Enjoying a Christmas as it used to be might be the best thing you do this holiday season, it will make your day low cost, fun and still special.

Make your own gifts

This is a great way to show how much you care and save a little money. You will need to put some time aside to make homemade presents for your family and friends but it is all worthwhile when they see how much effort you have made. Here are a few ideas  along with websites that I think will provide great inspiration:

Make your own Christmas hampers, fill with the family’s favourite food – give the basket a theme for example Italian, so you can buy pasta, sauces and Italian wine to go in it. Sometimes it can be cheaper to go to a company who makes up Hampers. Do a comparison of what is in it and how much you would have to spend to do the same before buying or making!

M&S have some beautiful hampers for varying budgets and if you don’t buy from the website then you could get your ideas on what to put in your own hamper.

Take a look at these websites for filling ideas and where to buy your hamper:

I know I have mentioned this site before but I couldn’t get over how may ideas they had to helping our wallets survive the festive season: Money Magpie has a great amount of information on packing your hamper and where to go to get the best price. The information is from last Christmas but the ideas are there.

Why not use your skills, hobby or creativity to give a gift this year. My uncle is a great welder, one year he made us a bird feeder stand to put in our garden, it was perfect, personal and non of the neighbours had the same! If you have recently been on a frame making course because you enjoy using different techniques to display your artwork then there is a fantastic idea – use a photograph taken of the person you are giving to and place it in your homemade frame.

My grandma’s hobby is embroidery and she makes wonderful images, she regularly uses her talent to give her family and friends unique pieces of artwork made by her! If this doesn’t sound like you but you fancy putting your creative flare to work then check out these websites for making your own gifts. These websites have some fab ideas to making your Christmas homemade and special: Do it yourself Christmas and All About you

Making your Christmas gifts does not have to be all about art and creativity, why not try cooking your gifts? If you know your friends and neighbours love your homemade biscuits when they come over to visit then why not make a batch and give to them in a lovely festive tin to see them through the Christmas period. Perfect as you know that they love them and it saves you money, I must admit it also says a lot when a friend knows you well. My mum makes jar after jar of her own recipe piccalilli – they are always on demand from our family and friends as they love how she makes it, so now she gives them as gifts in a lovely vintage jar with ribbon and homemade labels. They look festive and personal. For recipe inspiration and ideas on what to make visit the BBC Good Food site – full of great recipes.

Great places to find your craft materials and attend Christmas workshops! www.lainesworld.co.uk; www.creativecrafts.co.uk; www.canonburyarts.co.uk

If making your own Christmas gifts is really not you but you would still like that unique and personal touch then there are artists and crafters out there that do it all for you, take a look at Not on the High Street.com and etsy.com (Etsy is in US Dollars but it features craft makers and artists from across the globe, the currency converts when you make a purchase and all charges are displayed at your purchase, you can also select where  in the world to buy from.)

Handmade Decorations

Okay so this section is just a bit of fun and our Old Fashioned Christmas Section wouldn’t be the same without it! Making your own decorations will give your tree and house a unique style and it can be catered to the colours you want! Here I will list websites to get inspiration, how tos and where to buy handmade decorations:

From making your own door wreath to creating the perfect centre piece for your dinning table, this website is full to the brim with ideas on how to make your own decorations.

My all time favourite decoration to make is the snow flake – totally childish I know but one day I will get them looking dainty and beautiful. If you are good with a pair of scissors then why not decorate your windows with beautiful designs – think outside of the box and use different materials, or add light white feathers to the tips to make the flake seem like it is floating. This is also a great activity to get the kids involved in.

A delicate and fanciful decoration to make is a hanging snowflake or star ornament for your tree. Collect together beads of your choice – matching types work best with this, these do not have to be beads you buy from a craft shop – they can be beads from a necklace or bracelet you no longer wear, you will also need 10 corsage pins with pearl ends. On each pin fill with your beads and push into a round piece of cork in the shape of  star.

In order to cover the cork, use a glitter paint pen or if you don’t mind getting your hands dirty lightly cover the cork with PVA glue and sprinkle with glitter or tiny pearls depending on the size of your star.

Tie some strong thread to one spoke of your star and hang on the tree with pride.

For more ideas on what you can make for your festive home, take a look at these websites and blogs to find inspiration and help.

craftbits.com

Article in the Telegraph

Santa’s Postbag

Please add your own website or recommend a website that we should all be using to make our Christmas special.

Happy crafting!

Tags: Christmas, Christmas gift ideas, homemade christmas gifts, homemade presents

This entry was posted on Monday, November 16th, 2009 at 4:32 pm and is filed under Christmas 2009, Old Fashioned Christmas, This Month's Features. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.