Christmas Gifts

I'm a mean mom who, instead of having my kids buy each of their siblings (or even just one of their siblings) a present, require them to MAKE a present for the one sibling they give to.  I got this idea from a lady at church whose kids did this.  They could buy the materials, but the gift itself had to be made. We started this the next Christmas - in 2004 when there were only 3 kids old enough to participate.  Gifts vary, some are sewn, some made from wood, and one from PVC pipes.  One of the best things about this is the thrill that the children get in giving that gift to their sibling and watching them open it.  I'm glad we do this, although in reality it is a LOT of work for the adults helping them.

Anyway, these are the presents that I helped my kids sew for each other.  One child was too young to be in the rotation, two made boxes from wood for their older brothers to carry Magic the Gathering cards in, but the rest were sewn.  Here they are:

Panda Purse that Sterling made for Fiona.  As you can see from the assortment of some pandas around it, Fiona loves Pandas.  The purse pattern I made up, trying to duplicate a picture of a purse I saw on-line.  I see errors in it, but Fiona doesn't, and I guess that's what's important.

Duffle bag that Fiona made for Monica.  We made a pattern based on a bag Fiona got for Christmas one year from Santa. That bag fits perfectly under the seats of the 15-seater van.  You'd think that a van that big would have room for luggage, but it really doesn't, so a perfect fit is wonderful.

Monica made Karina a "Gum drop Pillow."  This one was easy - there was a pattern by Amy Butler.  We of course jazzed it up just a bit with an embroidered and appliqued "K" and "Karina," as well as a handle on the side for carrying around.

 

Donovan made Gideon a fleece/flannel blanket.  Gideon chose the fabrics, but I think that part of the reason he liked those particular jungle prints is that his baby blanket is an assortment of jungle prints.  It's amazing to me that sometimes out mistakes turn out to be wonderful additions.  I ordered the flannel fabrics probably 6 months before we designed the layout, and when we went to cut the fabric, there wasn't enough of the zebra stripes.  We were missing 2 squares.  One square (top left), I pieced together, but there wasn't even enough to piece another square, so we embroidered his initial and name on a red square and put it in the bottom corner, which Gideon loves.

The next two pictures are not ones my kids made, but the tool buckets that I made for Gideon and Porter who are both obsessed with tools.  Other presents they received were different "real" tools that were all wrapped individually to put in the tool buckets.  I found a "garden bucket" pattern somewhere that was made for a 5 gallon bucket.  I used that as a guide, but re-figured the dimensions for a 2 gallon bucket (which happen to cost more than a 5 gallon bucket - go figure!) which was a better size for two little helpers.