For many people Christmas is a very stressful time of year. But that’s because we get lost in the hussel and bussel of things and forget the real meaning of Christmas. The fact that we all are loved and precious in the eyes of God!!! I feel Christmas is too materialized and gift gifting, instead of giving LOVE!!! To me, that is what the Holiday is all about, love!!!

One way I avoid getting stressed during the Holidays is not concentrating on giving expensive gifts. I guess that makes me cheap, but instead we find a family in need and give money to them. My husband and I are lame and normally we buy our own gifts haha. But to us, with 3 little kids and no family near to help, the best gift is a nice take out dinner and a movie on the couch. Quality time is what we enjoy!!

We do have a VERY large extended family and I feel bad not sending them gifts, so we have the kids do home made presents!! Again, some may call me cheap, but to me a home made gift may cost less BUT it takes a LOT more time and is done with love. Let me tell you, trying to decorate cards with a 4 1/2, 3 and 6 month old is NOT easy at all. But that is something my kids took time making. That is something I searched for high and low. It is something we spent a lot of time on and made with love vs just quickly picking up. In most cases, our homemade gifts takes days to finish. And the excitement from my kids is priceless!! They love the idea that we are making and mailing presents to the people they love. When I tell them, this is going on someone you loves fridge, they light up and work so hard to make it pretty. That right there is priceless because they truly are sending LOVE!!!

So what are some good homemade gifts??? All you Mom’s are going to hate me, but painting cards is a great one! Check out the card we do. I made the design myself and then printed it on card-stock. Feel free to save you use!!! I let them fingerpaint and decorate the outside, then we sit and write each of their names (helping them) on the inside. They love decorating cards with paint….just make sure you get the washable kind HAHA!!! We also put a family photo in there. You can get them developed for pretty cheap at online sites like Snapfish and even find online coupons to save more.

Another great gift we like is homemade ornaments. You have a lot of options with these and Pinterest is a great site to use for more ideas!! This year we bought a pack at Michaels that was 25% off and they are stickers…..not my favorite idea haha! We also did homemade salt magnets (directions at the bottom) or you can do homemade salt dough ornaments! Another great idea is potholders with handprints, ornaments with handprints, or plates with handprints. For me personally, I prefer things they can sit and paint as they get more time painiting vs just doing a handprint. The longer they can paint, the happier they are!!

SALT DOUGH ORNAMENTS

Ingredients:

A cup salt

2 cups of flour

¾ cup of water

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl mix salt and flour together.
2. Gradually stir in water. Mix well until it forms a doughy consistency.
3. Turn the dough onto the bench and kneed with your hands until smooth and combined.
4. Make your creations using the salt dough. (I use cookie cutters for designs)
5. If you are making ornaments, make sure to poke a hole for a string.
6. Place the salt dough creations into the oven at 180C.  The amount of time needed to bake depends on the size and thickness of the salt dough creations.

Tips 

• Store your salt dough in an air tight container as it keeps well for a few days.
• You can paint your creations with any-type of paint
• Salt dough can also be aired dried and is an alternative to oven drying.
• Let the kids decorate the salt dough creations, they have so much fun with it!!
• Use the salt dough to make ornaments, magnets, and all sorts of keep sake items!