Idea Queen Tips & News

Have you seen the mixes in a jar and thought it might be a cute gift for someone special? They aren’t that hard to make, and I’m about to share with you a really quick and easy way to make your own.

All you have to do is take a look at your favorite recipes in  your collection right now. Add all the dry ingredients in a clean jar, then write (or type) the instructions for the recipe on a cute recipe card. Make sure you put down what additional ingredients need to be added, along with bake temp and time. Easy!

Now if you are short on recipes, you can find some specifically for gift jars at Idea Queen.  We are all short on time during this season, so hopefully these two quick tips will save you some time!

Aside from a gift basket filled with their favorite (and useful) things, what else can you get men for Christmas? Some are about impossible to buy for, because they really don’t NEED anything.

My dad is one of those men that is about impossible to shop for. When he needs something, he goes and buys it. When he’s hungry for something specific, he cooks it. He doesn’t use dip mixes or fancy kitchen gadgets. No special coffees or unique mugs will do. For years we bought him tshirts and sweatshirts, but now he has more than he’ll EVER need.

This year I think we came up with a pretty good idea. We took something he uses on a regular basis (his note pad) and plan to spice it up. Card stock was glued to the front cover, then we plan to decorate it. The kids will get involved of course, helping to decorate it with ribbon and other special decorations.

Not only is it something we know he’ll use, but every time he sees it he’ll know how much we care about him. Making something personal and unique is the best present you can give anyone.

With the holidays coming up, we’re all looking for inexpensive gift ideas. Making homemade gifts are sometimes the cheapest, and the most special.

Some of these ideas I may have mentioned before, but just in case you missed those posts, I’ll repeat them. Homemade food gift ideas include:

- Homemade Bread
- Cookies, Brownies, and Desserts
- Dip Mixes
- Soup Mixes
- Jar Mixes

Now if you the person you are giving to doesn’t like to do any cooking at all, mixes are probably not going to work. However, you can still make them one or two of the items above. Then you can do like we did and make “coupons” good for any items you’re good at making. I went through some of our favorite recipes and made coupons for them. You can see an example below.

Looking around I can see this is one item people may be having problems finding. I’ve checked the big suppliers I know that carry just about everything, as well as places like Nick.com…….and come up with nothing.

What I did find was not “real” Christmas cards, but ecards featuring Spongebob. So if you are looking for them, it might be as close as you can get. AmericanGreetings.com and search “Spongebob”, and you’ll see quite a few different cards. There’s only 2 or 3 maybe that are Christmas specific, but also quite a few that would work for any occasion.

So for those of you looking for Spongebob Christmas cards, there you go! If it’s not quite what you are looking for, you might also want to think about making your own. Especially if you have Spongebob wrapping paper left over, you can make some pretty special Christmas cards by hand.

I know I’ve mentioned a few times that I’m making quite a few of my kids Christmas gifts. I do every year. It’s less expensive and means a whole lot more than some expensive toy that will break in a few months. Believe me, my kids have enough toys!

So here’s the homemade side of my kids Christmas list. I hope you’ll find some ideas here of things you can make for your kids!

Doll Clothes
My little girl loves her baby dolls. She also loves clothes. So I have to make her at least one or two outfits for her babies. There’s two patterns I’ve made myself, and a few others I’ve bought. With all the different types of fabric we’ve got, it’s not hard to come up with all kinds of different clothes. If you need some help planning this out or need some patterns, be sure to check out our doll clothes project at Idea Queen.

Quilts
So this one might not be a quick and easy project, but it might be if you’ve got a sewing machine. I decided to hand sew most of this quilt, or at least the blocks. When I put it all together I was going to use the sewing machine, but it’s now missing a piece. So I guess the entire thing will be hand sewn. Not to worry, all the blocks are done so it’s now just a matter of putting it all together. Which is already about half done. I think I’ll finish it in less than a month!

I also made a mini-quilt for my daughter’s baby dolls with extra batting. It was actually my very first quilt, and the extra batting was from a friend whom I helped pin up a quilt last year. It was just the perfect size for her dolls and it gave me practice before attempting the big one!

Clothes
I found the most perfect fabric for my daughter, and decided we needed to make a dress out of it. It’s just about finished! There’s only one more side to sew. Again I was going to use the sewing machine, but I guess it’s going to be hand-sewn. Not a big deal, it’s not that much.

Tote Bags
So I need to confess - I probably could have easily made a tote bag for my kids, but I bought one instead. It was sitting at a craft show for only $5, and it featured my daughter’s favorite character (Dora). With all the things I needed to finish right now, I knew I probably wouldn’t have enough time to make one. So I grabbed it. But if YOU have time, then by all means look into making one!

Now I know all these ideas require sewing, but it just happens to be the skill I have. Really it’s not that hard to do, and can be quite fun if you enjoy doing it. These are also some time consuming projects, so make sure you don’t get overwhelmed. Most of the projects I have sitting here are almost done, and stuff I started probably over a year ago. I just haven’t had time (or the energy) to pick up sewing for some time. Except the doll clothes - those are pretty quick to do. I guess seeing prices of Christmas gifts gets me in the mood!

While a lot of the ideas on our homemade Christmas gift ideas page applies to adults, I thought I would mention a few ideas I’ve done for family in the past. It’s not about how much the gift costs, but rather how much the gift means to the person receiving it.

