Mama Writes: Ten Gifts to Make With (or For) a Toddler

In my last column, I warned you I was planning to embrace the holidays full throttle. True enough, this holiday season has been my craftiest yet.

Every year, as our family spreads its wings a little wider, there are more and more people included within our circle (beyond our ever-growing extended family, there are new teachers, new friends, etc), all people to whom I’d love to show our appreciation. But this year also happens to be one in which ours has very little money to spare. Throw a project-loving toddler into the mix and what kind of gifts are we giving? Handmade ones, crafted with love and the ever-waning patience of a toddler, one whose hands have the finesse of a bowling ball. Below you’ll find a few of our projects, and ideas of how to modify them for your family.

My husband’s large extended family has a gift exchange, and since we are now a nuclear family of three, that meant coming up with three adult gifts in time for Thanksgiving (when his family has their big holiday gathering). I opted for big gift bags with different favorite foods inside (we added a bottle of wine or artisanal beer as well):

1) Chex Mix. Yup, that’s right, from the recipe on the box. The kid adored measuring the three different kinds of cereal (wheat, rice and corn) into a big bowl, then sorting in the mixed nuts. Breaking pretzels and bagel chips into pieces is a job tailor-made for a two-year-old boy. And he was an excellent taste tester of everything, which made him lovely company while I put the finished touches on the mix (and a welcome difference from making cookies back in October, when I had to continually remind him he couldn’t taste the dough because it had raw eggs in it—turning me into a nag and him into a whiny mess). We popped it into the microwave and it was done in six minutes (with time added on for it to cool). Then we bagged the Chex Mix into holiday-themed Ziploc bags and they were good to go.

2) Granola. My husband and the kid eat granola like it’s going out of business, using a recipe passed down from my husband’s 93-year-old grandmother. It’s not too sweet and just the right level of crunchy, requiring the same amount of toddler input as above—there are oats and nuts to measure, not to mention gooey honey that needs to be poured. Definitely messier than Chex Mix, but your house will smell sweet all day, and you can save some for your family to enjoy. We bagged it up just like with the Chex Mix:

This recipe is endlessly forgiving, and very adaptable. You'll need: 2 pounds oats (either regular or quick), 1 1/4 cups vegetable oil, 3/4 cup honey (or a combination of honey and maple syrup), 1 1/2 cups nuts (any combination you desire, roughly chopped), 1 teaspoon cinnamon & a 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Spread oats on two 9x13” baking pans. Make sure the oats are spread evenly, all the way to the corners of the baking pans. Bake at 250 degrees for 25 minutes. Top layer will brown slightly; mix oats at halfway point so they heat evenly. Remove oats from oven. Pour oil, honey, cinnamon, and salt evenly over the oats. Mix thoroughly. Then mix nuts into the coated mixture. Turn up heat to 325 degrees. Bake for another 10 to 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Mix halfway if needed, to ensure that edges don’t get too brown.

3) Preserved Lemons. What are they? As a lover of salt, citrus and Moroccan food, I discovered them a few years ago at Sahadi’s and have been cooking with them ever since—basically they are lemons pickled in salt and their own juices. The trick with this project is how impressed people are to receive it, how simple it is to make it, and how much FUN it is to smash lemons and salt into a glass jar, whether you are two years old or fifty. To fill eight pint jars (and one quart jar for ourselves), I used forty lemons and a box of Kosher salt. I bought the jars at Target.

3b) Included with the Preserved Lemons was a small Tupperware filled with Moroccan Spices and a recipe for Moroccan Chicken, Lemon and Olive Tagine. The kid enjoyed measuring and smelling the spices (thumbs up on cinnamon, thumbs down on freshly ground pepper). We modified the recipe slightly before printing it out: 1) reminding people to rinse off the Preserved Lemons before adding them to the tagine; 2) telling them they could use any kind of Dutch Oven or oven-friendly casserole to achieve the desired effect as a traditional tagine, and 3) suggesting they substitute vegetables for the chicken to make it vegetarian friendly. The kid decorated leftover printing labels with his own art, which we then used to seal the Lemons, Spices and Recipe together in cellophane bags we bought at Target.

4) BBQ Rubs. We have some grillers in our family, so I found some rub recipes online. The kid helped me measure the spices into small Tupperware containers, and helped me design labels, as with the Tagine packets above. In addition, we came up with silly names for each recipe, using the interests of the person to whome we were giving (eg. my husband’s cousin is a big fan of the Tennessee Lady Volunteers basketball team, so we named one of her spice rubs “Ladies Volunteer to Eat This Rub Every Day of the Week.” She laughed long and hard.).

