Every year since my first son was 1 we have come up with a Christmas presents the kids can make. I feel it is so important for them to have the joy of giving at Christmas. Especially something they have made with their own two hands. Every year I have the pleasure of watching them present their family and friends with their creations. You can see the pride on their faces when they say they have made it all by themselves. I remember having that same pride as a child. My mom and I would always come up with something I could make that was affordable and not too time consuming but really cool in my eyes.
For the last couple of years my boys have made tie dyed socks for everyone. We would pick the really heavy duty socks that you want to wear around the house and I would get those great kits from the craft store that have all the dyes in bottles you can squirt out. It was a challenge to make the two socks match each other and we had fun trying out different methods. Last year my son Mason actually drew pictures on each sock with something he thought the person liked. It turned out great. The socks held up great and we didn’t have any incidents with the laundry turning colors.
This year we are trying something different. The boys are creating specialty hot chocolate that we are going to package and stick in mugs. We have spent the last month and a half collecting cool coffee cups from thrift stores. We plan on doing different flavored hot chocolate. So far our favorite is the Cinnamon Hot Chocolate. We designed labels with instructions and their names on it so we can mark each flavor. We are also going to dip wooden stir sticks in chocolate so the Hot Chocolate can be served with it. The mugs have been fun to choose for the different people. I am amazed at how accurate the kids are in picking mugs. Each boy is picking someone in a couple. Mason is doing his Uncle and Cody is doing his Aunt. I look forward to putting the whole thing together. We have been doing it in phases the kids don’t get burned out. I have found that they do best when we only work on one thing for about a half hour. Then it stays fun. I will make sure to post some pictures when we get it all put together.
For the last couple of years my boys have made tie dyed socks for everyone. We would pick the really heavy duty socks that you want to wear around the house and I would get those great kits from the craft store that have all the dyes in bottles you can squirt out. It was a challenge to make the two socks match each other and we had fun trying out different methods. Last year my son Mason actually drew pictures on each sock with something he thought the person liked. It turned out great. The socks held up great and we didn’t have any incidents with the laundry turning colors.
This year we are trying something different. The boys are creating specialty hot chocolate that we are going to package and stick in mugs. We have spent the last month and a half collecting cool coffee cups from thrift stores. We plan on doing different flavored hot chocolate. So far our favorite is the Cinnamon Hot Chocolate. We designed labels with instructions and their names on it so we can mark each flavor. We are also going to dip wooden stir sticks in chocolate so the Hot Chocolate can be served with it. The mugs have been fun to choose for the different people. I am amazed at how accurate the kids are in picking mugs. Each boy is picking someone in a couple. Mason is doing his Uncle and Cody is doing his Aunt. I look forward to putting the whole thing together. We have been doing it in phases the kids don’t get burned out. I have found that they do best when we only work on one thing for about a half hour. Then it stays fun. I will make sure to post some pictures when we get it all put together.
