As the holidays approach your kids may be scrounging to buy gifts they can hardly afford. How about offering them these fun ideas for gifts from the heart?
SERVICE COUPONS
Offer a free evening of helping someone out, such as babysitting, taking out the trash, reading books to a young relative, making your sister’s bed, pet sitting, leaf raking, or snow shoveling.
SHAPE AND DECORATE SOAPS
Grate bars of inexpensive white soap. Then mix approximately ½ cup of warm water with a cup of shredded soap. Add food coloring to the water to create colored soap. Knead the mixture. Add additional warm water as necessary until it forms like dough. Next, fill cookie cutters with the mixture. Or flatten it on a sheet of waxed paper, and trim into shapes. Let the soap dry slightly. Then press with small leaves or other designs. Allow the decorative soaps to dry for 24 hours, flipping them occasionally.
DESIGN YOUR OWN PENCILS OR PENS
Purchase sheets of large white labels and cut them into 1.5-inch strips. Decorate the strips with colored markers and then wrap the design around the length of the pencils. Personalize them by adding a smaller label to the center of the pencil with “World’s Greatest Grandma” or another catchy phrase. To protect your pen or pencil design, wrap it with clear scotch tape.
MAKE A PLACEMAT
Choose a subject of interest related to your gift recipient, such as model cars or Barbie dolls. Clip pictures from magazines and catalogs. Then glue them to an 11” x 17” sheet of paper. Overlap the pictures to create a collage, or spread them apart and share details about each. When you’re done, laminate the design with self-adhesive laminating sheets, or have it laminated at an office supply store.
CREATE BOOKMARKS
Cut colored paper into 2-by-7-inch strips then design the strips with colored pencils and markers, or clip fancy border from magazines. Find out your gift recipient’s favorite author, artist, or historical figure. Then look the person up in a book of quotations. Select a quote and then type or write it out. Next, add the quote to the bookmark and laminate it for protection.
GIVE MAGNETIC PHOTOS
Cut a piece of cardboard from a cereal box to match the size of your photo. Then glue it to the back of your photo for support. Last, glue a small magnet to the cardboard. Test it on your fridge to see how it works before you wrap it.
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