We make most of our Christmas gifts, because it’s both less expensive and (generally) more personal. Last year, I gave my mom the “Twelve Days of Christmas.”
Some of my favorites:
For little girls, we love giving dress-up kits. Just check garage sales, thrift stores, and your own closets, and find random things they can use for costumes and pretend play. Purses, hats, bead necklaces, “dressy” gloves, and scarves seem to be especially popular! Fit them all into a decorated cardboard box, toybox, or plastic storage container so Mom doesn’t have to find a place to put it all!
For boys (and some girls), we have put together an outdoor building kit from various pvc fittings and lengths of pvc pipe cut into 6", 12", 18", and 24" pieces (some hardware stores will cut them for you; some charge extra for that). Be sure to sand the ends so they are smooth, though! If you have the extra money, as a cute storage idea, you might even be able to find a toolbox to fit all the pieces into (I found a plastic one at a garage sale that worked perfectly).
If you know someone who has an interest in a different culture or language, you can make a nice framed translation for them in that language. It may be their name (especially nice when the language looks different, such as Kanji–Japanese), or perhaps a short phrase like, “Live, Laugh, Love.” It may take some time if you ink it by hand (with paint or caligraphy ink), but IMHO, it nearly always looks better than computer-printed versions.
You could also use a similar idea for a t-shirt (fabric paints or fabric markers), pillow or pillowcase, canvas tote, apron, etc. A cool phrase, their nickname, a picture, or just something fun that reminds you of them in some way.
Old-fashioned toys are often inexpensive to make, too, if you have the tools and a little ingenuity. Hummer buttons, puppets, whammydiddles, Tower of Hanoi, Jacob’s ladder…
if you can sew even a little bit, you can make three beanbags and put those and three small, sheer scarves into a small box or tube as a “juggling kit.”
HTH!
