Homemade crafts make the best gifts for your family
Kidsday reporter Hannah McNally with homemade crafts she gave to her family. Credit: Lara McNally
I have always felt that the best gifts to give and receive are not ones that are bought in a store, but that are homemade and come from the heart. I always loved the crafts we made in elementary school for our parents on the holidays or on Mother’s and Father’s days and was sometimes disappointed if the craft wasn’t as good or as creative as I wanted it to be.
This is when I decided to start looking on the internet to find some fun ideas and put a personal spin on them to make them my own. Now for every holiday and including birthdays, my family expects something creative and heartfelt, and I look forward to making them a homemade gift. Last year for the holidays I made my father a homemade ornament and my mom a deck of cards that I hole-punched and connected with loose-leaf rings and wrote 52 things I love about her, one thing on each card.
Homemade gifts don’t have to be complicated, they just have to come from the heart. For my sisters I went simple and sweet. For one I wrapped a canvas in burlap and hot-glued buttons in the shape of a heart in the center of the canvas. For the other I got a piece of wood and hot-glued twine in the shape of the word “love” across it.
Always remember to put a special handwritten message on the project somewhere to make it even more personal. It’s always the perfect gift if it comes from the heart.
Lara McNally’s Girl Scout Troop 730, Centereach
