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Christmas might feel far away, but now is the perfect time to start planning and creating some beautiful DIY treasures! If you want to save money and stick to a budget this Christmas, DIY gifts are undoubtedly the way to go! Starting now ensures that all your DIY gifts get completed and, come Christmastime, you can relax a bit knowing your family shopping is taken care of.

When you have little ones, DIY gifts are the best because your children are naturally born little art making machines. All you have to do is harness their creative energy. Kids will be happy to create mementos to give to grandparents and aunts and uncles as long as they’re having fun and your child gets at least a bit of creative freedom!

An added bonus to making DIY gifts is that they can be a time-filler during quarantine. To your child, it’s just another art project to fill your day and to whoever receives the gift, it’s a treasure that will bring a smile to their face when they open their gift this holiday season.

What could be better?

Not much.

 A gift from the heart that saves money and can be cherished for years to come?

Sign me up, please!

In my opinion, it is important to let your child take ownership over a project when creating DIY Christmas gifts. When a child gives their DIY Christmas gift, they should feel proud knowing they worked hard on something and created it themselves. I want to showcase my child’s creativity and artistry when they create a DIY Christmas gift. The best gifts are the ones that a child actually works on and are truly from them.

Christmas morning, when you see the gigantic grin on your child’s face as the person they give their gift to is showering them with praise for their beautiful artwork, the time it took to create these DIY gifts alongside your child will be so worth it.

Read on to discover some awesome DIY Christmas gifts for your child to create and give this holiday season!

1. Create Footprint Art – There are so many ideas on Pinterest for handprint art to create out of your little one’s precious handprints and footprints. My take on footprint art is to create a “Snowman in a Snowstorm.” All you need are paints, brushes, a Square Canvas Value Pack , and Sharpie Paint Pens as you can make several canvases for all the important people in your life.

Your child’s art takes up the majority of the canvas and represents the snow storm portion of this “Snowman in a Snowstorm” canvas using purple, blue and white paint. Then, you make a white footprint in the corner to represent the snowman.

TIP: Make sure you put your child’s toes toward the bottom edge of the canvas so that their little heel becomes the snowman’s head.

Paint the bottom of your child’s foot with a thick layer of paint that you want to make a print of. Bring the canvas to your child’s foot and press their foot into the canvas. Press down their little toes to make sure you get a good print.

*** When your child is young it is MUCH easier to get a clean footprint than a clean hand print. (Little ones always seem to scrunch up their fingers to feel the paint when you try to get a hand print, so be leery of those cute handprints when choosing a DIY project.)***

For this DIY gift, the parent’s art is simply the accessories to make the snowman look like a snowman using the Sharpie paint pens. That’s all! Using the paint pens to create the snowman accessories is so quick and easy. Finishing up this project will take you less than five minutes!

Don’t forget to put your child’s name and the year or date on your child’s creations to remember which child created the artwork and how old they were. We always think we’ll remember but the years pass on, new children come along, and our memories get fuzzy. Do yourself a favor and always write down this important information!

2. Canvas Idea – Let your child create an abstract, colorful sky on a long canvas. Then have them do another painting on cardstock. Cut out the shape of a bird from the cardstock painting. Paint a thin branch and glue the bird to look like it’s sitting on the branch.

Your child’s artwork still takes up the majority of the canvas and is the real star, but this canvas will look great in a bathroom or hallway.

3. Coasters – All you need for these beautiful coasters is a long lighter, a Set of Colorful Sharpie Markers, 91% Rubbing Alcohol, White Square Ceramic Tiles, and polyurethane spray. These gorgeous DIY coasters make a fantastic, unique gift that your children will love to make and love to gift! I’m confident that this is a DIY Christmas gift that will make everyone happy! Check out the link below for a complete tutorial.

DIY the Coolest Coasters in Town

The set of tiles I have linked above comes with 12 tiles (That’s a lot of coaters!) You can break these tiles into two sets of 6 or three sets of 4. Personally, I think 4 coasters makes a nice set. This way you can gift these beauties to 3 people instead of 2 for the price of one project!

4. Take Fun Pictures to Print and Give as Gifts

Below I’ve linked some cute ideas for taking family pictures. Get your kids in on the fun and let them come up with their own silly ideas when you tackle this DIY gift idea. The more fun you have the better your pictures will be! Nobody wants a picture of grumpy kids.

My advice is to pick a simple theme or backdrop and just go for it. Get wrapped up in Christmas lights or put on Santa hats. Just play around and have fun creating some memory magic!

Ideas for Family Photos + Christmas Photo Trends

5. Decorate Wood Picture Frames with colorful buttons or stick on jewels. After your child has decorated their frame to their hearts content, let them choose a photo of themselves and the special person receiving their frame. You could combine this project with the one above for an extra special surprise!

