I love Christmas presents that require a lot of thought and time.  It means so much when I get those presents that the giver put a lot of love into.

This year for some of my friends I made a plate of cookies (recipes to come), and bought some candy canes at our local Hammond’s Factory.  It was a simple gift, but it took a lot of time and consideration to figure out what to add to the Christmas platter.

Above is the plate I made!  It only took me two days to complete due to a broken oven.  I had to call up a friend and invite myself over to her house to get the baking finished, but we had good fellowship and our children enjoyed the playtime with one another.

One of my friends Victoria is very good with homemade crafts and making them look professional.  Every year, she makes us Christmas presents that I actually use.  I just wanted to share with you a few of the things she makes.

Last year she made ornaments for our kiddos.  She found these clear bulbs at the dollar tree store, added some cute bows for decorations and put their names on them in stickers.  We hang these on our tree every year.

She also made us a candle holder which I use for our wedding candle throughout the year and during Christmas I fill it with Christmas bulbs for a more festive feel.  She bought the two parts at the Dollar Tree store glued them together and added our name.
It is a great present and one I use in every season of the year.

This year, she made animal ornaments for my children, butterflies, penguins, monkeys, and more.  My favorite is the monkey because the tail curls along with it.  Very cute.  It took her a little bit of material and a bit of time and
now we look forward to hanging them up on our tree.

For some of her friends, she made warmers, by taking a little bit of material, putting rice in it mixed with some good smelling dry tea and sewed it into the cloth.  She added sewed partial lines to the bag to give it some texture/firmness so all the rice won’t spill to one side, but left room in the sewing for us to move the rice from section to section.

Another one of my friends gave us free babysitting for the kiddos for a few days, or handmade coupons such as doing the laundry, vacuuming the house, washing the dishes, girls night out.

My husband is an excellent videographer and we make videos and photo projects for family members.
Which takes a lot of time but makes wonderful gifts and memories.

These are just a few of the wonderful homemade gifts that warm our hearts every year.

If you have any more handmade gifts that you make for family or friends,
please feel free to mention them in the comments!
I love getting new ideas for birthdays and future Christmases.