Last-Minute Handmade Gift Ideas From ‘The Kids’

Adorable Handmade Gifts For Christmas

You may already find yourself stressing about gifts—especially a more meaningful gift but don’t worry, we’ve consolidated some of what we consider to be the best handmade gift ideas for your family. Perhaps you have a new baby? Or a house-full of kids. And with Christmas approaching quickly, you might be wondering “what will they give grandma & grandpa this year? Or Dad? Or their Aunts and Uncles?”

We’ve scoured the internet and figured out that the best way to give a meaningful keepsake gift, is by utilizing your child’s handprint, footprint, fingerprints or photos to create gifts, art, ornaments and cards. It will melt anyone in your family and be something they treasure each year to come. The best part? Most of them are super-easy to make!

Handprints

The winner for cutest-ornament would have to be this Santa Claus created by your child’s handprint. The thumb lends itself perfectly for a droopy Santa Hat & the other 4 fingers make up the beard. All you need to do is to make some salt-dough with ingredients you likely have in the pantry already, and a dab of acrylic paint.
The simpler version of this is to paint the salt-dough handprint with white acryclic paint and add a little bow. Easy-peasy!
One step further would be to place their hand into a mitten.
Another way to decorate the salt-dough handprint is to turn each joint of their chubby little fingers into a family of Snowmen!
Or you can place their little hand, covered in washable white paint, around a red, green, or blue colored Christmas ball and create the snowman scene
Hands also make for adorable little reindeer! Who knew a handprint could be so versatile?
If you have the itch to be creative, take the reindeer a step further for a full Santa Scene.
Grandma will get a smile every time she bakes, when she needs her “Helping Hands.”

Footprints

Runner-up for cutest-ornament would have to be this penguin created by your little one’s footprint.
Tiny feet lend themselves perfectly to create “Mistle Toes” for cards, ornaments or a Christmas Platter.
A religious family member may appreciate the manger scene—which can be created by a simple footprint.
Create artwork with your child’s footprint and convert it into an adorable reindeer!
A simple salt-dough ornament with a bow is so sweet. It’s almost as if you can hold their little feet in your hands again, year after year.
The creativity is endless…turn their little foot into an angel, mice, reindeer, Christmas Tree

Fingerprints

Use your kids most unique part of their body to create artwork. How cute are these colorful Christmas Lights?
They also look cute on a Christmas ornament!
While you’ve got that salt-dough out, use a cookie-cutter to shape a Christmas Tree and then have your child imprint each “light” with their fingerprint.
Go ahead and pull out the snowflake cookie cutter, too, and imprint little hearts.
Give texture and shape to a salt-dough snowman.
Cover a Christmas Ball with tiny fingerprint reindeer.
Or make some lovable reindeer on a Christmas Card.

Photos

A photo ornament is great way to bring a smile to your family’s face each year, as they reminisce on how tiny your children used to be and marvel at the past year’s growth. There’s actually a great trick for getting the perfect-sized photo cut out & slipped into a clear Christmas ball.
Make the photo ball more festive by adding confetti or tinsel inside.
Pick up some crystal beads from a craft store to create a magical and vintage effect with your family photos.
Have photos printed on a household decorating item, such as a blanket, throw-pillow, or jewelry. There are lots of companies who can help you upload a photo and ship a customized item.
The blocks your kid no longer plays with? Paste photos on each side and turn it into an awesome ornament that looks great from any direction.
Hop onto BabyPage.com, and upload your favorite photos from the past year and write down your favorite memories and your child’s milestones (there are even writing-prompts to help you remember or get past your writer’s-block). It’s free to make an account and create a book. When you’re finished creating your book, you select which type (hard-cover or soft-cover), and then pay to have the book printed and shipped. Your family will appreciate this coffee-table conversation starter for many years to come!
Need ideas for all of these cute Christmas photos? We’ve got a blog that compiles great ideas for you here!