Homemade gifts for 5 year old boy???

[MamaWolfe]

Dh is out of work and I only work part-time, so money is pretty much nonexistant. We usually go overboard for Christmas and buy him a ton of stuff. I always make him things, but the only thing that he cared about last year was the play yard I made (it's huge and came out very well, if I do say so myself ;-). I have no choice but to make him most of his gifts this year, but i really want him to actually like them. Any suggestions? He's into planes, trains, and automobiles. He also really likes to play with his batcave and the little people that go with them. He also loves dinosaurs, dragons, and Godzilla. So far I've made him a watch, dragon, hat, and slippers, but now I'm stumped.

Thanks!!!

[rere]

How about making a set clothes pin characters.You can get a bag of clothes pins at the Dollar store.You could paint them up like knights(for the dragon?)or any sort of characters that he likes.Maybe you could make a little carrying case for them to go in?Like one of those crayon roll but for the little people instead?

[HollyBearsMom]

Can you get your hands on some cheap fabric?  My aunt made my son an amazing cape- black satin on one side, red satin on the other.  My then 5 year old LOVED it.  Great for pretending to be a super hero, a bat, so many things! 

Do you own a printer?  Make him a personalized book.  You can even take a well known story (Puff the Magic Dragon, Good Night Moon, etc) and use your sons name in the text and photo's for the illustrations.  The covers can be made form old cardboard boxes and bind them with colorful ribbons/string.

A coupon book could be fun. coupons for staying up late, an extra book at bedtime, skip the bath night, family movie night-he picks the movie, dessert for dinner, breakfast in bed, etc

[MamaWolfe]

Those are all such good ideas! Thanks so much!!! Both my boys love to play with little people, I never thought of making some. I have a TON of fabric, I'm certain to be able to make a cape or two. Love the personalized book idea. Yay!!!

[sapphire_chan]

Plushies? It's surprisingly simple to make a stuffed toy from pictures.

Bean bag game would be pretty easy.

Also juggling balls.

You could make some pictures for his room/play area. Embroidery, applique. Since he's 5, he probably draws proper pictures now instead of scribbles? There's a number of places that talk about how to duplicate a child's drawing in fabric.

[MamaWolfe]

Sapphire Chan- Those are great ideas! I made him some plushies already. Turned out very cute. I've never heard of hte bean bag game, just looked it up and it looks like fun! Adding that one to the list. My husband juggles, hadn't thought about making balls for my son. Maybe dh can give them to him and teach him how to use them. I have been kind of mulling around hte idea of turning one of his pictures of Godzilla into a quilt. I'll have to do more research on that one, I guess. Thanks so much!!! I knew you all would have some great ideas!!!

[littlemizflava]

here is some ideas that i have made...

a i spy bag you can use beans as filler and put in all his favorte things.

a hooded cape

dress up clothes

if you have a printer. print out color pictures on to iron on tshirt paper, or print out a coloring page and you can color on them gently with crayons they turn out great.

fishing game felt fish with metal washer mouth or inside and a magnet on end of pole. i went nuts and made seaweed and put washers in side lol

puppets and puppet theater

treasure map

crown, cape, wand

[LaughingHyena]

Last year I made aprons and wrapped them with a pack of cake sprinkles. Both kids (3 & 5) loved them, though they did want to bake on Christmas afternoon :lol

I've also done eye spy bags which are popular. The doorway puppet theatre has not seen much use though.

Dressing up stuff is good, we have a couple of tabard tops with tails that both kids love. Ears are another hit http://sewing.about.com/od/hallowee1/ss/catmouseears.htm

[MamaWolfe]

Wow! My holiday "to do" list just keeps on growing! Thanks!!!

