Handmade Christmas 2025 is about to start!
After the success of the last two handmade Christmases, I was asked to continue on for 2025, so we are!
Yes, we! We can all have a beautiful and meaningful handmade Christmas in 2025, and starting early, like on the 1st January, ensures we get things made, within our budget and crossed of our gift to-make list.
But to ensure that happens, we need to get started with a plan, a plan of what we're going to make, for whom we are going to make it, the supplies needed and the date it needs to be completed.
Without a plan, we're just coasting through the year, crafting and making things and thinking (or hoping) they are going to be a part of our handmade Christmas.
I've thought long and hard about the gifts to make, and made sure they can be made using the supplies I have, after all, this is also a Use It Up year.
The list looks like this (at the moment - it could well change!)
Aprons
Bag Clips
Button Jars
Decoupaged Watering Can
Edith Bags
Bowl Cosies
Canning Mats
Gloverlies
Daisy Dishcloths
Handy Kitchen Towels
Needle cases
Packet Tissue Covers
Playing Card Holders
Pot holders
Scrunchie Bags
Shoulder Protectors
Vanilla Extract
Prepared Mustard
Tomato Relish
Herb Vinegar
Flavoured Coffee Beans
Orange Marmalade
Raspberry Jam
Ginger Beer Syrup
Coffee Syrup
Orange slices
Zucchini Pickles
Bible Bag
Prayer Journal
Napkin Holders
Cutlery Rolls
Monogrammed Travel Cups
Soaps & Soap Sacks
Shower pouffs
Card packs
Cross-stitched Hand Towels
Food covers 6 sets
Tea Cosies
Yes, we! We can all have a beautiful and meaningful handmade Christmas in 2025, and starting early, like on the 1st January, ensures we get things made, within our budget and crossed of our gift to-make list.
But to ensure that happens, we need to get started with a plan, a plan of what we're going to make, for whom we are going to make it, the supplies needed and the date it needs to be completed.
Without a plan, we're just coasting through the year, crafting and making things and thinking (or hoping) they are going to be a part of our handmade Christmas.
I've thought long and hard about the gifts to make, and made sure they can be made using the supplies I have, after all, this is also a Use It Up year.
The list looks like this (at the moment - it could well change!)
Aprons
Bag Clips
Button Jars
Decoupaged Watering Can
Edith Bags
Bowl Cosies
Canning Mats
Gloverlies
Daisy Dishcloths
Handy Kitchen Towels
Needle cases
Packet Tissue Covers
Playing Card Holders
Pot holders
Scrunchie Bags
Shoulder Protectors
Vanilla Extract
Prepared Mustard
Tomato Relish
Herb Vinegar
Flavoured Coffee Beans
Orange Marmalade
Raspberry Jam
Ginger Beer Syrup
Coffee Syrup
Orange slices
Zucchini Pickles
Bible Bag
Prayer Journal
Napkin Holders
Cutlery Rolls
Monogrammed Travel Cups
Soaps & Soap Sacks
Shower pouffs
Card packs
Cross-stitched Hand Towels
Food covers 6 sets
Tea Cosies
To make things easier for you, I've created a printable of the plan I've used the last two years, and it has worked really well, so well in fact that I'm happy to share it with you. I've already filled mine out and stuck it in my gift book.
It will print on A4 size paper in landscape mode. Landscape because it gives me more room to write - the more information the better when it comes to gift giving.
It will print on A4 size paper in landscape mode. Landscape because it gives me more room to write - the more information the better when it comes to gift giving.
If Christmas 2025 is going to be your first handmade Christmas, here are some tips to help you get started:
1. Use the Handmade Christmas Planner to list who, what, the supplies needed, your budget for each gift, the event because while we call this the handmade Christmas challenge, I add in other occasions too, when the gift needs to be completed and when you wrap and label it.
2. List the things to make in order of complexity. For instance if you're planning on a queen bed quilt, start it now and leave the knitted dishcloth until later in the year. It will give you time to work on the more detailed gifts without stressing.
3. Do a stocktake of your supplies. Do you need to buy fabric or elastic? Do you need paper or cardstock? Do you need dye? Or beads? Do you need any wooden blanks? Do you need to find patterns or instructions for the things you have on your list.
4. Then list the materials and supplies you need to make each gift. There's a place on the planner to put them. This will give you a good idea of whether or not they'll fit in your gift budget.
5. Make sure you dedicate some time every day, or every week, to work on your gifts. This one is important - otherwise you'll get to November and nothing will be finished. If you travel by public transport use that time to work on any stitching, knitting, crochet, beading, embroidery projects. I like to keep a bag packed with small projects I can do while travelling, or sitting waiting for appointments and so on; you'll be amazed at just how much you can get done when you're waiting.
6. As each gift is crossed off your list, wrap it, label it and put it in your present box, ready to hand out when it's needed. I love to see each gift crossed off the list, and put into the present box. Then you can move onto the next gift.
7. If you have a few of the same thing on your list i.e. kitchen towels or personalised candles, work on them all at once. It is so much more money, time and energy efficient to work in batches and in an assembly line fashion, and it's so rewarding to see a few things finished and a few gifts crossed off at once. I like to cut all the tea towels in half, then cut all the toppers, stitch all the toppers, run the gathering thread for the tea towels, stitch the toppers to the bottoms, do all the buttonholes, sew on all the buttons, cut all the threads. If I'm doing card sets I make all the card bases, then all the envelopes, cut all the paper, do all the stamping, cut the embellishments, do the assembly in one go then package them all in one go.
1. Use the Handmade Christmas Planner to list who, what, the supplies needed, your budget for each gift, the event because while we call this the handmade Christmas challenge, I add in other occasions too, when the gift needs to be completed and when you wrap and label it.
2. List the things to make in order of complexity. For instance if you're planning on a queen bed quilt, start it now and leave the knitted dishcloth until later in the year. It will give you time to work on the more detailed gifts without stressing.
3. Do a stocktake of your supplies. Do you need to buy fabric or elastic? Do you need paper or cardstock? Do you need dye? Or beads? Do you need any wooden blanks? Do you need to find patterns or instructions for the things you have on your list.
4. Then list the materials and supplies you need to make each gift. There's a place on the planner to put them. This will give you a good idea of whether or not they'll fit in your gift budget.
5. Make sure you dedicate some time every day, or every week, to work on your gifts. This one is important - otherwise you'll get to November and nothing will be finished. If you travel by public transport use that time to work on any stitching, knitting, crochet, beading, embroidery projects. I like to keep a bag packed with small projects I can do while travelling, or sitting waiting for appointments and so on; you'll be amazed at just how much you can get done when you're waiting.
6. As each gift is crossed off your list, wrap it, label it and put it in your present box, ready to hand out when it's needed. I love to see each gift crossed off the list, and put into the present box. Then you can move onto the next gift.
7. If you have a few of the same thing on your list i.e. kitchen towels or personalised candles, work on them all at once. It is so much more money, time and energy efficient to work in batches and in an assembly line fashion, and it's so rewarding to see a few things finished and a few gifts crossed off at once. I like to cut all the tea towels in half, then cut all the toppers, stitch all the toppers, run the gathering thread for the tea towels, stitch the toppers to the bottoms, do all the buttonholes, sew on all the buttons, cut all the threads. If I'm doing card sets I make all the card bases, then all the envelopes, cut all the paper, do all the stamping, cut the embellishments, do the assembly in one go then package them all in one go.