Despertly seeking ideas




Okay so the idea of an all homemade Christmas has always been appealing to me for various reasons. Foremost, of course is my secret wish to be Caroline Ingalls and live in a log cabin in the woods when one particularly snowy Christmas a large man donning a great beard treks through the woods to bring my small girls a stick of candy for Christmas. I believe Mr. Edwards arrived only in his red long underwear, the kind with the drop flap in the back. (sorry I don't know what that is called other then a drop flap. However, I apparently was born in the wrong time period not to mention the fact that Charles never proposed to me. That does not stop me from my romanticised visions of being a homesteader, in my vision it is a calm simple life- no bubble bursting on that one please.




Wow I got way off track-let me get back on- Okay I began talking about our homemade Christmas. Yes. Well then, somehow I was able to get everyone on board even with visions of store bought goodies fighting for position in my children's heads. Perhaps, it is the difficult economy that we are all too well aware of or better yet maybe, just maybe- am I romanticising again?- they are all intrigued with the idea of creating something special for all those involved.




Now that I have taken this on I have to actually come up with things to make for everyone and there in lies the problem. I need some ideas- hopefully there are a few of you who still pop in here now and again and can help me. Mainly I need ideas for my boys ages 9 and 11.



Any suggestions?

Comments

Sarah and Jack said…
I am totally useless since I really know nothing anymore of boys that age. It does seem like a hard one to come up with. Maybe they like goofy hats? (touks?) Silly shirts? CD Holders?
Kirimi said…
I don't know much about boys that age either, but here are a couple of ideas I've heard of before...might not be age appropriate enough though (the boys might be past this stuff?)

1) Squeaky Clean Monster Puke (if the boys ever take baths anymore, this is just a goofy homemade bubble bath mix).

2 cups olive oil
1/2 cup honey
1 cup shower gel (any kind)
1 teaspoon green food coloring

Pour mix into jars, add plastic eyeballs/spiders/monsters, label and give with a shower puff. Kind of goofy and I don't know how well the stuff actually works...

2) Photo puzzles (if they enjoy quiet activities like this now and then). Take photos of the kids, blow them up (even 8x10 sized) and attach them to a heavy tagboard, then cut into puzzle pieces.

That's all I got!
Felicia said…
My BFF has a nine year old son one thing she's making him is a boy necklace. I think he asked for one that was surfer style (whatever that is! :). She's using wood beads, twine and a lobster clasp. You could also maybe do one seashell as a focal bead.

And not that I'm trying to push my stuff on you but I've got something in my shop that seems to be a hit with that age group. Warning that the pics my gross you out in a funny way!

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5067324&section_id=5745941

Best of luck!
Ummm...electrical tape, a marble, some sticks, a few yards of string and corrugated cardboard for Nolan and scraps of paper, a Magnum permanent marker, glue, google eyes and a frame for Ash. Ev is on his own.

;-)
Post script: totally love the idea of a homemade Christmas. Trying to do that myself, but it's not working out so well. Time is of the essence.
Side note: Did it take days or just hours to make that oven mit? I'd love to make some for Christmas gifts, if you think it would be possible for me... :-) Shoot me an email and let me know!
Anonymous said…
bonjour Natasha
It seems that we read the same books (me in French of course !)... hehe...
Sorry I found you were back on the blogland a little too late and I have a 9 year old GIRL anyway !
But I can see your readers came up with some interesting ideas...
I don't find it that bad that people are kind of forced to re-discovered the virtue of homemade, do you ?!
Joyeux Noël !
I'm a little late to help out with good ideas...but I hope it all turned out wonderful!

Jillian