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Need more help for suggestions. Age group, male or female, gardener or not. I also do my shopping in the Summer because I like to enjoy the Holidays with cooking and visiting with friends and family. Also, prices are better in Summer and stores are empty. Hardest part is waiting for paper and cards to come in. Be glad to help if you give me more info.
Have a good day.

Maddadawn, here is at least one site to get you started. They offer free craft projects. I haven't used it recently, but last year I got some fun ideas here. I start with theirs and then "tweak" them. When I haave a chance I'll check my favs and list the links here.

Happy crafting

I have some ideas for you because I am doing some of these myself!

"Sand Art Brownies!"

This recipe makes 1 one quart glass container (canning container works well)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/3 c. baking cocoa
2/3 c. sugar
2/3 c. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. holiday milk chocolate m & ms

In a small bowl combine flour salt and baking powder. In a one quart glass container, layer the flour mixture, cocoa, sugar, brown sugar, chocolate chips, and m & ms packing well between each layer.

Cover store in a cool place up to 6 months. Decorate the container with a circle cut from christmas fabric to cover lid and tie with green or red ribbon. Attach to ribbon the following instructions for making brownies.

In a large mixing bowl beat 3 eggs, 2/3 c. veg oil and 1 tsp of vanilla extract. add brownie mix and mix well. Pour into a 8 inch square baking dish. Bake at 350 for 26-28 minutes until center is set. cool. makes 16 servings.

"Chocolate-Cherry Coffee Mix".(yields 6 gift bags)

3 cups of flour
2 cups confectioners sugar
1 and 1/3 cups nondairy creamer
1 1/3 cups instant coffee granules
1 c. baking cocoa
1 envelope unsweetened chery soft drink mix

Combine the above ingredients place 1 cup mix in a 12 inch disposable decorating bag. fold corners of bag into the center and roll bag down secure with transparent tape.

Place this bag inside a second disposable bag top with 1 cup of marshmallows and 1 teaspoon of holiday sprinkles. gather and twist top of bag, tie with ribbon.

repeat this 5 more times to make a total of 6 gift bags. store in a cool place for up to 2 months!

These are two ideas that arent too expensive and are fun to make. if you want more I have some...

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You gals have been great! I have been checking out different free craft sites. It has been along time since I have had the time to really start and finish a project.I will now!

ksulli1234, thanks a bunch! I have 4 grown sons, with spouses 1 grown daughter + hubby 14 grandkids ranging from 15 yrs. to 10 months. I have gotten allot of the kids gifts over the summer (on sale of course) LOL

I was thinking of making up 5 baskets with stuff they like, and of course some homemade goodies. I did find my pattern for plastic bag holder. I think I just may use that for wrapping the baskets???

Still love everyones ideas and am open to new ones... Thanks so very kindly!

HOW CAN YOU PRINT SOME OF THESE GOOD IDEAS OUT?WOULD LIKE TO SAVE SOME
DESTEPH

I have just 4 people I buy Christmas gifts for but my oldest sister has a very large family and she has done several things the last few years that cost almost nothing.

She made a scrapbook of family pictures using the pictures she had on scrapbook paper that can be bought very cheap. The nice thing about these is she recorded names, dates and memories on the pages along with the pictures. Put them in cheap 3 ringer binders and decorated the outside with things she had available.

She has also given away some of the things that they had accumulated over the past 50+ marriage life. She chose who to give what to by what they liked--racing fan grandsons got some of their grandfather's collections of racing cars.
Granddaughters got quilts, dishes, etc. This costs her $00 and her family loved it. Her thoughts are give it to them now so they will not fight over it later. I have given some of my old family dishes, scarves, quilts I have to my family for wedding presents.

She also goes to the Dollar Stores all year long and looks for nice but cheap gifts for her younger great grandkids.


view link
this is a site that tells about making gifts in a jar which would be good to include in a basket like you had talked about making.

Here are some more ideas & Eon groups that might be able to help you out:

1. Crochet or knit scarves, afghans, lap robes or stocking caps.
2. Make Bead Jewelry
3. Baking/Cooking: you could make up coupons for family members, promise to make their favorite cookie, cake, their favorite meal, etc. each month for a year.
4. Sewing: tied fleece blankets, tied fleece pillows, or scarves
5. Gift Baskets: This is a good website, they have over 1600 kinds of gift baskets, you could get some great ideas from here.
view link

EONS GROUPS: (plus there are a lot more on here if you search under crafts, hobbies, sewing, baking, etc.)

Crochet: view link

Knitting: view link

Baking: view link

Cooking: view link-new-old-and-indifferent

Cooking: view link

If you are into giving Christmas decorations, here's two ideas using Christmas lights:

get an old Mason jar and fill it up with a short string of white Christmas lights and some potpourri--tie a christmas-y cloth over the top with a ribbon (leave room for the cord, of course) -- looks really pretty when plugged in and the heat from the lights makes it smell really good

Get a glass block from the hardware store (like what's used in glass block windows) I have no clue how much they cost...very carefully drill a hole in the side large enough to stuff in a string of lights. Tie a ribbon around it....that's it. Very pretty with the lights turned on since the glass reflects them. I saw several at different craft shows and they were selling them for about $25 a piece. That's a lot...for not much work, but then again, I don't know how much the glass block costs.

Glass blocks were about $8.00 each, the last time I looked. What a wonderful idea for a decoration.

In order to save these ideas. Do a copy / paste into a word document, for the ones that are written out here. As far as the links go..bookmark them. Make sure you set up a "Craft" folder in your bookmark menu first so that you can find it later.