Zipper Bags (sewing required)
Last year I picked up fabric featuring my family’s favorite college basketball team. Even though I’m the odd one out (I really could care less what team is playing), my parents and grandparents hardly ever miss a game. So for Christmas I made a small pouch with a zipper for my mom, and a pillow for my dad out of the fabric. They were thrilled! Of course it didn’t cost all but a few dollars for both of them, but it was something very special.

Homemade Bread
My grandparents are THE hardest people to shop for, so we don’t even try most years. They have an entire farm house full of just “stuff”, so about the only thing they need is food. Not just any food though - homemade food! My grandma doesn’t bake or cook anymore, so giving them something already made is just perfect. Even if you don’t have a bread machine, taking the extra time to make homemade bread is a perfect gift for those hard to shop for people.

Unique and Personal Gifts
This one can be a bit tricky, and you’ve really got to use your imagination to come up with ideas. My dad is one that doesn’t have a whole lot, but doesn’t WANT a lot either. He likes to live very basic. For years everyone has given him t-shirts and sweat shirts, but now he’s got more than he’ll ever need. While looking around a craft show though, I came across a stationary set that was VERY cute. Since he’s so picky about his notebook he uses for his budget and notes, I had a better idea. We’re going to pick up one of his normal notebooks - and decorate it. It will be personalized, special, and unique to him. He will LOVE it.

Other Homemade Gifts for Adults
You can never go wrong with food. Especially if the person you are giving to has special food needs. Making a specific item for someone with a special diet is both thoughtful and needed. Mixes are a nice gift too, if you know they’ll have the time and ability to make it themselves. (My grandparents we’ve learned do NOT have the time, so mixes are out of the question - we actually have to MAKE the items for them). You can make desserts, breads, or any other item that will keep for at least a week or so. If nothing else, make them up a set of coupons for different dishes you can make and WILL make for them over the year. Think of it as a gift certificate for your baking services.

If you need a few more ideas, be sure to see the list of homemade Christmas gift ideas on Idea Queen!

This is one of those websites you can get lost on. Meaning once you get there, it’s hard to close the window. I could spend hours browsing eBay, and easily spend a small fortune. I mean there are some really good deals for awesome products on eBay!

I’ve managed to do a nice chunk of my Christmas shopping on eBay, including my son’s largest gift. I always said I refused to buy a game console of any kind, but my oldest begged me and we made a deal related to homework. He’s coming through on his deal it, so I gave in. But still I wasn’t sure how I was going to afford a game system - even a GameCube that’s cheaper than some of the newer consoles out right now. So I turned to eBay.

Granted it’s used, but I made sure I read the auctions carefully. I made sure the auctions stated they were in good working order with no problems what so ever. I also took care to read the feedback on the sellers. One or two negatives out of several hundred happy customers I can understand. After all, you can’t please all people all of the time. I still was very careful to read the negative - it’s not hard to judge if it’s truly a negative, or if the buyer was just having a bad day (or didn’t read the auction very well).

What I finally won I was quite proud of. Slightly used with 5 games for just over $60 (including shipping). Really you can’t beat that! I also managed to pick up another game for less than I could have even used in a store. Plus my son wasn’t the only one I shopped for - my daughter is getting 2 brand new computer games for $13 (shipping included).

So really it’s worth checking out eBay, especially if you are on a tight budget like we are. Spending several hundred on Christmas just isn’t an option when you are barely getting by, which makes eBay an awesome choice to find perfect gifts.

If you are in need of something different this Christmas, why not send an ecard? It will take a whole lot less time than writing all those cards out by hand, and a whole lot less in postage too.

Just because you send them via email doesn’t mean they can’t be personalized. Most places that offer ecards allow you to enter personalization in the card. So you get the best of both worlds - personalization AND cost effective!

A great place to grab unique interactive Christmas cards is Blue Mountain. You don’t have to worry about spyware or other computer problems. Plus they have an excellent selection of eCards for every occasion. Check them out at the link below!

Christmas is sneaking up on us fast, and it’s about time we start thinking of Christmas gifts. We’ve given a few ideas already for homemade Christmas gift ideas, but we’ve yet to mention gift baskets. The great thing about gift baskets is you can fill them with whatever you want, and make them completely personal.

On Idea Queen there is a page set up specifically for homemade Christmas gift basket ideas. You’ll find suggestions for what to include, as well as a few specific basket ideas. One of them is listed below.

Homemade Christmas Gift Basket

Fill a decorative Christmas box or tin with:
assorted home-baked cookies
assorted chocolates
Christmas ornaments (better if you made them yourself)
pre-recorded Christmas music
tuck in some candy canes or foil wrapped chocolate Santas for a finishing touch

Enjoy!

It’s about that time of year - time to start thinking of who is getting what gift, and how we plan to afford it all. Early last year we put a page for inexpensive Christmas gift ideas. Today it was revised a bit and a few more suggestions added.

This year we plan to make quite a bit of the Christmas gifts, but I also plan to do a little shopping online too. Trips to the mall? Forget it! It’s no longer “fun” in my opinion.

So anyway, if you need some ideas for inexpensive Christmas gifts to make or buy, you might want to make a stop at Idea Queen. Be sure to send in your own ideas if you have them!