Have you ever made anything to give as a holiday present?

I love making gifts!

To a cousin who didn’t drink but loved mocktails, I gave a basket containing hurricane glasses, a pineapple, several cans of coconut cream, and a jar of maraschino cherries.

To another who had a significant John Deere collection, I had collected little trinkets all year (candles, magnets, a small set of kitchen gadgets, etc.) and put it in a basket together with a couple of yards of John Deere-print calico fabric.

My son and I made a few Medieval board games to pass out to his friends last Christmas. Seeing a room full of kids learning how to play Hnefatafl (Viking-chess) and Nine Men’s Morris was a blast.

Most of my gifts are made, now. Fruit cakes, cookies, sleep balm, vapor rub, lip balm, rice bags (for heating pads for aches or warming beds and stuff), Kahlua, spice blends, whatever catches my fancy to make in any given year.
Most of my friends and family have too much stuff, so consumables seem to be appreciated.

Basically, I give what I would like. I love it when people make stuff.

I am no where near that creative. What excellent ideas.
About the only thing I knocked myself out on was making potholders on a red metal loom with cotton loops. 6 per gift. I made a lot of those babies! Wow.
Everyone was pleased- and they were used!
Ok, one person accidentally caught one on fire. Not great in the kitchen…but said it added the extra needed ingrediant to the food -soot.

I really like making gifts, more of the thought counts in my opinion.
Gift baskets, care packages, or just a variety of things to show appreciation.

I sent my boyfriend a care package to mark his one year point of his mission, and I simply put baked goods and other sweets (cookies, brownies, his favorite candies) in small tins, a sweater and hat I knitted for him, and mix tape of weird cheesy songs, among other trinkets.

But sometimes it just makes a little bit of a neater impression.

You know what’s a good gift that’s reasonable? Print a photo (or variety of photos) of someone (family, their pets, etc.) and frame them. It’s always a big hit because people seem to rarely think of doing that themselves.

Many years ago I crocheted green, red and white variegated tree skirts. I gave a few of those as Christmas gifts. Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy dolls were gifts I made. A large size and a smaller size.

@jca That is so true. I have eleventy kabillion digital photos, and I think I have printed up maybe three of them.

I have made photo frames. I painted some table mats for someone. When the kids were little we made chocolates for relatives. We talked about making Christmas cakes for people the other day. Then I remembered seeing a conversation here about how much people dislike fruitcake (I love fruitcake), and it made me second guess the idea.

I usually make food items. Last year, knowing that one of my friends doesn’t care for sweets, I made Beer Onion Cheese Bread. It was a big hit.