A Home Made Christmas

Each Wednesday from now until Christmas I will be blogging about a gift idea that can be made at home and I would love it if you would join in each week with your own contribution to "A Home Made Christmas".
I am sure that there are great projects to make, goodies to make, bake and bottle and ideas that you all have to share. I look forward to reading all about the things you make and being inspired by your ideas.

If you are worried about ruining the surprise feel free to post about something you have made in the past, something you saw or something you have received.

When planning home made gifts you need to consider a number of things:
How long the item will take to make? How far ahead do I need to plan?
How long will it keep?  What is the shelf life?
Does it need time to mature like Christmas Cakes/Puddings?
Can I make more than one at a time and give them to a number of people?

This week I want to talk about Hampers.  I debated whether or not to include hampers as "home made" but in the end hampers are no less home made than something you sew or bake with store brought items.  Plus all hampers are made up of a range of things some of which you can make.

Picture from here

I have no idea where I found the following list of hamper ideas but I think it was on a forum somewhere.  Anyway the list of hamper ideas is pretty long so instead of putting the whole lot in this post I have added a page to put the entire list on.

1. Garden Basket: gardening gloves, packets of seeds, hand tools (trowel, rake, etc,), gardening book or subscription to a gardening magazine, bottle or box of fertiliser, gift certificate to a garden supply store, garden clogs, a small house plant in a pretty pot. Try these variations:

Flower Kit: Use a large terracotta pot. Fill with small hand tools, seeds, small bag potting soil, liquid fertiliser, etc.
Vegetable Kit: full-sized spade, rake, and cultivator. Tie a cellophane gift bag to the bottom part of each tine with twine. Fill the bags with vegetable seed packets, fertiliser, garden markers, marking pen.
Decorative planter, hose, hose adaptor, stepping stone kits, sprinkler, etc. Great for a new home owner.

2. Pasta Bowl: in a large pasta bowl add a package or two of gourmet pasta, tongs, package of sun-dried tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, spices (oregano, basil, garlic powder), pasta cookbook, pasta tongs. Line the basket with fabric and top off with a bottle of Italian wine, a loaf of Italian bread, and/or a chunk of Parmesan cheese.

3. Golf Bucket: golf tees, golf balls, cap, golf towel, sunscreen, ball marker, glove, a subscription to a golf magazine. In lieu of a basket, use a small fabric cooler to hold all the supplies. Can do the same thing with Tennis. Skip the tees, add tennis balls, and a tennis towel.

4. Cheese and Cracker Basket: In a large basket add a cheese spreader, small cheese ball, a variety of small cheeses, several different crackers, napkins.

5. Puppy Basket: food & water bowls, squeaky toy (s), dog biscuits, collar & lead, brush/comb.

6. Kitten Basket: Catnip seeds, toys, collar, Kitty pillow, etc.

7. Writing Box: note cards & stationery with envelopes, assorted cards, letter opener, book of pretty stamps, return address labels, nice pen.

8. Pamper Baskets: gel eye-packs, aroma therapy candle, soothing CD, bath gloves/buffers, sisal mitt, sugar scrub, bath salts or gel. Then customise the assortment by adding products you know the recipient will enjoy. A plastic bath tote /basket with a handle is a nice change.

9. Child's Activity Tub: In a plastic tub a pad of recycled paper, package of coloured paper, crayons, markers, coloured pencils, glue sticks, scissors, colouring books, stickers.

10. Sundae Bucket: ice cream scoop, gourmet sauces, sprinkles, assorted nuts, and other toppings, maraschino cherries, sundae glasses and long handled spoons, sugar and flat-bottomed cones, gift certificate for ice cream.

11. Baby Bath Bucket: Use a plastic sand bucket. Add a hooded towel, face cloth, sleeper, baby shampoo, baby lotion, baby powder, nail scissors, rubber duckie.

What kind of Hamper would you like to receive?  Do you like to give hampers?