Christmas in July: All Children Are on My Nice List

We had a lovely fourth of July holiday...ate a delicious brunch, played in the river, shared fireworks with the littles for the first time, had a picnic, visited with family, and my brother got engaged!

And now a continuation of Christmas in July.

Today is "Gifts for Babies and beyond..."

I think that children's excitement around the holidays makes Christmas all the more magical and fun. And there are so many wonderful tutorials and ideas for children's gifts. A lot of them involve sewing, but I tried to work a few no-sew tutorials in there too- and I have those marked. Between my two little ones, and my four nieces and nephews (all 3 and under) a lot of these are on my list!

1. Knit Baby Bonnet
Estimated Time: I won't begin to guess- it depends on how fast of a knitter you are.
Costs: $10 +/- depending on yarn choice
Skills: Knitting
I love this precious baby bonnet. So classic, simple, and practical. I love that it ties so that little ones can't pull it off. What a cute tutorial from Purl Bee.

2. Cloth Baby Wipes

Estimated Time: 15 minutes or less
Costs: $5
Skills: None
Super easy and simple gift. Cloth wipes are a great accessory for cloth-diapering parents. And those that don't might appreciate this for wash-cloths!


3. Stuffed Giraffe

Estimated Time: 2-3 hours
Costs: $5
Skills: Sewing
This stuffed giraffe, and many of the other tutorials at The Crafty Crow, are so neat. This tutorial is a little bit of a challenge, but I think it's such a cute little gift!

4. Monogram Crinkle Toy

Estimated Time: 1 hour
Costs: $5-$10
Skills: Simple sewing
Both of my kids have absolutely loved crinkle toys. This is a great tutorial for a toy in the shape of baby's initial!

5. Peekaboo Baby Bonnet

Estimated Time: 3+ hours
Costs: $10
Skills: Sewing
This bonnet is adorable. The tutorial also shows how to make one with simple piping instead of ruffles. And what can I say, I just adore bonnets and not-so-secretly want one for myself.

6. Fabric Balls

Estimated Time: 1 hour
Costs: $5 (or use fabric scraps!)
Skills: Sewing
I love these soft balls. My boys love throwing things, and it might as well be something squishy! Another fun idea would be to throw some bells in them and make them rattle.

7. Flower Headband 

Estimated Time: 1 hour
Costs: $5
Skills: Gluing
What a cute gift for a baby girl. I just love photos of sweet little girls in giant flower headbands! ; ) And Sewing in No Man's Land has absolutely amazing headbands and clothes. Maybe it will inspire you to make an entire outfit! Seriously love this site (and it totally makes me want to have a little girl, even more!)

8. Adorable No-Sew Applique Onesies

Estimated Time: 1-2 hours
Costs: $3-$8
Skills: Ironing
This site doesn't have a free tutorial, but I thought it was a great collection of ideas for all the different applique onesies you could make. There is a free tutorial for a similar look, here. I really love these little onesies.

1. A Waldorf Doll

Estimated Time: 10+ hours
Costs: $20-$100+
Skills: Sewing
This is what I am making Dmitri & Damon for this Christmas. I love this tutorial that breaks down how to make Waldorf Dolls from recycled materials. I'm halfway through my first doll and it is so much fun to make (a good thing, too, since they are pretty time-consuming.) The costs can vary greatly based on how much you spend on your supplies. If you re-use everything, it could be pretty inexpensive. But if you invest is a good quality yarn, etc. it can be more expensive. A Child's Dream is where I ordered my "skin" fabric from. For more Waldorf doll inspiration, I am in love with the dolls made by Tumbleberry Toys. I could spend hours looking through her amazing dolls.

2. Homemade Play Dough

Estimated Time: 30 minutes
Costs: $5 or less
Skills: None
What child doesn't love playdough - and homemade playdough? Such a fun gift. And I like easy.

3. Hobby Horse

Estimated Time: 1-2 hours
Costs: $5
Skills: None
A handmade take on the classic riding hobby horse. I cannot tell you how cute I think this is. What a great idea! And I'm sure children of many different ages would enjoy it.

4. Felt Board

Estimated Time: 2-5 hours
Costs: $5-$20
Skills: None/Sewing
A felt board can be as simple or as detailed as you'd like, but is fun no matter what! Busy Budgeting Mama has a cute ice cream felt board too. For a "high-quality" board, use 100% wool felt.

5. Play Kitchen

Estimated Time: 5-20 hours
Costs: varies
Skills: Some Power tools are necessary
There is a rather large collection of toy kitchen ideas online that vary from re-making a TV cabinet to building it from scratch. I've linked to Ana White's plans for all kinds of toy kitchen pieces. But if you have a TV cabinet or night stand, look around and you'll find all kinds of cool tutorials. What I love about play kitchens is that children can enjoy them for years and years.

6. Memory Game 

Estimated Time: 1-3 hours
Costs: $5
Skills: Sewing
I love the idea of using up some of my accumulating fabric scraps on this memory game made out of fabric. What a cute idea for many different ages!

7. Molded Crayons

Estimated Time: 1 hour
Costs: $2
Skills: None
A cute way to change up "crayons." I can imagine my boys loving to "drive" these.

8. Felt Food

Estimated Time: 1-4 hours
Costs: $5-$15
Skills: Sewing
Play food made out of felt is a great accessory to a kitchen, or could stand on it's own. The "build your own pizza" idea is probably one of my absolute favorites!