Handmade/Thrifted Christmas gifts at Chez Frugal Girl
I've been promising for days to show you some of the homemade and thrifted gifts we gave this year, and today, I'm actually going to follow through!
For Zoe's Build-A-Bear (er, Build-a-Dog, as Zoe likes to point out), Chloe, I crocheted a scarf. Sometimes at night, Mr. FG reads out loud to me, and I do some sort of mindless busy-work, like ironing or folding laundry. In November, I spent that time making a scarf.
I actually pay attention better when my hands are busy, so crocheting is a perfect activity for me...I get something done and I absorb more of what Mr. FG is reading to me.
I also made a pair of pants for Chloe out of the sleeve of an old dress of mine. I think they turned out pretty well...the only mistake I made was not leaving a hole for Chloe's tail. Whoops.
I looked online to see if I could find some Build-A-Bear patterns, but came up with nothing, so I just sort of made this up as I went along, and I used Joshua's Build-A-Bear hockey pants to get sort of a vague idea of proportions.
From the same dress, I made a dress for Lisey's bear, Anne-Marie.
For the straps, I used some ribbon that I'd salvaged from a shopping bag.
The dress straps can be tucked inside so that the dress can be used as a skirt. Except we realized that poor Anne-Marie doesn't own a shirt, so for now, this is solely a dress.
For Sonia's bear, Sniffles, I made a scarf. I think I crocheted this one during Mr. FG's and my reading sessions in October.
I wasn't the only one making things, though. And I wasn't the only one making things out of my old ironing board cover, either. Joshua used some of that material to make this for Zoe.
He stitched the designs on either side, and I sewed it into a bag (using, you guessed it, cord that I'd saved from a shopping bag with corded handles).
Lisey made a fish bag for Zoe using one of Mr. FG's old shirts. The fish on this one is a Mola Mola, the same fish that inspired Zoe's birthday cake last year.
She used some more of that fabric to make a pillow and blanket for Zoe's little whale.
And now for some paper crafts. Since Mr. FG and I both feel that the value of a card lies in the note inside, we don't usually bother buying cards for each other, and instead we make our own.
I made a card for Mr. FG out of paper scraps and some clearance stickers I had in my drawer.
And he made me one with some lovely calligraphy (the whole note inside is calligraphy too!).
In addition to hand-made things, some of the gifts we gave were second-hand (which for us usually means "from Goodwill").
Last year for Lisey's birthday, I gave her a thrifted little white shelf for the wall by her bed, so that she could have a place for some of her small treasures.
I found a similar shelf at Goodwill this year and tucked it away for Sonia. Hers is generally covered in turtles or Japanese erasers. 😉
Of course, we found a large number of bath supplies at Goodwill for Sonia and Zoe (not included in the picture is a large container of cupcake-shaped bath fizzers).
I am always surprised at the number of new-in-the-package bath beads and fizzers that we find at Goodwill...when I first started shopping there, that type of thing is not at all what I expected to see!
I found a Peep coloring book at Goodwill for Lisey, which was most excellent. Because regular stores do not have Peep books in December!
I also got a package of sidewalk chalk for Zoe, but I didn't manage to take a picture of that because she was outside using it. 😉
In addition to homemade and thrifted gifts, we also gave our children some new things (for instance, we gave Joshua some new t-shirts (one with a gecko on it and one with Mario characters on it), Sonia and Zoe got new rollerblades from Aldi, and we gave Lisey a pile of embroidery/sewing supplies).
This is because I'm not a die-hard "used goods only" kind of gift giver. If I can find something second-hand or make something myself, I do, but if I want to give something that's not available at Goodwill or that I can't make, I look for a good deal, buy the item, and I don't feel guilty.
I'd miss thrifting and making gifts if I only ever bought brand new presents, but feeling like I had to make or thrift all my gifts would make me crabby and stressed, I think. So for me, this is a happy middle-ground.
