Holiday Gift Kits | Family Economics

By Cathe

There’s no need to wait until the holidays to begin gift-giving. Get a head start with pre-holiday gifts to share with others. Handmade gift kits are presents made for the recipient to craft and either share during the holidays or keep and enjoy themselves.

During the month of November, I’ll be making advent calendar kits for friends and families with small children.

Here are some other fun gift kit ideas:

• On-the-go gift wrap kits: I like to make gift wrap kits for friends and family with busy schedules because they could use the extra help. To make this, take folded pieces of holiday wrapping paper, small gift bags, ribbon, bows, gift cards, and package up in a small travel case or box. These are great to keep in the car for gifts they may be picking up last minute and taking to impromptu events.

• Cookie mix-in-a-jar kits: Everyone loves homemade cookies, but not everyone likes to or has time to make cookies from scratch. There are many recipes and instructions on the Internet for these kits. Just fill large mason jars full of ingredients, embellish and label jars and baking instructions. 

• Personalized jewelry kits: This gift is perfect for mothers, teachers and teenagers. You can purchase pre-assembled jewelry kits or find individual frame charms and related supplies to put together in a small drawstring bag or a charming glass jar. The receiver can create their own custom accessory showcasing their children, beloved pets, snippets of text or even artwork. You can go a step further and include temporary images for placing into the frames until the piece can be personalized.

• Scrapbooker’s kit: This is ideal for your favorite scrapbooking friends. In lieu of purchasing scrapbooking supplies, spend some time downloading free digital images and files from the Internet to print at home. Fill a 12 inch by 12 inch paper storage file full of fun holiday graphics, cuts and snippets to help the receiver get a head start on organizing the holiday memories.

Have you ever made or received homemade kits? Please do share!