Oh my… I've made so many gifts over the years.

For my parents one year, during the month of November, whenever I made a meal that could easily be reheated in a microwave, I doubled it and froze the extra meal.  Then come the first of December, I brought the meals to my parents as an early Christmas gift.   At the time, they owned their own retail store in a small town in Alberta.  Late night Christmas shopping started in early December and by having meals that they could reheat for supper, it saved them having run home quickly to fix something or ordering out.  It was a very well received gift and one that could be adapted to whichever family you were giving it to.

If you crochet… crocheted Christmas ornaments are an inexpensive gift to make.  One ball of crochet cotton will make several ornaments and can be worked on in the evenings while watching TV.   There are special glues you can buy to starch them but regular old Elmers glue works too.

A few years ago, I made stockings for Dave's son, daughter-in-law and grandson.  Then we filled the stocking with small gifts.  Stockings take less than a yard of fabric and could even be made with scraps of fabric leftover from other projects.

Last year I made felt hand puppets and a doorway theatre (out of an old set of curtains) for Dave's grandson.  For his granddaugther, because it was her first Christmas, I made her her own Christmas stocking from fabric leftover from the other stockings so hers would match the theirs and I added a cloth doll that I made.

Another gift idea for children… a dress-up box.  I took an inexpensive plastic storage bin and decorated it to look like an old travel trunk.  Then I filled it with a cowboy hat, an old beret, baseball caps, scarves I no longer used, old dresses and shirts, bead necklaces and anything else I could think of that would be fun to dress up in.   It was probably the thing that got played with the most over the years by all three of our children.

For one of their gifts last year, I made our girls teas wallets and tissue holders for their purses.  These don't take much fabric and are another gift that could be made from scraps leftover from other projects.

As for gifts for men… these are always the hardest.  One gift that my guys love and actually use all the time are their polar fleece housecoats.  Polar fleece comes on sale regularly and it's a gift that will last for years.

And even if you don't sew… polar fleece can be made into blankets, simply by cutting a fringe all around the edge and then knotting the fringe.  These make great blankets to put in the car or truck in case of a break down during the winter.

Sometimes the little men in our lives are just as hard to find handmade gift ideas for as the adults but I think I've finally found a fun idea for a handmade gift for Dave's grandson for this year.

Check out this cute handmade Christmasy set of skittles (complete with step-by-step instructions)

http://thelongthread.com/?p=1604

I think though that I'll substitue a bean filled ball or maybe even a simple stuffed ball for the wooden ball used to knock down the skittles.

How about some of those handwoven potholders made on one of the little peg looms?  They'd weave up fast and if there are kids around, they could get in on the weaving.  Scarves or hats made on "knitting looms" are easy to make, too, and it is possible to make 2 or even 3 hats in an evening.  Knitting looms are available at just about any craft store like Joanne's, or Michael's or evey Walmart.

p.s.  I hope this isn't redundant.