Homemade Christmas

Thought I'd share some of the gifts I made for Christmas and where I found the ideas... maybe you'll get inspired for next year!

I already mentioned Flubber...

For some of the nephews I also made Reindeer Food

Reindeer Food

6 cups Rice Chex cereal

1 bag (12 oz) white vanilla baking chips - couldn't find, used white chocolate 

1/3 cup coarsely chopped peppermint candy canes (14 miniatures)

1 - Crush candy canes in large ziplock bag

2 - Melt chips (plus 1/2 tsp oil) in microwave

3 - Stir all together

...and printed out some Paper Star Wars Characters for them to cut out, tape, and play with.  (Found here.)

I made my brother's kids this tent (following the instructions I found here):

I made some stuff in the kitchen for the siblings - cookies in a jar and popcorn seasoning.

Cheese Lovers Popcorn Seasoning

1/4 cup cheddar cheese powder

1/4 tsp mustard powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

salt & pepper to taste

Indian Popcorn Seasoning

1 tbsp curry powder

2 1/4 tsp ground tumeric

2 1/4 tsp ground ginger

tiny pinch cayenne pepper

Pizza Popcorn Seasoning

3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

3 tsp ground dried oregano

1 1/2 dried tomato powder

(The tomato powder is hard to find - I used a Knorr tomato vegetable soup mix and strained out the bits.)

I also made some family dinner conversation starter packages.  I found questions in a couple of different places, put them in a word doc that I'll send you if you're interested, then cut them into little cards and put them in decorated old coffee and tea tins.  I hope they have fun with those.

I also had fun making ornaments. I didn't take pictures of mine, but the inspiration came from these (all found on pinterest):

Another printable I sent to a couple of nieces was one to make this nativity set.  You can find the downloads here for both the colored and color-yourself versions.

I think that's all I made - oh, except for an awesome photo book for Sean about his race car.  That was a winner.  All in all a very satisfactory gift giving Christmas!