Best Homemade
Christmas Gifts

Homemade Christmas gifts are the most memorable and appreciated gifts you can give.

They show you took the time and ingenuity to create something special for a family member or friend. They don't have to cost a lot of money to make, so you can stay within your budget.

But the main reason to make homemade Christmas gifts is because they are personal and show you care. Just keep in mind the special interests, likes, and character of the person you want to make the gifts for.
Here are some great ideas for homemade Christmas gifts:

Drink Kits in a Jar

Combine together the dry ingredients for a tea, coffee, or cocoa mix. Store in a clear Mason or other air tight jar. Tie a pretty red ribbon around it or cover the lid in a Christmasy fabric and you have a wonderful gift that can be enjoyed anytime.

Try the following ideas:

Spiced Tea Mix

2 jars of Tang orange breakfast drink mix
1 cup sugar
1 envelope or 5 ounces of sweetened lemonade mix
1 small jar of unsweetened instant tea
2 cups of red-hot candies or hard peppermint candies
2 teaspoons each ground cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, allspice

To prepare dissolve 4 teaspoons mix in a cup of boiling water.

Hot Strawberry Drink Mix

1 cup strawberry drink mix
2 1/2 cups nonfat dry milk
2 cups mini marshmallows
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1/2 cup powdered nondairy creamer

To prepare dissolve 1/3 cup mix in 1 cup boiling water and stir.

Spiced Ginger Coffee

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup instant coffee
2 cups nonfat dry milk powder

To prepare dissolve 1/3 cup mix in 1 cup boiling water and stir.

Orange Mocha Cappucino Mix

1 cup instant coffee
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups nonfat dry milk
2 dried orange peels, crushed
1/2 cup dried cocoa mix

To prepare dissolve 2 teaspoons in a cup or mug of boiling water.

Make these delicious treats as homemade Christmas gifts. You can put them in a clear jar with a pretty ribbon or wrap them in colored tissue paper and place in a decorative Christmas box.

Spiced Nuts

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup pecans
1 cup almonds
1 cup walnuts
1 cup peanuts
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

In a pot, melt the butter and add nuts. Add the Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, salt, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and garlic powder. Mix well and stir while on low heat for about 5 minutes. Let cool, then put in jar.

Chocolaty Popcorn Crunch

3 quarts popped corn
3 cups of broken corn chips
3 cups of Chex cereal
1 package butterscotch chips
1 bag (12 oz) dark chocolate chips

Combine the popcorn, chips and cereal in a large bowl. In a microwaveable bowl, melt the butterscotch and the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Then pour over popcorn mixture. Toss to coat. Spread into greased baking pan. When cool, break into pieces.

Chocolate Dipped Goodies

These make delicious homemade Christmas gifts that all chocolate lover will enjoy.

Try dipping any of the following in dark or milk chocolate that you melted in the microwave or on the stove:

dried apricots, apples, mango, pineapple
pretzel logs
Oreo cookies
Peanut Butter cookies
almonds or walnuts
coffee beans

After dipping, place on wax paper to dry. When dry, wrap in gift box.

Make adorable white chocolate Snowmen!

Just dip pretzel rods about 2/3 of the way into melted white chocolate. Attach mini M&Ms for the buttons and the nose and mini chocolate chips for eyes.

Dip the bottom of a gum drop in chocolate and press onto a jelly ring. Attach the jellyring/gum drop hat with chocolate to the top of the pretzel rod.

You can even make scarves using fruit roll up cut into strips. Just wrap around the pretzel rods where the snowman's neck would be. Stand the pretzel rods up in a tall glass until they dry.

Cookies in a Tea Cup

These are such pretty and easy homemade Christmas gifts to make, for Mom, daughter, sister, grandmother, teacher, instructor, or your best girlfriend.

Stack about 6 - 10 of your favorite homemade cookies in a small cellophane bag. Tie with a ribbon.

(See our Italian Christmas Cookie recipes.) Put this bag in a pretty tea cup. You can get beautiful inexpensive tea cups and saucers at garage sales, flea markets and thrift stores. Arrange a few tea bags on the saucer and wrap the whole tea cup and saucer with a larger piece of cellophane. Tie at the top with a ribbon or decorate with berry garland.

Tea Cup Candle

You need: Wax or old, used candles, wicks (bought at a craft store), some fragance, pretty tea cup. Melt the wax in a double boiler and add a few drops of your favorite fragrance. Hold the wick in the tea cup and pour in the melted wax.

While the wax cools and hardens, it will contract and form a well in the center. Add more wax to fill the well. When its fully cooled and hardened, wrap your pretty candle in clear cellophane and decorate with ribbon.

I have a friend who collects tea cups- these are the perfect homemade Christmas gifts for her - anytime actually.

Scrapbook or Photobook

Create a memory book of the years family events and activities. I love my digital camera, but most of my pictures stay in my camera or on my computer and I'm the only one who sees them. So what I do is create an annual photo album of what we did as a family in the past year.

You can create a gorgeous handmade scrapbook with mementos and decorations, stickers, ribbons, and pretty paper. These always look beautiful and make wonderful gifts, but they are very time consuming.

So what I've started doing is to create photo books online, have them printed and shipped to me. You can get very creative and the results are stunning too!
Try Shutterfly.com or Adoramapix.com.

I made one as a family Christmas gift this year. My kids loved to see photos of themselves playing baseball and football, us apple picking, our trips to the lake and beach and opening last years Christmas gifts. Its fun to see the change in the kids appearance too. How quickly they grow and change in one year!

Personalized Calendar

Create a calendar with photos of your loved ones for each month. You can easily do this online or at a local drugstore that has photo printing. You can even indicate family members birthdates or anniversaries, graduation dates as reminders.

I made a calendar for my Dad one year with photos of all his kids and grandkids at various family activities and holidays. He adored it. It stayed up on the wall for much longer than a year.

Family Tree

Document your family tree and print it out on beautiful paper. Roll up into a scroll tied with a pretty ribbon. Meaningful to the older and younger family members.

Poem or Story

Write a short poem or a story about someone you care about. Print it on special paper and frame it. One Christmas, about 10 years ago, I wrote poems about what each of my parents mean to me and framed it for them. Its funny how as you get older, you appreciate all your parents have done and sacrificed for us. It's important to let them know that while we have them with us. They were really touched by that homemade Christmas gift. It's still hanging on their wall.

Mixed CD

Burn a CD with that special person's favorite music. Or create a CD with your personal favorites and give that to those who you think might enjoy it. Teens love this - with their music on it, of course.

Love Certificates

As corny as these may sound, they do get used and are appreciated! Make several "love" certificates for a special activity you can do together or for someone. It's really a gift of your time. You can give one or make a booklet to last the whole year. It's up to you.

Give a certificate for a back massage or a foot rub, a dinner out, breakfast in bed, babysitting, doing someone else's chore, you choose your favorite movie - night, kids favorite board or video game night, car wash,trip to the mall, etc.

It could be anything that someone special can redeem at anytime. Get creative and make the ones you love homemade Christmas gifts this year.

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