Christmas Gift Crafts

There are so many great Christmas gift crafts that you can make quickly and easily for everyone on your list. if you've got a bunch of people you need to make Christmas gifts for, use one of these ideas to "mass produce" a gift that will work for almost anyone, and have fun doing it.

One of my favorite Christmas gift crafts to make for a group is votive candles. The great thing about making votive candles is that if you have a mold that will allow you to make several candles at once, this can be done pretty quickly.

Just melt up a bunch of wax, color it a Christmasy color (such as red or green) add a pine or gingerbread scent if you'd like, and use pre-wicked candle wicks to make it even easier on yourself.

Put the finished candles in cheap votive candle holders (you can get simple glass candle holders at a crafts store or floral supply store for a dollar or less each), put each in a small gift bag (plain bags are about 50 cents each and you can decorate them yourself) and you're done.

This is the perfect gift to give to all of your co-workers if you work in an office where people exchange gifts. Even guys will accept the gift of a candle (even if they regift it to their wife later) and everyone will love that you took the time to make something for them.

If you have a relatively small number of people you're making Christmas gift crafts for and you really enjoy knitting or crochet, you can make scarves for everyone on your list.

Use a simple pattern like the Blue State Scarf, which only takes a couple of hours to knit. You can make one each evening or every weekend and quickly have all the gifts you need. The great thing about this scarf pattern is that you can change the colors for each person you're giving it to, and it will be a great scarf for a man or a woman. (You might need to make it a little longer to work for a man.)

For more ideas on knitted and crocheted scarves you can make for Christmas gift crafts, check out our knitting and crochet scarf articles.

Usually sewing projects are larger projects than you'll have time to mass produce for gifts. There are still a couple of things you can do if you like to sew and want to make sewn Christmas gift crafts.

One easy craft that you can make a bunch of quickly is Christmas pillows. Choose some cute holiday fabric, buy simple square pillow forms, and sew away. It's better to make holiday theme pillows if you don't know what the recipient's home décor looks like. Most people love to have holiday pillows to throw around the house.

Another fun idea is to make small quilted Christmas ornaments. Cut out a simple shape, such as a heart, a star or a circle (your Christmas cookie cutters can give you great inspiration for this). Make two pieces and sew almost all the way around, with the right sides together.

Turn the fabric right side out and stuff with batting, beans, birdseed, potpourri, or whatever else you've got on hand. Sew the hole up by hand. Sew in a loop of ribbon to give the recipient a way to hang the ornament.

Another craft that tends to give you time-consuming projects is cross-stitching, but there is one great project that is relatively quick and easy for Christmas gift crafts.

Bookmarks are a wonderful and useful gift for everyone on your list. You could cross stitch the person's name onto the bookmark, or collect some small Christmas cross stitch motifs to make a cute holiday bookmark.

Back the strip of cross stitch fabric with a wide piece of red, green, or holiday patterned ribbon. You could even throw in a favorite holiday book or another nice book if you want to make your gift extra special.

If your favorite craft is not listed here, think of small projects that would be easy to duplicate over and over. The best Christmas gifts are personal, of course, but if you're crafting for a whole bunch of people you can alter the colors or design for each piece while still using a somewhat repetitive pattern that saves you time.

While you're busy making all these Christmas gift crafts, don't forget to take time to make something special for yourself, too. And don't get stressed out about all the work you have to do; remember that the holidays are supposed to be fun!

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