9 Frugal Things to Make and Do for Christmas
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
This braided headband is made using scraps of cloth you already have on hand and a bit of elastic. Very cute.
Make your own snowglobe- you need a jar with a good lid, some clear drying epoxy glue for the figurines, distilled water, a drop or two of glycerine (to keep the snow from falling too quickly) glitter, and some imagination.
Make your own pillows- I particularly liked this embellishment- a gift tag of sheet music sewn on to the pillow:
To make the gift tag, cut a piece of freezer paper 8.5" x 11" (the size of printer paper) and iron the shiny side to a piece of light weight cotton fabric. Cut the fabric 8.5 x 11 after adhering the freezer paper. Now you should have a piece of fabric that will run through your printer. I had to fiddle with mine a bit, but it worked nicely. I am not guaranteeing this will work in your printer. I simply googled free printable sheet music, found and image I liked and printed it on the freezer paper backed fabric. After printing the image onto the fabric, remove the freezer paper. Next fuse a piece of steam-a-seam to the back and cut it out in the shape of a gift tag. Remove the paper backing and iron it in place on the burlap box. Stitch around the edges with a zig-zag stitch.
Okay, this one isn't exactly a home-made gift, but I see two potential uses for it- one would be to give a little girl you know a coupon for her doll to spend the day at your doll spa, and you can recondition and smooth down the doll's hair, and otherwise rehabilitate a well played with dolly. The other would be to use this information to fix up a thrift shop dolly for gift giving. I understand this works best for dolls where the hair is attached to their heads- rows of holes hold strands of hair, not for dolls with glued on wigs.
Make these Scandanavian paper heart baskets- We make these for Valentine's day, too, as well as Christmas. They are so easy, so pretty, so cute. I think they look pretty hanging on a tree, and I think they look great attached to a package with a little goodie inside.
Adorably sweet angel ornament made from ribbon, a bead, and funky paperclips. Really, it's cute, I promise!
Frugulous home-made lotion bars- Frugal, yet luxurious- frugulous.
I'll try to post a picture of these later- they are a poor woman's substitution for something like Mexican tin ornaments- use a cookie cutter to cut shapes out of an old disposable baking pan. Draw a raised pattern on it with a crochet hook. Take permanent markers and color on the shape. Add a second coat before the first has dried. Poke a hole in it to hang the ornment, run ribbon or a bent paper clip through (I like to use bent paperclips as ornament hooks).
Glittery birds for the Christmas tree or a wreath
Want more like this post? Read on!
- Frugal and Creative Christmas (or other) Gifts For children- the best way to reduce your children's expectations...
- A Gift of Frugali-TEA and Magazines Pip mentions a wonderful Adagio tea deal going on right...
- Frugal Hair I recently made the final switch from shampoo to...
- Frugal Parties: A Holiday Planning Tea I always have grand plans when it comes to holiday...
- Reader hacks Noah reminds us that that everyone, by law, is...
2 Responses to “9 Frugal Things to Make and Do for Christmas”
December 14th, 2009 at 1:47 am
I’m making headbands for Christmas presents, although mine are from this pattern: http://blog.a-common-thread.com/2009/10/knit-pattern-moss-stitch-bow-headband.html
And I think I’ll be making some of those lotion bars, perhaps for other holidays, I’m not sure if I have time to find beeswax and I’m also not sure it will fit in my budget this year. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
Another thing I’m making is 5 minute fudge! http://www.recipezaar.com/five-minute-fudge-403065
January 5th, 2010 at 5:10 pm
Thanks. Beautiful crafts to make with my girls.
Leave a Comment