A Special Chritmas Gift

One thing that I have decided that I want to do is to give each of the children a handmade gift each year for Christmas.  Amongst the other "stuff" they get for Christmas, I want them to have something that was lovingly thought of, planned, and made with just them in mind. I want gifts that they can truly cherish rather than just things that they love today and forget tomorrow.

Since I decided this...oh, about a week before Christmas...I decided I would start small and just do a gift for one of the kids.  I now have all year to plan gifts for everyone next year.  I'm excited to think about what each child would truly love!

This year I chose to make a special gift for Alaina.  She will be seven in January and she is in the stages of growing out of being a "little girl."  I want to encourage her to grow in good ways, while also allowing her the ability to remain sweet, innocent, and pure in heart.  I feel that one of my jobs of a mother at this stage is to help her stay innocent instead of letting/pushing her to grow up too fast. Too many kids her age are worried about being in style, boys, and teen idols.

So, I decided to made a doll collection for her.  But rather than paper dolls that get ripped and ruined, I chose to create a felt doll collection for her.  I created different people (with different colors, because for her and her life, people really do come in all colors!)  I then created a variety of clothes, hair, shoes, and accessories.

And about 2 minutes after she opened it, she was having a blast!

And putting together the cutest people!

 

Here are some of my favorite things about this project/gift:

1) It is longer lasting that many gifts.  The felt is sturdy and can be played with over and over.

2) It is small so it can go with us anywhere -- whether that means on a family trip or if we move

3) It can be added to.  Already Alaina and I have added to her collection.  She is really into weddings so we had to create more "fancy clothes" and a tux for the guys. We have also made babies and some baby clothes, more shoes, more boy clothes, and few extra purses.  We can continue to add to it as we want.  It makes a fun craft time for both of us!

4) I can control what kind of clothes she has for it.  With something like Barbies, you are always fighting against culture and all the skimpy clothes that come with it.  With this, I can help guide her in modest yet stylish clothing choices.

5) When I was young and played with Barbies, my favorite thing was dressing them up.  I never really like playing with the Barbies themselves.  With this set, she can change the dolls very fast. One of her favorite things to do is have one of the dolls "say," "Oh I think I need to go to the salon.  I think I am going to dye my hair ______."  And then she changes the hair and voila!  instant hair change!

6) It was really simple to make!  For a few years I have had a paper doll that we have never opened.  I finally popped out the pieces and used them as templates to create the items.  Once I had the general idea of it, I could create whatever I wanted. All I needed was felt, scissors, and a hot glue gun!

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The best part of all this?  For my girl with the five minute attention span, she finally has something that she really loves.  She has played with it for at least half hour to an hour every day since Christmas and she lovingly puts it away each time (and believe me, this girl puts nothing away without being hounded!)

Comments

[Rebecca]

Very clever idea! So unique, thoughtful and lasting. What a great idea to make each of them something homemade for Christmas next year!

[Ashley]

This is so great! I'm going to have to make these for my girls!
PS I was the same way with Barbies!

[Tamara]

Such a cute idea. I love handmade gifts and made a few that this year that I really loved. Thanks for sharing!

[shelby]

That is SO fantastic!! Really, really cool! I want to do that! I'm thinking that would take me a long time!