Sibling Gifts

This year the kids have been working on Christmas gifts for eachother. Growing up it was always a tradition in my home to make a homemade gift for one of the siblings. We usually drew names out of a bowl but since only two of mine are old enough to understand what is going on we just did gifts for Kiera and Ethan. I am sure next year Emma will be able to participate.

I found some really cute ideas online and pinned them on my pinterest account. They both were a success and I can't wait to see the kids open them up on Christmas. The kids are even in charge of wrapping the gift they made. I love to see the pride in their faces and the excitement they have that they were the ones who did it. It is a fun way to teach them the joy of giving and not just the receiving.

Here's what we came up with:

For Ethan
Kiera made a Angry Bird Bowling game for Ethan. I got the idea from the website Blue Cricket Design.
Kiera had so much fun and couldn't wait for "nap time." Nap time meant Ethan was going to bed and she got to stay up to work on his surprise. She painted the empty cans green, cut out most of the pieces of felt (left over from my bunk-bed playhouse), and helped stuff the angry bird ball/pillow. When I was painting the faces of the pigs on all the cans I left the pupils off the eyes and let her do those. The project didn't cost anything! But the best part was seeing Kiera and how pleased she was with herself. She can't wait to see her brother open her gift; and neither can I.

For Kiera
Making Kiera's gift was a bit tricky since she doesn't really nap anymore and is out of school for Winter Break. So to make hers we had to preoccupy her with some watercolors and some constant reminders to stay out of the kitchen.

Ethan's gift is a homemade playdough cookie set (idea from the blog Chasing Cheerios) He put all the ingredients for the homemade playdough in the pot and stirred it up. Ethan is my little baker so this project was perfect for him! He picked the color (pink) just for her and we added glitter to the dough for some added sparkle. When that was done we got some assorted beads from the craft room and put them in an empty baby food jar to be the "sprinkles" for the cookies she makes with her dough. We included a couple cookie cutters and put all the supplies in a mixing bowl. I didn't take as many pictures of Ethan as I did of Kiera. There's something about having a 3 yr old cooking over a hot stove and a potential 5 yr old peeker that made picture taking at the bottom of my list. We did however get a picture of the finished product.

I am just as excited to see the kids open each others gifts as they are. Maybe even more so.