Christmas is a time of giving as well as receiving, and children want to be part of that – giving to friends and family, not only opening things.
The difficulty is that children generally have no income. It is dispiriting to watch a child break open a piggy bank to buy a gift that may not even be appreciated.
A better alternative is to help them make something. Done well, it costs very little and is worth far more to the person receiving it.
What makes a child’s gift work
The honest problem is that homemade gifts can look like an obligation rather than a present. Four things prevent that.
It should be useful or displayable. Something the recipient will actually use, wear or put out on show. A decorated jar for pens beats an abstract object.
It should be finished properly. The making can be entirely the child’s, but a bit of care over the presentation – trimmed edges, tidy wrapping, a proper label – makes an enormous difference to how it reads.
It should be recognisably theirs. Resist the urge to take over. Grandparents want the wonky one, and they keep it for years precisely because it is wonky.
It should suit the recipient. A child choosing a colour because their aunt likes green is doing exactly what gift-giving is.
Ideas that work
Decorated containers. A clean jar or tin, painted or decoupaged, filled with sweets or used for pens. Cheap and genuinely used.
Photo frames. A plain wooden frame decorated with paint, buttons or shells, with a photograph of the child in it. This is close to unbeatable for grandparents.
Baked gifts. Biscuits or fudge in a decorated box. Older children can do most of it themselves and the result never looks homemade in a bad way.
Tree decorations. Salt dough shapes, painted and varnished, with the year written on the back. These come out every December for decades.
Finger-knitted or crocheted items. A simple scarf or a set of coasters from a child old enough to manage it is a real gift, and the skill lasts.
Bookmarks, decorated card or plaited yarn. Small, quick, and useful.
Practical points
Start early. Paint dries slowly and December fills up.
Make several at once. Setting up and clearing away takes the same time whether the child makes one or six, and having gifts for everyone removes a lot of anxiety.
Let them write the labels. That is the part that gets kept.
