The joy in giving can be enhanced by the pride kids gain from making and giving their own gifts. The library and the Internet are great sources of many ideas for small inexpensive gift items kids can make. A couple of favorites, easy enough for a child to do with help from a parent or adult, include bookmarks, cookie mix jars, chocolate spoons and gift baskets. Bookmarks can be made from magazine pictures, kids' artwork or photographs that you cut into strips and encase in Con-Tact Paper to protect the artwork and make the bookmark sturdy. Mix up the dry ingredients for your favorite homemade cookie mix and pack it in Mason jars, seal, attach the recipe, and decorate the jar or wrap in colorful material tied with brightly-colored ribbon.
Kids can help mix up the batch of dry ingredients and decorate the jars.
This is a great item for kids to give to their teachers and make extras for last-minute gifts. One of Grandma's favorites is chocolate spoons to dip in her coffee or mocha. Start with some good quality plastic spoons and quality chocolate. Let the chocolate spoons set on a sheet of waxed paper. The items can be homemade treats and gifts or store-bought items.