Craft Gossip

Independent craft blog since 2007

Amazing Christmas Gift Card Gifting Idea

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When I came across this amazing gift card idea by Kelly Maree, I knew I had to share it with you. Such a fun way to give gift cards and easy too. You don’t actually need any crafting skills for this little money giving project. 

Teenagers are especially hard to buy for as they start to become independent in their tastes/styles but at the same time, they still love the idea of lots of little things. The best thing about this gift card idea is you can load the gift cards up to suit your budget.  Slightly off-topic but we recently started giving our 13-year-old her own loaded card for all her own clothes and makeup. It has to last her the full year and she needs to budget for the seasons etc. She was costing me a small fortune in supplies that this was the only option for me to keep track of how much she was costing me. She has loved the freedom and it has saved lots of arguments at the checkouts too.

You will need 12 Gift cards to create this Christmas tree, a plastic star,  and a Letterboard. Lots of discount stores sell the letterboards but you can, of course, stick them to a picture frame or even just card stock.   Use a sticky dot or some double-sided tape to secure the gift cards into place.

Have you created a fun way to gift money or gift cards? Share them with us by commenting below.

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Easy Outdoor Games to Play with Kids

After talking about the pirate themed chalk obstacle course the other day, I got to thinking about other easy, low prep games and activities you can do with kids outside. A lot of these are ideas I found on Pinterest that don’t link to blogs anymore if they ever did, but often that’s all the detail you need to figure out what’s going on. 

First, a couple from blogs that are still alive. If you have a lot of trees in your yard or in your park, you probably also have a lot of sticks, so you can pretty easily do this stick maze activity from Mother Natured. Build the maze yourself or have one child build if for another. Either way it’s lots of fun and you can keep it built to use as a labyrinth or for pretend play. 

If it’s hot where you live you might want outdoor activities that involve water like this fill the bucket relay game. The only thing you might not have at home is giant sponges, but this is still pretty low prep, inexpensive and lots of fun if you have two or more kids to play. Check out how to do it from The Resourceful Mama. And check out my post all about ice and water sensory activities for more ideas to beat the heat. 

Make some x’s and o’s or use something you already have to be your game pieces (you can also just draw them on paper plates for a super fast version) and make a large tic tac toe board on the sidewalk. The bonus of reusable game pieces is kids can play with the same grid over and over, which is great if you don’t have a ton of space. 

I also love the idea of drawing a big bullseye on the sidewalk or driveway and using beanbags or sponges to try to hit the target. If you have hula hoops you can also set them in a grassy area and have kids try to hit them. 

Check out more fun outdoor games for kids from The Printable Princess. These are more for big groups of kids, but if you’ve got a classroom full these are good ones to have on hand for getting some energy out. 

Do you have favorite outdoor games for kids to play when it’s hot? I’d love to hear about them!