Today's 365 post: A package from a reader
(and those of you that were confused about Sonia's Christmas turtles should visit my 365 blog tomorrow to have that all cleared up!)
Oh, I just love this. We just got our older son his first Build-a-Bear, and he loves it to pieces. He decided to name him Grrr (gotta love two-year olds)!
I just recently had my grandma teach me how to crochet. Do you mainly make clothing/accessory items, or do you also make things for around the house, like dishcloths and potholders? Just wondering if you've found any of those crocheted items worth your time 🙂
I find giving dishclothes the easiest gift for Christmas. Nobody really wants to spend their own money on buying necessary stuff, plus they know that you really took the time to make them something. (I knit them so it takes a little longer)
This year I knit the dishclothes and made candles with my daughter for her teacher. We used the dishcloth to wrap it up.
Oh, thanks, Erin! Do you have any favorite patterns you could point me to? I know how to knit as well, so any patterns would work 🙂
My crocheting skills are pretty pathetic...I mostly know how to make blankets, scarves, and potholders. lol
My crocheting skills are very simple. I have been trying to use up some string and yarn I have around so started making dishcloths. I work on them at night while watching tv. These things are great to use, they scrub way better than I thought they would. I was just making them and not really thinking about using them but they work so well. It doesn't really matter how long it takes either I just add it to the stack in the kitchen when I finish one.
I love the thoughtfulness that your family puts into their gifts. I agree, it is just amazing the quality of things that you find at Goodwill!
Clementine box repurposed! I used one to wrap up a dozen muffins with some pretty tissue paper and the recipe attached. Someone said it looked like something from a catalog!
Yes, I was looking for something to store all their goodies in, and a clementine box worked perfectly. Yay!
Those scarves and BAB clothes are darling!
I love that you shared the names of all the teddies. Do you celebrate their birthdays? My daughter (7) loves celebrating her stuffed animals' birthdays and has started writing their birthdays in her school agenda so we won't miss any! It makes for a good "Family Fun Day"!!!
I don't think my kids have paid attention to the BAB's birthdays. We must have put one on the original certificate, though.
Bath goodies galore! Don't think I've ever seen a bath product at our Salvation Army. Maybe one of the workers is a bath goddess and snags it all before it gets to the floor!
Love, love LOVE the homemade sibling gifts, especially the whale tote and pillow! And that one of the embroideries is a mola-mola! So adorable! I have never been very clever at making things so this is a revelation. The gift bags are wonderful -- Love the use of sleeve and collar!! -- I am gazing askance at my giant box of holiday wraps (paper) -- the recycling aspect is fantastic. When I was a kid, we inherited dish towels made from old cloth flour sacks that some ancestor had carefully hand-hemmed and repurposed for KP duty.
I just wanted to say Thank You for encouraging thrift store shopping - I've especially enjoyed the pictures of your entire Goodwill outfits. I lost a lost of weight this year and need to basically get a new wardrobe. I've been shopping at our Goodwill, and today I scored FOUR shirts, each for $4! One of them was even Patagonia!
That's what did it for me too...hearing Katy from The Non Consumer Advocate talk about what she found at her Goodwill. It made me think that there's some good stuff to be had there, and it's so true!
Love the way you combine homemade, thrifted and new gifts! That seems so much more doable to me than only homemade or only thrifted. Great idea on the Build A Bear clothes. My daughter would love that. Perhaps I can work on my sewing skills this year and come up with some too. I didn't do as much thrifted this year but did find a great brand new book on paper airlplanes for my son for 39 cents as a stocking stuffer at our Goodwill.
Thank you for this great post! You've inspired me yet again!
I love your darling scarves for the kid's BABs. I have put learning to knit on my bucket list for this year. I can sew, embroider, crochet, needlpoint, but my poor Grandma could never teach me the knack of knitting (bless her little heart). Hopefully your never to old to learn. I would love to be able to whip out hats and dishtowels for next years gift list.
