Kids make art – it starts with homemade Christmas gifts

Christmas is for the children – the children know this and start carefully putting together their desired selection of gifts long before Advent.

This preoccupation with one's own wishes varies somewhat depending on the type: Sometimes it involves almost accountant-like planning, with lists in which information is neatly entered for the adults, so that the cult sneaker in the wrong color or from the wrong company is not under the gift table at Christmas.

Little troublemakers make several wish lists, and their parents are often asked, slightly panicked, for help in finding the last one, or they have to listen to the fact that it will soon be replaced by wish list number 8 because quite a few things are no longer right on wish list number 7.

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

The little tacticians sometimes do that too, but their stories are peppered with a wealth of hints about how important it is that a water bottle from company X is "supplied" with the mountain bike, and a hoodie from fashion brand Y, and if it absolutely has to be a helmet, then please only the one from company Z..

What kids usually think about a little too late is their own gifts. Yet children want to give gifts; they enjoy doing so. These little strategists also know perfectly well that only those who put in a little effort themselves will receive plenty of presents next Christmas.

When the first bewildered questions arise about what on earth to give Grandma and Grandpa, the hour of skillful adults has come: If you have the right program at hand, you can keep your children away from the computer or game console for longer periods without any coercion and encourage them to engage in creative activities instead.

A little subtle pressure can actually be helpful. For example, you could mention that Grandma would surely love this or that perfume. But then her pocket money would be gone for what felt like forever.

Older kids should now be given some good suggestions for crafting things that can truly pass as proper gifts. These children already realize that a scribbled picture just won't cut it anymore. They can even create genuinely trendy gifts if you give them the right inspiration.

Here are a few suggestions:

01 Layering a Lotus Candle

Lotus candles are among the most popular gifts right now. Lotus candles are the kind that curl outwards like a flower as they burn. This creates a wondrous display, never entirely predictable, but always exceptionally attractive.

Professionally made lotus candles are poured in one piece, but a flower shape can also be intentionally designed, for example, on a candle that has a coating of several layers of wax. And you can even make such a candle yourself with your children. Simply pour leftover wax onto a marble slab to form flower-shaped sheets, then, while the wax is still warm and pliable, place these sheets one after the other around a thick pillar candle. Bend the top of the sheets outwards like petals, and pour liquid wax between the layers to secure them.

Homemade candles make wonderful gifts for many people, especially those who don't really need anything – a candle isn't a gift for eternity, it's meant to be used up. And candles don't always have to be poured. It's much more creative to model candles, and the results are often truly unique.

For this, your children will need so-called modeling and cutting wax, which is sold in craft stores. This modeling wax has a very low melting point and can be easily kneaded or rolled out and then cut into appliqués when only slightly warmed.

Your children can either mold (hopefully truly wacky) figure candles from modeling clay – this is the option for all gift recipients with a sense of humor and a strong sense of creativity – or decorate ready-made candles with their own designs (the modeling wax already adheres to a slightly pre-warmed candle). These can be letters or other decorations, ornaments, and decorative lines – this is the option for Grandma, who isn't so keen on the wacky stuff.

02 Self-designed photo book

The self-designed gift could also be a photo book, in the design of which a teenager can fully express their imagination (and perhaps also learn about an area of ​​computer graphics that is more important than the latest game).

If a child shows an interest in photography and has their own pictures on a computer/phone that they can use, that's ideal, of course. If not, or if the selection of pictures isn't sufficient, perhaps you can help out: Really fun photo books for grandparents can be created from photos documenting family gatherings or trips together.

Such a photo book is then filled with lots of comments that make the grandparents laugh – they also learn better than from any postcard what the holiday was really like, and thus feel included.

03 Photo Calendar

A photo calendar combines personal design with practical value as a gift . It's an excellent solution for kids who don't have enough photos to create a photo book.

And it can even be made right before Christmas. All you need is a lot of creativity and a camera phone.

Creating the required photo series could also be extremely fun: 15-year-old Melanie spends an afternoon in front of the mirror with her friend, a lot of make-up and her camera phone, with the result that Grandma finally has enough photos of her granddaughter – every month in a different style and with a different expression.

Girls also love to play dress-up. Grandparents then see their granddaughter in the photo calendar as an angel in a nightgown, as a bombshell in a disco outfit, as a tough businesswoman in a smart business suit, and as Bumblebee in last year's carnival costume. Their son Leon, 14 years old, goes on a cross-country bike tour with his friend Jannick and takes lots of photos for the calendar, in which he's really covered in dirt.

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

Or the kids could simply photograph something beautiful, for example, a whole series of flower heads in the nearest flower shop. The shop owner will surely allow this if asked politely. This series of flower photos is then placed against a background using a computer program, perhaps with the help of an adult who knows how to operate it. The background should perfectly match the colors in the grandparents' apartment.

Other ideas for decorative or charming series photos: various wine bottles backlit against a colorful foil, treetops from below, backlit, a series of strangers who were asked to wave kindly at the camera and gladly did so.

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

Lina Sahne

Passionate author with a keen interest in art

www.kunstplaza.de