Gearing up for Christmas Gift Giving

Several years ago my daughter had a list of 12 girlfriends she wanted to give gifts to for Chirstmas. We threw together some felt mittens and filled them with lip gloss, a giant, hollow crayon filled with Nerds, a candycane and some other trinket I was able to get in bulk, but for the life of me, can remember what it was - just remember there were 4 things in them.

Anyway... last year I had the opportunity to make mittens for the children at church. I adorned these as you can see from the picture and in them was a picture of Jesus Christ, a short story about Christmas and a candy cane. The mitten itself also acts as an ornament for the Christmas tree.
If you have several children to buy small gifts for, this is a great way to spread a few dollars and be able to give to a large group. I used an actual mitten and traced it and then tweaked it to get the shape I liked. You can either sew or hot glue the two sides together. As you can see, some have cut outs on them and are adorned with buttons or just simple chenille rick rack. They can be as simple or elaborate depending on the time you have to put them together. Make sure to make a loop of ribbon or yarn so they can hang from the tree.

Some suggestions of other things to fill with:
toy cars
8 pack of crayons
new pencils
ruler
Christmas/ Friendship bracelet or ring
candy, any kind of course
toothbrush and paste
picture of self or one with the friend who is receiving the mitten
key chain
mini notepads etc.
Pretzel rods dipped in choc. sprinkled with sugar crystals
and wrapped in cellophane.
You get the idea.

My daughter was 12 when we made them for friends and they were a big hit! She really got into making them along side of me and we had a great time decorating them.

Happy Christmas Crafting
~jan