Handmade Christmas Gift Ideas for Little Girls!

One of my girls favorite things to give their friends are things that I make. For instance last year they gave fabric ruffle bracelets and hair bows. Their friends enjoyed them and I did see them being worn. Here is a list of ideas that can be hand made and given as gifts to little girls.

Fabric rosette hair accessories.

Ribbon headbands.

Knit headband and fabric flower.

Fabric Apron

Fabric Flower Hair Accessories.

Fabric cuff bracelet with ribbon/beads.

Rapunzel Hair Braid (for dress up fun)

Maxi skirt and belt with matching shirred bow bracelet.

Fabric corsage ruffled bracelet.

Lace ruffled bracelet.

Smocked/shirred fabric headband with attached fabric flower.

Shirred fabric bracelet with giant button.

Fabric Headbands.

Make a Christmas Ruffle "Tree Shirt"

I always seem to gravitate towards buying my girls white T-shirts, this is despite my good sense that they will inevitably end up with stains down the front! I guess it's because white goes with everything, but they do end up with stains no matter how hard I OxyClean and Spray N Wash! So...I still buy white shirts because I love them, but when they do end up stained I just cover up the stained area with something cute like ruffles! Instead of a T-shirt, you get a "Tree Shirt!" You know I have an addiction to ruffles! I love them! So here's what I did when my daughter's 2nd grade class had a special Christmas Activity and they were supposed to dress in Christmas colors:

I took an old stained white T-shirt and made some ruffles out of Christmas colored fabrics. I pinned and then sewed on the ruffles in the shape of a Christmas Tree. Appliqued on a star at the top. Here's a picture of the finished product. It was fast, easy and I didn't have to buy anything new since I already had the Christmas fabric scraps.

Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Ideas

Today I'm posting my ideas for gifts to give that go along with the Twelve Days of Christmas song. I like to give one big box that has twelve gifts inside that corresponds with each day in the Song then they can either open one gift per day until they open the last on Christmas Eve or they can open them all at once. (Up to them.)  But of course, if you prefer to deliver each gift separately on each of the days then go ahead and do that. (I have found that it is easier to keep myself anonymous if I do it in one delivery, your chances of getting caught go up the more times you make deliveries.) And my little kids aren't very stealthy! Or another option is to enlist someone that the receiver doesn't know to deliver the gifts if you want to stay anonymous. Put each of the days gift(s) inside a separate bag or wrapping with each day on it so they know which to open when. Here is the one I did: I wrapped and labeled each gift with the day it was to be opened, put them all in a giant basket and put this letter inside.

There's  a Secret Santa that wants you to know you are loved this Christmas Season!
Inside this box are 12 packages, one to represent each of the 12 days until Christmas.

On the 12th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...we thought 12 Drummers Drumming might drive you crazy so we got a drum full of popcorn for you to munch on instead. (gift was a metal drum of flavored popcorn)

On the 11th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...we couldn't find the 11 Piper's Piping, so we got you some sugar cookie dough and frosting in "piping" bags to decorate. (gift was sugar cookie dough and frosting made and put into piping bags, remind them in the letter that this needs refrigeration)

On the 10th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...instead of 10 Lords A Leaping, we found One Lord, the Light and Life of the World, Jesus Christ. (Gift was a marble statue of the Savior Jesus Christ, and then a video of the Animated Nativity for the children, you could do anything that signified Jesus, a Nativity Piece, a picture of Him, etc.)

On the 9th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...instead of 9 Ladies Dancing, we could picture you dancing around your kitchen in this new apron. (Make or buy aprons for the ladies in the family.)

On the 8th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me..the 8 Maids were busy Milking, but we did find some Milk Duds! (boxes of milk duds is the gift)

On the 7th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...instead of Seven Swans A Swimming, we thought you might like to go swimming next summer. (Pass for swimming to local pool was the gift.)

On the 6th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me..instead of 6 Geese A Laying, we found a "Goose on the Loose!" (the gift was the Usborne children's book "A Goose on the Loose")

On the 5th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...instead of 5 Golden Rings, we found some yummy golden honey! (the gift was a pint of honey)

On the 4th day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...instead of 4 Calling Birds, we found these birdie pot holders calling to us! (gift was 2 pot holders made from cute bird fabrics)

On the 3rd day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...the 3 French Hens went out, but they say chicken soup warms the soul! (the gift is chicken soup, I chose a bagged option, but you could do canned or anything chicken)

On the 2nd day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me....instead of 2 Turtle Doves we found some delicious chocolate turtles. (gift was a box of chocolate/pecan turtles)

On the 1st day of Christmas my Secret Santa gave to me...We couldn't find the Partridge in a Pear Tree, but we did find some Pear Syrup that's yummy on pancakes. (the gift is Pear Syrup and box of pancake mix)

We hope you have a very Merry Christmas!

