Having four kids comes with a few guarantees. There’s always an abundance of snuggles, a copious amount of dirty laundry and having at least one companion when going to the bathroom is a given. And it certainly means that making gifts is never done alone.
While this can sometimes be frustrating, it also means that I always have plenty of help. And usually lots of fun, especially when I can relax and enjoy the experience of making gifts with my kids.
If your kids love helping you out with … everything, give these easy DIY gifts you can make with kids a try:
1. Lip balm
Lip balm is super easy to make with kids. Depending on their ages, they can help with measuring, stirring, adding essential oils or even pouring the finished product into metal tins or other containers. This recipe is super easy, especially if you choose to omit the part where you infuse the oil with herbs.
2. Homemade Keepsake Ornaments
Homemade keepsake ornaments are a great gift for family members and kids love squishing their hands in dough (at least, I know mine do). This is something you could do every year, too, to show your kiddos how much they’ve grown.
Here’s the tutorial.
3. Snowflake Gift Pouches
You can’t go wrong with stencils and paint in my house. These snowflake gift pouches would be a hit with my kiddos, especially if they got to cut out the snowflakes. (There would be extra excitement if we made the pouches ourselves and they got to use my sewing machine.)
4. Lotion bars
My kids were clamoring to help make these lotion bars and each got to take a turn measuring out an ingredient and adding it to the pan. Let them choose which essential oils to add.
5. Sleepy time bath salts
These sleepy time bath salts are a great gift for adults and kiddos alike. I know of a certain niece who would feel super special and grown-up if she got some.
6. Gingerbread Men
I made (and ate) my first gingerbread men ever a couple weeks ago as part of our Advent activities. The kids helped and loved rolling out the dough and using the cookie cutter.
I ended up turning over the project to my husband to move the cookies to the cookie sheet because I kept ending up with gingerbread amputees and got really frustrated. (After calling his pastry chef brother, Ian found that we just needed to use more flour and clean our scraper off after we took every cookie of the roll-pat.) And that’s why I rarely bake.
7. Monogrammed Mugs
Looking for a way to make gifts for everyone on your list at once? This gift idea is so simple and all you need are plain white mugs, stencils, dishwasher-safe markers and transfer paper. (In case you’re wondering, husband, I’d love a 16 oz. cup & travel mug with an “N” on it. Oooh, or a school bus! 😉 ).
Here’s the tutorial.
8. Citrus rose bath salts
Here’s another great gift idea for the bath-lovers in your life. The citrus rose combination sounds so luxurious and they look gorgeous packaged in a mason jar.
Here’s the recipe.
9. Brown sugar body scrub
I love DIY bath & beauty products because they’re so easy to make and you can made lots of gifts at once. This brown sugar body scrub is frugal, nourishing to the skin and super easy. As in, you just have to watch and smile as your little ones have fun with it. Perfect!
Here’s the recipe.
10. Apple Hand Pies
I mention these little pies a lot (like in my post on edible gifts in jars) because:
- They’re delicious
- My kids love making them
- People love receiving them as gifts
Here’s the recipe.
Love these! Thanks for including my brown sugar body scrub!
Thanks for including my citrus rose bath salts! Great post!!!
Thanks for mentioning my mug tutorial along with such great ideas! I do think your hubby and kids should make you one with a school bus, that would be really cool!