child friendly gift

I know that most of us are ready to take a break from reading about gifts for awhile but I had to share this child-friendly, homemade gift my boys made for their half-sister. I saw this done so many places this year and planned to try it out for at least one Christmas gift. But then my brain failed me and I found myself without a gift for my boys' one year old sister about a week before Christmas. I knew this is what I wanted to give her because it involved the boys so much but I had just completely forgotten about it. So I ran out to Wal-Mart, bought $10 worth of pretty fabric and put my guys to work.

The younger ones (3 and 5) didn't have as much interest in it as I had hoped, but the 8 year old stuck it out to the end. They all contributed in their own way and that's what I was really looking for.

I started by laying both pieces out flat and trimming them to match. Then I pinned around the edges to keep them together while I cut strips. This part was a little tricky because we did it on my living room floor and had to keep sliding it around so that I could reach.

When I was finished cutting one side, Rayden was able to start tying the pieces together. It was a little tricky to keep track of the pairs at first but after awhile, he figured out a rhythm where he held the finished pieces under one foot.

I think it turned out beautiful and the boys were really proud of the finished product. We tied it up ribbon-style with strips of the fabric that I had cut off to make the pieces match in the beginning. It's too bad I didn't take a picture of that (or more of the butterfly side, it was precious).

After all was said and done, I was very pleased with the whole project from start to finish. The supplies were easy to find, the concept was easy to understand and we had fun making it. Next time, I'll try for a larger blanket (we used a square metre) and maybe add some ribbon to the knots.