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! 

      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! 

    A few months ago, my granddaughter told me all about the eye color bracelet trend.  (My grandchildren tend to try to keep me up to date with what is popular on TikTok.)  We tried it out and created a post about it here.  That post turned out to be one of our more popular posts in 2024.  So, when Jayda told me about this friendship bracelet trend that she has been seeing, of course we had to give it a try as well! 

    I've been something like a mad scientist this year, creating all kinds of concoctions as Christmas gifts!  Essential oils have played a big part in this endeavor and I have enjoyed every minute of it.  

     The great thing about using essential oils to make these gifts is that you get a beautiful result from very little effort and very few ingredients.  The products come together fairly quickly and packaging them up is a lot of fun because they can go into all kinds of little bottles or pretty wrappings.  All of these ideas make lovely and well appreciated gifts.  

     My good friend Jaci, who is my go-to for all things essential oil posted some really fun ideas this year for a 25 days of Christmas using Doterra Essential Oils.  If you want to shop Doterra, click the link.)  I'm borrowing some of her ideas for this list! (She had so many good ones!)

      If you've read this blog for very long, you will know that I am the music leader for the primary kids at my church.  I love that job and have been doing it for a long time now.  I adore the children and love making singing fun for them, plus helping them to feel the Spirit while they learn and sing the messages of the songs.  So, at Christmas time, I love to give them a little gift as a way to express my love for them.  Of course, the problem is that there are a lot of them and I don't have a lot of money to spend.  So my gifts are usually handmade and from the heart.  
       You may have had similar experiences trying to come up with a group gift idea for a classroom of kids at school or church or a team or club.  Of course, you can always give candy or food of some kind, but I always like to make it a little more special and enjoy adding a special twist to really give that holiday vibe!   
      Today I'm sharing 5  cute ideas that are budget friendly, yet awesome gifts that I think any group of kids will love! 

1- We'll start with what I gave this year:  Dipped Oreos and Christmas Pencils.  I have a few kids in my group who have special dietary needs.  Some are gluten free and some are dairy free.  When it comes to food, I am very careful.  I check with their parents before I include any ingredients or purchase any food items for them.  Oreo Cookies, the gluten free version are vegan and dairy free as well!  They work great for my Primary kids, they taste great whether the kids have allergies or not and I use them a lot.  You can also find a version like Oreos at Sprouts that is very allergy friendly, but the Oreos are less expensive.  I decided to dip them in white chocolate, but I had to find a allergy free version.  Enjoy Life has a white chocolate chip that is free of 14 different allergies, including gluten and dairy, and it tastes great! They also have semi-sweet chocolate.  The link is for Amazon, but I found them cheaper at Sprouts. 
      After I purchased the cookies, chocolate and I already had sanding sugar, I melted the chocolate, dipped the cookies and sprinkled on the sugar.  After they were dry, I slipped them into these little bags.  I already had the bags, but you can find them here.  Putting cookies in a bag elevates them from ordinary to special!  Then, I taped on some Christmas Pencils that I found at DollarTree and also tied them with some red ribbon!  Simply a cookie and a pencil, but the kids were so happy to get them! 

2.  Freeze Dried Candy:  The Primary Presidency also gave our children a gift.  One of them has a freeze dryer and she freeze dried Nerd Gummies and they bagged them up into special bags with a sweet message on them.  If you have access to a freeze dryer, this gift of freeze dried candies is a big hit!  If you don't, you can find freeze dried candy on Amazon! They look so festive and taste fabulous!
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3.  Play Doh Minis:  That set of Play-Doh, pictured above also comes with those cute cookie cutters!  There are 24 in a pack for $25 dollars.  If you get them without the cutters, you can get a bulk pack or 42 for $17!  That is a great deal!   I've seen these elevated as gifts with little tags that say "Wishing you a Doh-lightful Christmas!"  You could easily design that on Canva and print them off on cardstock.  What a terrific non-food gift! 

4.  Candy Cane Chocolate Hearts:  On the blog Playdates to Parties, She tells how to make these adorable heats with candy canes and chocolate.  She also includes a printable to go with them.  I fell in love with these as soon as I saw them!  I wish I had seen them before I did the other gift that I gave this year, but I'm tucking this idea away for next year! I'm glad I found the Enjoy Life Chocolate that I will be able to use in the middle of the hearts! 
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5.  Cinnamon Bear Popcorn Balls:  Back in 2020, Lindsey posted this recipe for Cinnamon Bear Popcorn Balls that I think kids will love! They would be an inexpensive and delicious gift wrapped in cellophane and tied with a pretty bow.  Once again, the Enjoy Life Chocolate could take the place of the Funfetti Chocolate Chips.  Also, be sure that popcorn is not an issue with any of the children.  
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     Maddy reminded me that checking party aisles at stores for party favors like fidget toys, tiny puzzle games and so forth is always a great option and then all you have to do is amp up your presentation to make the gift a little extra. 
     If you give a fidget toy, you might want to combine it with the fidget chocolate treats that we blogged about here!  (Bonus Idea Here!)
 No matter what, the kids will love your gift!  If you do come up with any awesome ideas that you would like to share, we would love to hear them.  Please drop us a comment! 
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