PICTURE

6. Wood Sign for by the Front Door – Snowman with Lights

My daughter and I love to paint together and my husband loves doing woodworking projects, so this idea is sort of perfect for us. Construct a wood sign, paint a snowman on the front with snow all around. Then, drill holes where you want your lights. Using a string of Christmas lights, stick the lights through your pre-drilled holes and you’re done!

This DIY gift is a bit more intensive in parent involvement, but I think getting the whole family in on the action makes it special and the end results will look fantastic by the front door or wherever you choose to display this piece of art!

7. Paint on a Wooden Canvas – There’s something about the sturdiness of wood that makes it feel special and unique to me. My husband has created several wooden canvases for our home that my children and I have enjoyed creating upon. The wood is beautiful by itself so any area that isn’t painted still has visual appeal, it isn’t just blank.

The wood canvas elevates this DIY Christmas gift, but your child’s unique creation is what makes it truly special. Some ideas to suggest to your child would be a Christmas tree, a snowman, or a house.

8. String Art Wood Tiles – Choose a pattern, mark where your nails will go, hammer in finishing nails and then let your child wrap the string all around in whatever pattern they choose! Get your child in on the planning process, figuring out what picture they want to make and what color string they’d like to use. They more you’re able to involve your child in the process of creating their unique DIY Christmas gifts the better!

9. Painted Flower Pots -To complete this project you’ll need 6 inch terracotta flower pots , acrylic paints, paint brushes and an acrylic paint sealer. We gave these as gifts for Mother’s Day, but there’s no reason to limit them to Spring, if you ask me! You could help someone start an indoor herb garden and plant mint or rosemary in your pot.

I just love the open-ended nature of this project and am in love with the flower pot my daughter painted for me. It melts my heart every time I see it.

10. Coupon Book – This can be a really fun one to brainstorm with your child about and get them involved in decorating. Basically, the idea is that you’re giving the gift of your time to whoever receives this special gift. If your child is a touch older they can do chores for relatives like mowing the grass, weeding, or washing windows. I love the idea of a coupon for fresh baked chocolate chip cookies, or a homemade dinner at your house. Whatever you can come up with, put it in a booklet and let your child decorate and illustrate it. The more personalized you get with it the better!

11. Bake Cookies – I love getting my kids in on holiday baking! They’ve been in the kitchen since they were babies, or at least that’s what it feels like. Do you have any family recipes that you’ve been wanting to pass on to your little ones? This is the perfect opportunity to use them and to teach your child about your childhood and their family tree!

My family actually tried out a couple new recipes last year after my youngest was diagnosed with a peanut allergy. (No more peanut butter kiss cookies in our home.) Luckily, we found this AMAZING recipe for white chocolate peppermint cookies. Not a peanut in sight!

These cookies are super simple to make and easy to let the kids help out with during the assembling process. I put the candy canes in zip top bags (one for each of my children – you know – to avoid disputes) and let my kids go to town crushing them up. This is a great way to get even your littlest children involved!

I’ve included the recipe below if you want to give them a try this year too:

https://preppykitchen.com/white-chocolate-peppermint-cookies/

Once you’ve made your special cookie treat, wrap them up in cellophane on festive Cookie Plates or get inexpensive cookie treat boxes with a window. I personally like to order holiday cookie tins to fill with an assortment of fresh Christmas goodies. (If you’re interested in a single tin this square cookie tin is really cute!)

A collection of baked good items from the heart is always a hit in my family! Certainly a DIY Christmas gift that my family doesn’t mind getting every year!

PICTURE

12. Chihuly Inspired Sculpture – Chandelier or Magnet Set

This beautifully simple art project will leave you with stunning results. You can string them to a piece of wood using fishing line to create a chandelier or glue magnets to the back to create a unique magnet set. However you choose to complete this project, your child is bound to want to try this technique over and over!

***Note: be sure to use a sturdy plastic cup. If the plastic is too flexible it will turn white when melted.***

www.rubberbootsandelfshoes.com/2015/09/chihuly-art-kindergarten-style.html?m=1

So, what’s next in creating the perfect DIY Christmas gifts for your children to give this holiday season?

Create your list of supplies using the links throughout this post and get started today! Once your supplies have arrived, get to crafting these wonderful DIY Christmas gifts with your little ones. I know that whoever receives your child’s DIY gift will be truly amazed and your child will feel proud at what they were able to create.

DIY gifts are gifts from the heart. What a great and thoughtful way to start out this holiday season. Stay on budget, make Christmas magic and build your child’s confidence all at once. You won’t regret it!

Wishing you and your family a lovely and memory-filled holiday season from Big Love Small Moments!

COMMENT below with the project you decide to tackle with your kids! Let me know if you have other great ideas for DIY Christmas gifts. I’d love to hear from you. 🙂

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