[Melissa Ellard]

I was looking for some creative gift ideas because my son has been invited to 2 birthday parties for the month of July 2 saturdays in a row! Some of these gift ideas will be awesome for my son at Christmas and his birthday 1 month apart. However, i thought of a gift for the 2nd party he is going to.... it's a gift bag that i started at Michaels where i shopped their cheap toys and accessories like what you find at the dollar store, but have more popular themes. I found a bunch of superhero stuff a lot of summer and travel stuff, so i bought a couple and got a $5 gift card to Mcdonalds, and am going to add a few other things for travel and summer activity things like that. The family travels a lot. So it is a gift bag for that. I have only speant $10 so far and have 5 things for it now with the gift card. The other boy i had no idea what to get him... mom had no suggestions. However, the cape, I think i may have to do that, and personalize it for him. How awesome would that be for a 5 year old boy! My son runs around all the time in a cape i bought one halloween on clearance. This would be even nicer!

[Smokering]

I went to a dinosaur party once where the mum had made dino tails, which Velcroed round the kids' waists. They were pretty nifty. She said she found the tutorial online, and I don't think they'd be hard to make - I think she used velour, and stuffed them with plastic bags. You could do a dragon tail instead of a dino, of course.

I've been meaning to make DD a cape. If your DS likes dressing up, medieval clothes are pretty simple - T-tunics, cloaks, belts, leggings - and might go well with the dragon theme. Grey woolen knit can make quite realistic-looking chain-mail. Or look up "tabistry" - making fake chain-mail garments out of ribbons and Coke can tabs. It sounds cheesy, but looks amazing - if you can get hold of a lot of tabs!

Good on you for thinking about Christmas presents already. Occasionally the thought flashes through my mind that I should get started on our new Christmas stockings/tree skirt/dollhouse for DD/cape for DD/fairy costume for DD/summer quilt for DD/whatever, but I haven't done any of it yet. :p Oh well, maybe once my next period of uber-busyness is over (mid-July) I can start thinking about it... A crafter's work is never done!

[serenbat]

why don't you do a FROZEN gift?

take a 13 X 9 and fill it with plastic dinos, some rocks, throw in a few coins, you can add plants to hide the items too, if you can find small dino put them in plastic eggs to add more surprise- you can tint the water also- you may want to do it in layers so they don't all sink and get a cheap chisel and mallet (yard sales are great for finding them) - freeze wrap in foil and they have a archeological dig as a gift - or do a sea type one and put the birthday message in a bottle and have that in the frozen block along with plastic fish and sea shells, a few coins are always nice and you don't have to go crazy putting in money

sometimes for adults you can just add coins and paper money for COLD CASH gift

sure not many will come with a gift that is frozen- make up a cute label or fix up an ice box- if you know someone who get Omaha Streaks they would have lots of free cooler for you- again you might find them at a recycling center for free

[sandra burns]

WISHING FOR THEM VERY MUCH BECAUSE I AM A MOM OF A 5 YEAR OLD AND TWINS

[kitchensqueen]

If he's into cars, you could sew one of these take along race tracks, with pockets for holding matchbox cars or a felt play mat.

If has Lego already, you could make him a travel case - and get a few of the holiday collectible packs to put inside (they're a few dollars apiece).  

You can make him a DIY jet pack out of recycled soda/juice containers for make believe play. 

Sew him a toy tool belt. You could also sew up some felt toys to go inside it. 

Put together a fort kit - you can get sheets at the thrift store, and probably a flashlight and clamps/clothespin too. And I've seen glow sticks or glow jewelry at the dollar store. 

You might also browse the blog All For the Boys - she posts great DIY projects and activities for boys. 

[kitchensqueen]

Ha I just realized this is a really old thread! How are so many old threads getting revived these days? So weird. Anyway, I'll leave my response there in case anyone wants the ideas for this year - it's getting to be holiday-planning time soon anyway. :-)

[Stacy Ito]

Thanks for leaving your response there kitchensqueen! I found so many of your suggestions useful in planning for this Christmas! :)

[kitchensqueen]

Originally Posted by Stacy Ito 

Thanks for leaving your response there kitchensqueen! I found so many of your suggestions useful in planning for this Christmas! :)

No problem! I'm a bit of a Pinterest junkie, so I'm always coming across fun stuff to share. :-)