Tiny Peasant

Tag: christmas gifts

  • Gifts Kids Can Make + Give

    Gifts Kids Can Make + Give

    Below are twelve gifts that are simple and engaging enough for kids to make as Christmas or other gifts for teachers, friends, and family. Some have links to posts that we’ve published here at Tiny Peasant, and others are just to provide the idea or send you somewhere else to get the full instructions! All of them are things that our little ones (and older one) have made and so they are tried, tested and true.

     

    CRAFTS

    1. Felted Stone Paperweights or Decorations

    Kids love the warmth of this activity, as they dip their hands into warm soapy water. The resulting felted stones can be gifted for use as a decoration or paperweight. Find our how-to post here.

    felted stones - rubbingfelted stones finished

     

    2. Felted Soap

    Follow the directions for felted stones. Replace the stones with soap. Leave the dish soap out of the water, as the soap itself will provide the suds.

    You can include a little note, if you’d like, to use it just like regular soap, as some folks might think it is just decorative!

    We also sell Tiny Felter kits in the shop, if you’d like to get the supplies there for gift-making – and they also make a sweet stocking stuffer or gift for future crafting as well!

    making felted soap felted soap

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    3. Framed Artwork

    Purchase affordable frames from a local store (IKEA for example) and frame some of your children’s artwork to give as gifts. Try talking with your little ones about drawing something that their recipient will be interested in or love. Check out some how-to-draw books from your local library if your crew would like some inspiration.

    framed artwork

    4. Mason Jar Candles

    When we were making mini pumpkin candles this fall, we had leftover melted beeswax. I had a nice short mason jar on hand, as well as extra supplies, so quickly made a simple mason jar candle. This would be a very simple thing to do, though might not have enough steps to safely include little ones. I think it would be a great project for teens! You can find instructions here – just use a jar or other container instead of a pumpkin. Also check out this helpful post: Using Beeswax at Home.

    A friend of ours made a lavender flower version of these. Oh my goodness. Yes.

    mason jar candle lit mason jar candle

    5. Play Dough

    If you have flour, salt, cream of tartar, oil, and some elbow grease, you are ready to go! Check out our recipe for pumpkin spice play dough (both regular and gluten free), and omit the spice, adding in an essential oil such as orange or lavender, if desired. Package up your homemade play dough in mason jars or tupperware, put a label or some nice patterned fabric under the sealer ring, and you have a great gift for little ones. You can also try gingerbread play dough for the holidays!
    Tiny Maker Kit

     

     

     

    PANTRY

    6. Herbal Tea Blends

    Just fill your jar or tin with healing herbs! Add a label or tag with instructions if necessary. So, so simple for little ones and truly a lovely gift. If you can get outdoors and collect some of your own herbs to include, even better. The rose hips shown were harvested by our three and six year olds.

    We made pine and cedar tea blend, as well as a rose hip, nettle, and elderflower blend. Get creative or look online for ideas!

    pine-cedar tea giftsHerbal Tea Gift

    7. Herbal Salve

    Even though this seems like it would be an involved project, it is really quite simple with a decadent result. Get the recipe here. You can also find our Tiny Herbalist kit in the shop, a beautiful cotton pouch stocked with tins, beeswax, recipes, labels, a beautiful handmade herbal journal and more.

    calendula salve gifts

    8. Essential Oil Lip Balm

    We made these last year, using a great recipe that was simple to follow with fairly basic ingredients. Bonus: You’ll also find a recipe for peppermint bark on the same page as the lip balm recipe!

    vanilla packaged

    9. Vanilla
    It truly doesn’t get much simpler than this. Older kids can help with scoring the beans, and all ages can drop the beans into the bottles, and help with the funnel and pouring. You can get the full instructions in our how-to post, which also links to our free, printable vanilla labels.

    vanilla supplies

    10. Fair Trade Fudge

    We made this using Cocoa Camino fair trade chocolate. So, so good! Get instructions and flavour ideas here.

    peppermint candy cane fudge

    11. Homemade Cookies

    Make your favourite recipe, and put it in a pretty package to gift to friends, family or teachers. We made peppermint shortbread. We left out the chai, and subbed at least part whole grain flour and a whole sugar…

    Another favourite is Spruce Tip Shortbread cookies. Get it the recipe here.