5) Homemade Cranberry Sauce. This recipe is a family favorite, and since I was making some for Thanksgiving anyway, I just doubled it and divided the extra into Tupperware containers. The kid designed the labels (as above) and it meant our relatives could think of our holiday get together throughout the month, every time they spread this classic on a cracker or put it on their family’s table.

My husband and I are blessed to have three living grandparents between us (not to mention uncles and aunts, parents, and friends who are like family). Like many people in the older generation, many of these relatives are eager to downsize, so we haven’t wanted to burden them with big gifts. Here are a few ideas (including one from last year):

6) Kid-Decorated “Prayer” Flags (Buntings). We made these last year, using a slightly different design from the link I’ve posted (although I love the idea of the birthday wish idea). In our case, we bought three large pieces of white muslin and three different colors of fabric pens. In the month before we were going to make the flags (which were triangular in our case, so I guess that makes them buntings?), every few days I encouraged the kid to pick a color and draw on one of the pieces of cloth. In this way, we ended up with three pieces of muslin each decorated with a different color (blue, green or red). Then, using a diamond-shaped template, I cut each of the pieces of cloth into as many diamonds as I could (since I wasn’t interested in sewing, I just used pinking shears). Then I folded the diamonds in half, using a hot glue-gun to glue five onto a ribbon (using different colors to create a symmetrical pattern). We gave the five-set-flags to grandparents and parents alike, who still display them prominently in their homes!

7. Decorated Ceramic Ornaments. While visiting my parents in Connecticut, I found white, glazed ceramic ornaments at a craft store. While a few are seasonally shaped (Christmas trees, stockings), I bought up as many stars as I could, since those are both nondenominational and beautiful to display any time of year. Then I bought a set of craft pens, which can be used on any material. I’m encouraging the kid to decorate a couple every day—they’re easily wrapped and sent, and work as a great last minute holiday gift, and could be substituted with any white ceramic items—napkin rings, mugs, etc.

8. Decoupaged Picture Frames. Everyone knows that grandparents (and great-grandparents) love photographs of their beautiful descendents looking their most obedient and adorable. This year, in addition to giving the requisite favorite pictures of the year, the kid is helping me decorate picture frames I found for a buck at Ikea (if I need to stock up again, I’ll head to the dollar store). Painting with glue, ripping up tissue paper- what’s a kid not to love?

9. Small Drawings. The kid has just started drawing people, and I thought it would be fun to immortalize some of these portraits. So I bought white postcard paper at a craft store and a black archival pen, and have been collecting some of his “best” work to give as holiday gifts to close friends and family. I’ll probably frame some of these in picture frames he decorates himself, and I’m scanning one of them (a particularly joyful and unusually literal face) to send out as our holiday card.

Finally, I’ll include a craft project that didn’t require my son’s help, but couldn’t have been made with the assistance of my sister, mother and father (someone once quipped that the Beverly-Whittemores should have lived in the nineteenth century, and when the four of us were sitting around the fire over Thanksgiving weekend, turning cloth pockets inside out, I realized they were right on the mark). I wanted to make a lasting advent calendar, one that could decorate our house every year and could be filled, yearly, with goodies for the kid. I figured as long as we were making one, we might as well make a bunch and bestow them on the kids who have been very important to our family in the last year.

10. Advent Calendar. Martha Stewart suggests using paper bags, but I had a bunch of upholstery fabric lying around and a desire to learn how to use my mom’s sewing machine (and I liked the idea of something more permanent), so I spent a day learning how to seam and made 200 pockets for eight calendars. We got rope and figured out cutting slits in the backs and fronts of every other pocket so they could sit together. We got number stamps and stamped pieces of muslin (leftover from last year’s Flag project) with numbers 1 through 25, then hot-glued them onto the bags. And last but not least, we filled each pocket with treats- from stores and our childhoods- and sent them on their merry ways. It’s been so much fun to know that the families we’re close to on the west coast are getting a daily reminder of how much we love and miss them!

And finally: if you want to include your kid when you’re making stuff, you’ll have to allow for some mess. I bought an oilcloth at Brooklyn Mercantile a few months back which has been invaluable in protecting walls and furniture when we’re dealing with something potentially ruinous (eg. permanent ink). Also, it doesn’t hurt to have smocks and/or a set of project clothes so there’s never a fear of “ruining” good clothes. Part of the point of making is letting your imagination (and body) run free!

What are you planning to make this year? What do you enjoy making with your child?