I’m getting into the gift-making spirit.
My favorite type of gift is homemade, and I love gift baskets, as evidenced by the entire chapter on homemade gift baskets in our book. However, as much as I love those ideas, I like changing them up a bit every year.
I have some new knitted washcloth patterns in the works, and some new soap recipes to try, and lotion bars, of course. I want to add in a couple of sewing projects this year, too, including a key fob purse I never leave home without. And there’s always room for edible treats, too.
The ideas are beginning to flow, but I could use a little help.
What are your favorite gift basket ideas? What kind of homemade goods gift baskets would you like to see developed?
Ideas for kids? Menfolk? Special occasions? Please leave your input in the comments! I can’t wait to hear your ideas for both what you’d like to see on the blog and what you love to make for your own gift giving.
I have made granola that was received well! And I love making the oranges with cloves that you cut into patterns and dry in the oven. They smell heavenly! I put together an ingredient kit to make wassail to give everyone at a produce exchange (studded orange, cinnamon sticks, cranberry juice and apple cider, and bitters). Love homemade gifts!!
Oh, I am so not ready. I have stitched a Christmas ornament, but have not put it together.
I am panicking about not having put up enough tomatoes, garlic and so forth to get us through the winter.
Breathe deeply.
Agree Daisy. A simple thoughtful homemade gift is so much better, inexpensive and thoughtful instead of expensive commercial products.
Please forgive us for tooting our own horn. For Christmas might we suggest getting a bottle of our Ceylon Cinnamon Bark Essential Oil, adding a few drops to a 2 oz spray mister bottle filled with water, printing a nice little label on it and gifting it for scenting the house, the car, the Christmas tree and especially pine cones. The scent of Cinnamon makes everyone agreeable. A very useful gift.
We will send you a free bottle Daisy. You never take up our offer, but give it a try this time.
I love gift baskets; one I’d really like to see is for a teenage boy who loves his mobile phone, tablet and other electronic devices and who just discovered girls aren’t an alien species. Thanks in advance.
I have 3 nieces who are below ten. Not one is a girly girl. They are unwilling to be a princess. Help! I have gifted Minecraft and Goldie
Blox, this is getting boring for them. We are having a homemade Christmas.
What to do with all those photos? On the (recent Aug 2016) 5th anniversary of my husband’s passing I sent a group email to our three of our children. It contained several photos of each child with their dad plus several of him alone. Because the children are nearing fifty and my years are beginning to stack up I have decided to divided all the family photos. I do not want the children to have to do this alone. Believe me, it isn’t a happy task to do. One of my daughters will be helping me to sort all the photos into three boxes. While doing this with me, I will be able to answer that age old question, “Who is this?” I felt this would be a sweet Holiday Gift for the family. Be sure to write everyone’s name on the back of the photos and the date (year). Oh yes, as my daughter said, “Mom we will need: containers, ink pins, tissues, coffee, and wine.”
Kathleen–A worthy task. Very hard, though, I agree. Ha, I like your daughter. A tip of the hat to you and your family.
Lara–I’m going to put my mind to this and see if I can come up with something. I’ll let you know.
Trish–Challenge accepted! This is a tough one . . .
We don’t have any kids (yet!) so I love to receive animal-themed baskets (homemade dog, cat, horse treats…etc.). I would love to see some ideas for a men-themed basket of homemade goodies. I’ve always found simple jars for making cookies or brownies are well-received also!
I’m afraid in our house, traditional handmade gifts are the norm. My adult kids still want hand-knit socks and mitts, so do the grandkids. For some reason, they never get old but are soooo much work.
Food gifts are usually cookies, or large canning jars filled with ingredients (minus the liquids) for cookies, cakes, loafs, etc. Most of our family works full time (we’re the oldest … shhhh) and pretty much the only “retireds”. Moms love coming home from work (students love them too) and only having to dump the ingredients in a bowl and add the liquids.
Newer things I’ve done were to compile all our “family” recipes into a cookbook, with photos and stories for each recipe. Had them printed online (blurb(dot)com) in hardcover.
Currently, I’m still working on a family history book with photos of the things I have (got a huge box of documents) including old birth certificates, marriage certs from grandparents … wedding photos etc. Long way before I can print that.
Also working on a book for my husband. His father recently passed and it’s the story of his life, including his time in the Boxing Hall of Fame. Don’t know if I’ll get that finished before Christmas either … maybe Father’s Day 🙂
Gracey–I think this is what gifting should be all about: thoughtful, useful, even necessary acts and handmade goods that provide comfort and joy. Wonderful.
I love all the photo ideas. Here’s one I did for my Dad…
He’s technologically literate but doesn’t care about having a smart phone. As long as his phone will make calls and send texts, he’s happy, so he usually gets my Mom’s old phone whenever she upgrades. His previous phone, though, was the one he had when my first son was born. When he switched to his current phone, he lost all the pictures that were on his old phone. I told him, “Oh, don’t worry, dad. I’ve got all those pictures saved.” His response was, “Yeah, but I lost the texts that went with them. They told a story.”
So I pulled all those pictures and messages together and put them in a photo book. Now, he’ll have the pictures and the stories forever.
Abby–What a great idea! Love you included the text messages.
I love these gift basket ideas! I’ve recently decided every gift recipient will get a homemade gift along with a coupon for an activity and maybe a store-bought item. I’ve made people jewelry, cookies (and I love the cookie-in-a-jar gift!) photo gifts, wreaths, face scrubs, and scarves. I think homemade gifts are the best! Reading these blog posts and comments always give me inspiration.