Love,
Your Secret Santa

You could adjust any of these gifts to be more personal to the people you are giving the gifts to. These are some ideas from the 12 Days of Christmas Basket Gift our family gave this year. As I looked for ideas on the internet I couldn't find what I was looking for so we did our own.

Family Photo Collage

I'm happy to say that I finally had family photos taken and have another "to do" checked off my "home improvement list". This may not sound like a big deal to you. I mean most people that have been married for 12 years and have had children for 7 years have done family photos yearly! Well...I must admit, again I'm a slacker and this is the first time in our 12 years of marriage that we really have a "family photo." There is a reason for this, I call it "post traumatic photo syndrome!" (Caused from my first photo taking experience with my children.) My oldest was two and my middle child was 2 weeks old. I thought I would take them down to Kiddie Kandids for a new picture. Yeah...bad idea! It was literally one of the worst parent experiences of my life! My oldest was not yet adjusted to the idea of her little sister being in existence. To say the least she hated her guts and wanted her dead! (Please don't think bad of my oldest child, life's hard enough for a 2 year old and then Mom and Dad throw in a cute little sister that steals all the attention!) I hate to admit it, but I'm the oldest of my siblings and my mom said I was the same way. If I knew the name of the sweet visiting teacher that I bit when she came to visit my mom and my new baby sister, I would say sorry!) My daughters have since learned to love each other very much (and I love my sister too!) But during this photo shoot trying to capture the sweetness of my daughters I got my 2 year old throwing toys at the baby, she wouldn't hold her or even sit by her! The baby screamed the entire time and when we got through, let's just say I was scarred for life (or the next 7 years, LOL!) Since that experience of great joy (insert sarcasm) I have had another child and of course love him more than life itself (not being sarcastic) and thought again that it was time to get over my post traumatic photo syndrome and get a family photo taken! This experience went much better and so I thought I would share the end result with you. As I mentioned in a previous post, my home is not decorated the way I would like it to be yet, always a work in progress. But I did get one bare wall decorated! Yay me!! (There's still so much to do.) Here's what I did: Bought a decorative rod at Rod Works, handy hubby hung it on the bare wall (since I can't hang things straight!), bought some wooden letters that spelled out FAMILY, my girls really love crafting so I let them paint them, they did a great job! (The whole time, my oldest kept saying, this is just like Art Class!) Then when the paint was dried we glued on letters we had cut out of scrapbook paper using Modge Podge, Then hung the letters using ribbon. I found a picture collage arrangement on Pinterest that I liked and wha-la..no more naked wall!

Make an inexpensive doll house for a Christmas gift!

Doll apartment shown here, the shell is a crate. Then we stacked it on top of two of the crates shown below, which are horse stalls.

For all you pinners who are afraid to throw away those toilet paper rolls, yogurt cups, lids and other useful junk, have I got a fun idea for you!! Save all those "garbage things" because you can make doll house furniture!! My mom came up with this idea and has made several for my girls and I think it's a fabulous idea. You just need to use all the junk you have lying around, like scrap pieces of fabric, rick rack, ribbon, food boxes, foam, pill bottles, gum bottles, yogurt cups, toilet paper rolls, felt and fleece, left over silk flowers, boxes or crates work great for the shell/house part. Decorate with print ables and have fun!! Here are a couple my mom did for my girls for Christmas this last year. She did a stable theme, the horse stall was on the bottom and the girls apartment we stacked on top of the stable. You can make this as inexpensive as you want and still end up with a fun gift. We have done this using card board boxes, crates and even made an entire Barbie house using a bookshelf we bought at Walmart! (When I say we, I really just mean my mother). She is the Barbie specialist around here! She makes clothes, furniture, houses and all kinds of other fun things my kids love to play with. She has pure talent, I'm telling you! When making these just choose the house part (box, crate, shelf) choose a color scheme (then look online for print ables that go with the color scheme and the room you are furnishing to decorate the walls, find some old junk, and fabric/embellishment scraps and your trusty glue gun and go to town! Make furniture such as chairs and beds out of cardboard and boxes, then cover with fabric. These are simple and inexpensive, but provide many hours of play entertainment! 

This pony's name is Sugar and Spice and this is her posh stall!