A personalized Gift from Grandma for the budding chef!

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     My grandson, Adrian, is turning 10 soon.  He is a smart, remarkable boy and I wanted to do something special for him for his birthday.  Alicia, his mom, told me that this year as they sat down as a family to make goals and vision boards, he decided that he wanted to work on learning to cook more.  Both of his parents love to cook, so he comes by it naturally.  Actually, he is already pretty good at cooking! 

In this picture, he and his younger sister are making ratatouille!

      A few years ago, I made all of my granddaughters aprons.  (You can see the post here!)  Alicia told me that he wanted an apron, too.  But, I have not gotten around to making it.  When I heard about his goal, I figured this was the perfect time to do it!

      First I made him an apron in red cotton because red is his favorite color.  You can find boys apron patterns all over the internet.  I made my own pattern, but it looks like any you might find on Pinterest.  You could also simply buy a child's apron.  I'm still debating if I should put some sort of cool saying or something on the front pocket.  Any Ideas? 

      I put a pocket on the front chest of he apron, and a 3 section pocket that goes along the bottom of the apron.  I decided that I needed to fill the pockets with things for him to cook with.  The first thing I thought of was a little recipe book that I could create for him with some favorite recipes from me or our family. 

     Here is how I created it! 

     I used Canva to create the recipe cards.  Many of my favorites are already in card form on our blog, so I simply had to choose recipes that I thought Adrian would love.  I think that is the great part about this gift idea, the personalization!  Adrian is not a big sweet eater, he loves crunchy snacks and if he has dessert, he likes chocolate.  He also likes vegetables and out of the ordinary savory recipes that you don't hear most 10 year olds liking! So, choosing recipes for him was a lot of fun! 

        After choosing the recipes, I printed them as 4x6 recipe cards on cardstock.  When I cut them out, I left a margin at the top to accommodate the rings for the booklet. 
     I have a binding machine that uses those plastic rings that I haven't used very often yet,  but this was the perfect application.  I may need to curate more of these little booklets for more people in my life! 
       I designed a front cover and I am linking the pdfs here for you if you would like to create your own booklets.  I made one for boys and one for girls.  All you have to do is click on them! 

     All you have to do is print off your favorite recipes to share with your grandchild.  Or, if you would like, you can always find recipes that you think they would like on the internet or right on our blog! We have a bunch of cards to choose from in a wide variety of flavors and tastes.  Type what you are looking for in the search bar and see if we have a recipe for it!
     Another option is to handwrite some recipes so that they will have your handwritten recipes to treasure! 
      If you have a laminating machine  or simply clear contact paper, that would be a good idea to use on all of the pages, or at least the cover of the booklet so that it can be wiped clean. 
​​​     If you don't have a binding machine, (they are pretty reasonable) You could use binder rings or even staples if that is all you have.  You could even stitch it together with string or ribbon!  Just be sure to leave that margin at the top so you don't cut off words or directions with the binding.

     I like the 4x6 size because it will fit perfectly in one of the pockets.

     Now I'm finding other items to tuck into the pockets.

     Here are my ideas so far:

• a wooden spoon that I personalized with wood burning
• an oven mitt
• gloves to protect against cuts
• Some cash to help him by ingredients!

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     Have any other ideas?  Let me know in the comments before I mail this package off!  Also, your ideas for the front pocket, or should I leave it plain?

     I worried that he would be disappointed by my gift because my other 10 year old grandson would rather have Legos, but Alicia assures me that Adrian will love it.  He is quite a well rounded boy who likes Legos, basketball, Pokémon, and cooking! That is pretty cool I think! 
      I have a feeling that a few of my other grandchildren would enjoy a personalized gift of recipes from me as well.  Each set will be different, depending on their tastes!  Hopefully they will realize the love I put into the gift as I show that I know and appreciate each one of them.  
​     I hope you like this idea, too!