Inexpensive and Simple Craft Ideas for Christmas Gifts

Great Christmas gifts needn't be expensive.

Christmas is a joyful time of giving and receiving, but there is no reason to get stressed out if you don't have an unlimited gift-giving budget. Often, the best and most treasured gifts are those that the giver put some of her own thought, energy, and imagination into creating. Great gifts can be made at home, simply and inexpensively.

Flavored Sugars

The book "Handmade Christmas" says that you can add to the sweetness of everyday white sugar with edible and aromatic items like rose petals, orange or lemon peels, and vanilla beans. To create this simple holiday gift, layer sugar with your choice of any of the above and seal tightly in a canning jar, allowing the flavors and aromas to blend or a few days. These add a subtle flavor to coffee, tea, baked goods, and desserts.

If you plan to use citrus peel, let the peel dry for a day before blending with sugar. To decorate the jar, tie a festive ribbon around the middle of the jar, securing with a dot or two of hot glue. Don't forget to print a label for the jar.

Beaded Candles

The idea for this simple Christmas craft was discovered at RubyGlen.com and involves using pillar candles in any color, beads, and small crafting pins.

You can use small goldtone, silvertone, or colored beads. Choose craft pins in gold or silver, whichever will look better with your beads. Make sure that the pins will fit through the bead holes, and also that the pins are not very long--they have to stick all the way into the candle.

Plan a pattern, or choose to stick beads on your candles randomly. If you want to do a pattern, use the point of a pin to poke tiny holes in the candle to create the pattern before you start applying the beads.

Insert a pin through a bead, and push all the way into the candle. Repeat until your pattern is finished.

Beaded Napkin Rings

DLTK's Growing Together offers this fun idea for a holiday gift craft. Kids can do this craft, but will need some adult help. This is also a craft that adults will enjoy.

You need needle nose pliers or wire wrapping beading pliers, wire cutters, bracelet memory wire, and about 50 tri-beads for each napkin ring. The beads can be in Christmas colors of red, green, and white, or any other color combination. It's best to stay with only two or three colors.

An adult will have to do the steps involving the memory wire. Bracelet memory wire comes in a coil, with about 15 rounds per coil. With the wire cutters, cut slightly more than the length of one coil. Use the pliers to make a small circle at one end of the piece of coil, so the beads don't fall off. Have kids thread the beads onto the coil in a pleasing pattern until only about a half inch of the wire is left sticking out. Make another circle at the end of the wire with your pliers. You now have a napkin ring. Make sets of napkin rings and give alone, or with a set of cloth napkins.

References

• "Handmade Christmas"; Martha Stewart; 1995
• Ruby Glen: Homemade Beaded Candles
• DLTK's Growing Together: Tri-Bead Napkin Rings