This blog post was written by SAC member Jawahir Mohamed
With the holiday season approaching, you may be thinking about what to gift family and friends. This can be a stressful time, so to lessen the pressure, we want to present to you the option of making gifts from the comfort of your home! Crafting can be a great way to gift unique and personal items to those you care about (and your bank account will thank you). This blog introduces some holiday craft ideas that you can enjoy making alone or with the kids in your life. These activities can be a great way to bond and spend time with the family because, as we all know, the holiday season is about more than just presents.
Hand Crafted Jewelry
If you have ever made jewelry as a kid, then you know how fun it can be! This DIY craft is not holiday specific, but you can definitely make it holiday themed (i.e., by adding snowflakes or using a wintery color palette). There are many kits available online, or in your local crafts store, that provide you with all the equipment that you need. You can also search for videos on Youtube that walk you through how to make different pieces! The best part about this is you can customize it and make the jewelry personal.
Salt Dough Ornaments
This DIY craft is one that the kids will enjoy, and it will also require them to put their measuring skills to use! If you are unfamiliar with salt dough, it is essentially a homemade form of Play-Doh. To make it, you will need to mix 2 cups of flour, ½ cup salt, and ¾ cup water. Once the dough forms, you can go ahead and use cookie cutters to shape it into snowflakes, snowmen, or anything else your heart desires. To harden the ornaments, stick them in the oven for 90 minutes to two hours, depending on the thickness. Feel free to paint them afterwards and hang them alongside your holiday décor.
Snowflake Pretzels
This next DIY is edible and makes the perfect addition to holiday gift baskets. To make this, you will need Rolo Chewy Caramels in milk chocolate, pretzels, white chocolate chips, white or silver sprinkles, and lollipop sticks. The steps are as follows:
- Put the Rolos on a pan with parchment paper, and place about 3 or 4 pretzels around it, making sure they are touching the edge of the chocolate.
- Bake until the chocolate is soft and then press the pretzels into the sides of the chocolate.
- As these cool, microwave the white chocolate chips.
- Then stick the lollipop sticks into the chocolate.
- Dip the lollipops into the white chocolate mix and shake off the excess.
- Lastly, add sprinkles, and enjoy!
*Remember, you can always modify the ingredients how you see fit*
Holiday Themed Memory Board
This last DIY requires a bit of sentiment and a trip down memory lane. To make this gift, you will need a cardboard the size of a whiteboard, printed pictures, glue, and decorations of your choice. The instructions are fairly simple: glue your favorite pictures onto the cardboard, and then decorate! You can add glitter, flowers, fake snowflakes and much more to the boarders of the cardboard. This is a great way to cherish the memories you have made with your loved ones.
There you have it folks! The list of possible DIY holiday craft ideas is endless, but we have gotten the ball rolling for you. There are many more resources and ideas that you can get online with a simple search. We hope you make use of these holiday craft ideas and enjoy making them. We wish you a happy holiday season!