Great work Wow. Sometimes Dollar tree out of Virginia has costumes and the dress up bears for only a dollar. Those are cool too.
The Dollar Trees in Virginia are the BEST dollar trees. My sister and I go to one every time I visit.. (hint: check out the 50 cent cards. I've gotten hilarious ones there, a la: Someday I'll be just like you. Old.)
We have Dollar General stores around here. They're greeting cards are so inexpensive, but look as good as Hallmark cards. I feel good about sending these cards. They just don't look like 99 cent cards.
It's time for me to stock up, too. Good reminder!
Darn it! As soon as I hit submit, I saw my error.
"Their", not "they're". I do know better. I'm an Administrative Professional (usually).
Thanks for sharing. You've done some really creative things.
I love the darling scarves you made for the bears! I enjoyed this post so much! So much inspiration to be found in all your posts. Thanks for sharing!
I love the bags!
We do a mixture of new, second hand and home made too. Seems to work the best for us. Not madly consumerist, not a huge spend but it also gives everyone something they actually want.
There was a discussion on another blog about how eco-friendly it is to get your children 'green' presents if they didn't want them/weren't going to play with them. The general consensus was not very. I think home made is the same. If you can't make something that the other person would really want, then maybe it's better not to? For instance, I make my father jam for Christmas, but he really shouldn't have any more cakes/sweets/biscuits, and I'm not up to sewing or knitting him anything that he would actually use, so I get him a magazine subscription.
I love hearing about how other people celebrate Christmas. It is rare that anyone will talk about how much they spend.
I will share too. We spend $250 per teen. Gifts always include practical gifts and a few fun gifts too. I would guess that 1/2 that amount is money I would spend anyway. Older kids appreciate this because if mom buys your straightener then you don't have too. lol
Younger children get budgeted on a sliding scale. I spent about $20 on my 2 yo. My middles I spent about $100. Again, some of it is practical like snow boots and some is fun.
We go out for Chinese food after church on Christmas Eve. That is over $100 for the 10 of us but they talk about that meal all year. We cook both on Christmas morning and evening.
When I was little, my Aunt had a friend that crocheted. One year, she got me a set of crocheted Barbie clothes that her friend had made. Best. Present. Ever. One I still remember 30 years later.
FYI: Hand sanitizer takes off those permanent marker "price tags" as easy as pie.
Thanks for the tip! I get so frustrated with the Goodwill permanent marker in the most obvious places (like the front of a mirror or glass dish!). Sometimes I imagine the employees are deviously writing it in the worst possible spot just to annoy me.
I've seen a tip for getting permanent marker off of white boards: write over it with a white-board marker, then wipe all the marker away.
I wonder if that would work on other items besides white boards?
Cute gifts Kristen. I like the bags that Joshua & Lisey made. I love having the handmade in there, but definitely couldn't do all handmade.
The whale pillow and blanket is impossibly adorable!!!
This year, for all my classmate-friends, I bought cute tins from Goodwill & the Salvation Army, washed them *thoroughly*, and filled them with Scotcharoos & Peppermint Bark. I was even able to find a huge spool of cute cottage-plaid ribbon at Goodwill, so instead of using wrapping paper I tied a big pretty bow around each tin :). They were SO well-received, and I was excited that each person could tell that I had picked a tin that specifically "went" with them. My mild fears were that at least one person would think the secondhand-ness was "gross", and boy was I wrong! It was one of my favorite gifts I've ever put together! Plus I was able to give gifts to almost 10 of my friends, without spending much more than it cost to make the treats inside. Each tin was probably about 50 cents.
Sarah,
If you're even the least bit concerned about putting food in reused tins, you could put them in plastic bags inside the tins. Or wrap them in plastic wrap or aluminum foil.
your post is both endearing and inspiring. I hope you all had a merry christmas and a lovely new year! Your babies' handmade presents to eachother will be a tradition i hope to keep if i someday have children. Thanks for reminding me how lucky we all are!