapbooks together! This year I am planning on getting a younger niece a beginner's sewing kit. I will include some basics and either an easy project, like a pillow case with a simple design on it to be embroidered, or a book like Making Fleece Crafts. Kits are a great way to encourage a child to pursue their God-given interests and build new interests! If you don't have time to put together you own kits - No worries!  Klutz has done the work for you! These are great books that include everything needed to do the crafts and activities in each book. We have several of these and love them! 9. My last idea stems from a new found addiction of mine! Digital Photo Books! This is such an incredible and completely affordable idea! I love to scrapbook but just do not have the time it takes and so have pretty much given it up. I had heard of digital scrapbooking but only recently checked into it. I am hooked! I can put together a fun little 5x5 album for $20! This is a perfect size for pictures from a family reunion to give to your family! My friend Renae put together an album for her husband with all of  the places they had traveled together. Another idea I found was to include all of your favorite holiday recipes with pics of your family making them, eating them, presenting them and so on. What a great little cookbook to give! I am thinking of using these to put together a book from an in depth study we are doing on Jamestown. What a great way to document the kid's work with pictures of Jamestown, maps, pics of the kids working on the study, pics of projects they have done, etc. And all you Principle Approacher's - don't forget to include the Scripture and principles gleaned throughout the study! These would also be a great place to share your child's writings - poems, stories, artwork (I am checking into whether I can add scanned items to the book), and on and on... This would be a great gift for a grandparent or even to surprise your own child! Wouldn't they love to see their own work in a beautiful book! And for $20 - I just can't think of a better gift for that price!  Oh and one last idea - let you kids make up a story and either act out the scenes or arrange toys to make the scenes for each page of the story and take pics. How fun for your kids to make their own book! Another great gift for grandparents as well! Well, I hope you have all been inspired to get creative with your Christmas gifts this year. It really is so special when you have put a little of your own heart into the gifts for your loved ones! As you can see I have solved my linkage problem - it just took a little creative thinking! I knew all those years on the Future Problem Solving Team were not in vain! Merry Christmas to you all! I sign off now for the rest of the year to move my family back up to Washington state. I will look forward to meeting back here with you all next year in our new surroundings! I will then resume my posts from our 'Case of Mistaken Identity' study - I haven't forgot!  May you all have a blessed Christmas and New Year! Love, Mandi

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