Kids make art - it starts with homemade Christmas presents

Christmas is there for the children - the children know this and deal with the desired selection of gifts carefully long before the Advent season.

This preoccupation with your own wishes is a bit different depending on the type: Sometimes it is planned almost accounting, with lists in which information is neatly entered for adults, so that at Christmas the cult sneaker is not in the wrong color or from the wrong company under the gift table.

Little chaos makers make several wish lists, and parents are often asked, in a slightly panicked manner, for help in finding the last one, or they have to listen to them tell them that it will soon be replaced by wish list 8 because there are already a few things wrong on wish list 7.

The dreamy, gullible ones delight their parents with long stories describing trips on the new mountain bike, together with their parents, of course, with a well-behaved child and in perfect harmony.

The little tactics sometimes do that too, but their stories are garnished with a wealth of references how important it is if a drinking bottle from the company X is also "delivered" to the mountain bike, and a hoodation from the fashion brand Y, and if it has to be a helmet, but then only that from company z ...

What kids usually think of a little too late is their own presents. And yet, children want to give gifts; they enjoy it. These little tacticians also know full well that only those who make a little effort themselves will receive generous presents next Christmas.

If the first perplexed questions come, what should only be given to Omi and Opi for God's sake, the hour has come to a skillful adult: If you now have the right program at hand, you can keep your children away from computers or game console for a long time and instead stimulate it to creative activity.

A little subtle pressure can be quite helpful. An example would be pointing out that Grandma would definitely be delighted with this or that perfume, but then her pocket money would be gone for what feels like an eternity.

Older kids should now get some good suggestions for crafting things that really qualify as full-fledged gifts. These children already realize that a scribbled picture is no longer enough. These children can even make truly trendy gifts if you give them the right idea.

Here are a few suggestions:

01 laying of a lotus candle

Lotus candles are among the gifts that are in great demand. Lotus candles are the candles that turn out like a kind of flower when they are burned down. This then results in a miraculous development, never for predictable, but always extremely attractive.

The professionally crafted lotus candles are cast in a single piece, but a flower shape can also be deliberately designed, namely with a candle coated with several layers of wax. You can even make such a candle yourself with your children. All you have to do is pour wax scraps onto a marble board into sheets that are as flower-shaped as possible. Then, once they're warmed through and ready to be molded, place these sheets one after the other around a thick pillar candle. The sheets are then bent outward at the top like petals, and liquid wax can be poured between the layers to secure them.

Self-made candles make wonderful gifts for many people, namely those who don't really need anything at all—a candle isn't a gift that lasts forever; it's a gift that wears out. And candles don't always have to be poured. It's much more creative to model candles, and the results are often truly unique.

To do this, your children need so-called kneading and cutting wax that is sold in handicrafts. This kneading wax has a very low melting point and can be kneaded or rolled out if it is only easier to heat and then cut into applications.

Your children can either mold (hopefully truly crazy) shaped candles, which is the option for all gift recipients with a sense of humor and a keen sense of creativity, or decorate finished candles with their own designs (the clay already adheres to a slightly warmed candle). These can be letters or other decorations, ornaments, and decorative lines, which is the option for grandmas who aren't so keen on crazy things.

02 Designed photo book

The homemade gift can also be a photo book, which a teenager can create and give free rein to their imagination (and perhaps, along the way, learn about an area of ​​computer graphics that is more important than the latest game).

If a child shows interest in photography and has its own pictures on the computer/cell phone that it can use, this is of course ideal. If not, or if the image selection is not sufficient, you may be able to help out: Really funny photo books for grandparents can be created from photos that document any family reunion or trips together.

Such a photo book is then given a lot of comments that make the grandparents laugh - you will also learn better than from every postcard how the vacation really was and feel involved.

03 photo calendar

The photo calendar combines personal design with practical value as a gift . It's an excellent solution for all kids who can't find enough photos to put together a photo book.

And it can also be made shortly before Christmas. There is nothing more than a wealth of ideas and a photo shop.

The preparation of the required photo series could then also be extremely fun: the 15-year-old Melanie spends an afternoon in front of the Mirrors with a girlfriend, a bunch of make-up and the photo shop, with the result that Omi finally has enough photos of her granddaughter-every month in a different style and with a different face.

Girls also love to play dress-up. Grandparents then see their granddaughter in the photo calendar as an angel in a nightgown, a sex bomb in a disco outfit, a tough businesswoman in a sleek business suit, and Bumblebee in last year's carnival costume. Son Leon, 14, goes on a cross-country bike ride with his friend Jannick and takes lots of photos for the calendar, in which he's really dirty.

The photo calendar can, of course, also be filled with a series of photos that mirrors the grandparents' interests, for example, photos from various theater performances or from an online photo database containing free images. Or a walk through the sights of their hometown or a city the grandparents have long planned to visit.

Or the kids simply take pictures of something beautiful, e.g. B. a whole range of flower heads in the next flower shop, which the shop owner allows you to be in a friendly way. This series of flower photos is then placed against a background with the help of a computer program and possibly an adult who can operate it. The background fits exactly with the colors in the grandparents' apartment.

Other ideas for decorative or charming series photos: various wine bottles, illuminated from behind by a colorful film, treetops from below, backlit, a row of strangers who were asked to wave friendly at the camera and who happily did so.

This often results in gifts of astonishing artistic value. They're also very personal Christmas presents that the recipients truly enjoy, and the kids even had fun making them.