    You’ll find ten great cookie recipes in the ebook Nourishing Cookies for a Healthy Holiday by Diana of My Humble Kitchen.

    teacher gifts - cookies 2 teacher gifts - cookies

    12. Chocolate Dipped Goodies

    You can use regular or gluten-free pretzels, or any other treat (almonds, homemade gummies, earth/bliss balls, homemade cookies) for this recipe. Using a double boiler, simply melt about 3 tablespoons of coconut oil along with 1.5 cups of fair trade chocolate chips, baker’s chocolate, or a chocolate bar. If you’d like it to be sweet, add a few tablespoons of honey (if you are using chocolate with added sugar, this won’t be necessary). Use tongs to dip the pretzels into the melted mixture and then lay on a cookie sheet to set. Package up in a canning jar or other nice package!

    chocolate pretzel love

     

    This post was featured at Real Food Forager, and shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday,  Natural Living Monday,  Fat Tuesday, Simple Lives Thursday and Simply Natural Saturdays.

  • Advent Week 2 Activity :: How to Make Vanilla

    Advent Week 2 Activity :: How to Make Vanilla

    If you’re following along with our Advent series, you can find the original post here, and the Week 2 overview here.

     

    Making vanilla is worth it just for the smell alone. I had a pile of little ones on my lap after I wrapped up, just because my hands carried the sweet scent of fresh vanilla beans.

    This is one of the easiest kitchen projects you’ll come across and you reap the reward of a high quality product at a fraction of the cost of store-bought organic vanilla. This made great a great gift for friends and teachers last year and would make a lovely hostess gift.

    Let’s look at the cost breakdown.
    I purchased a 1.14 L (1140 ml) bottle of vodka for $31.25. This works out to 11.4 bottles, if using 100 ml bottles like I was. Since the vanilla beans displace some of the liquid, let’s say we can get 13 bottles from 1.14 L. That works out to $2.40 per bottle for the vodka. My vanilla beans cost about .55 per bottle, plus my bottle cost which was about $1.30 each. This brings me to $4.25. I’ll add on .25 for the labels, for a grand total of $4.50 for vanilla made with organic beans (though not organic vodka). Great. Now some of you know how much your Christmas gift cost. ; )

    You really don’t need to use the amber bottles, and can use whatever you have on hand. In fact, if you’re making it just for yourself, you can go ahead and toss the correct ratio of vanilla beans right into your vodka bottle. Take off the $1.30 per bottle, and you are down to $3.20 for 100ml.

    Here in Manitoba, a local supplier carries organic vanilla at over $15 for 118 ml. Wow. On Amazon, I could only find 59 ml bottles, which retailed for over $10.

    If you’re doing this activity with children, try working with them (or if they are old enough they can do it on their own) to figure out your costs of production…

    Ingredients

    • High quality vanilla beans (we use organic beans from Real Raw)
    • Vodka – you can use any vodka – organic would be nice to avoid gmo ingredients, but use whatever you can get your hands on. You can also use other alcohols such as rum, brand, or bourbon.
    • Bottles – we use 100ml amber bottles, as I like to give these as gifts over the holidays. You can use almost any kind of jar you have on hand, as long as it is clean and seals well.
    • Funnel
    • Knife and cutting board

    vanilla supplies

    Instructions

    1. The ratio for vanilla is 6 vanilla beans per cup of alcohol (though I’ve heard as few as 3 per cup and as many as 8 per cup). I used 2.5 beans for each 100ml bottle.

    2. Slice the beans lengthwise, just enough to open them up – not to slice them in half. This allows the vanilla flecks to get out and mingle with your alcohol.

    3. Slice the beans in half if necessary to fit into your jars or bottles.

    split the bean

    4. Place the beans in your jars or bottles.beans in the bottle

    5. Using a funnel, fill the jar, leaving some air space, and seal.add the alcohol

    Place in a dark cupboard for 6 – 8 weeks, giving it a shake each day, if you think of it. Sampling is allowed. Ahem.

    Once you’ve used up your vanilla, you can add more vodka to the bottle, and add scraps of vanilla beans if you collect them while baking – or just add another whole bean.

    Vanilla makes a great gift. With a simple raffia ribbon or popped into a nice package, the bottles of vanilla themselves make a beautiful gift and require no fancy gift wrap. Print out our labels to make your bottles extra special. The front label has basic info, and the back has instructions for the person receiving the vanilla, so they will know how long to let it sit, and how to replenish it once it is used up.

    vanilla packaged

     

    This post was featured over at Real Food Forager and Girl Meets Nourishment, and shared as a part of Thank Goodness It’s Monday, Natural Living Monday,  Fat Tuesday, Simple Lives Thursday, Fight Back Friday, and Unprocessed Fridays.