We’ve found a fun gift idea that is fairly inexpensive but gives me an activity with my kids and a nice gift all in one!

Simply put together the items (ingredients) to make something, along with instructions, and give it as a kit.

For food things, we find simple recipes (like muffins or biscuits) and put all the pre-measured dry ingredients into a glass jar. My kids enjoy measuring and we do it in colour layers so the jar also looks interesting. Tie it with some fabric or ribbon, add the recipe and you have a lovely gift. And I think it’s better than giving the muffins or biscuits as the person can enjoy them later (who needs a lot of biscuits the day or so after Christmas??)

For crafty things, I put everything in a shoe box (decorated by the kids usually) or tuile bag. This has a lot of scope – it can be generic items (paints, brushes, paper, etc) or specific items with instructions to make a particular thing (e.g. a cheap photo frame with some paints, brush and glitter.)

Anybody got specific ideas or recipes we could try this year? I’m always after something different even if in the same theme!