Homemade gifts for Dad, the Sons-in-Law, or Teen Boys)

1. and 2. I like the home-made aftershave astringent and salve here. 3. Use a yardstick, clothespins, and glue to make this handy vertical hat organizer for the man who has a lot of baseball style caps.

3. With some alligator clamps, a metal coat-hanger, and a couple other odds and ends you can make your guy a 'helping hand' - a stand that holds small projects together, leaving his hands free to work on them. Check out instructibles for this project and many, many other cool things that would make great hand-made gifts.

4. Home-made shaving soap- you use soap base (I would just take a bar of soap and grate and melt it- something like goat's milk soap, or castile bar soap), and a couple teaspoons of clay- 2 tsps. of Bentonite clay, or Kaolin, Rhassoul or Fuller's Earth. The clay gives it 'slip.'

5. Give him an exclusive membership in the Cookie of the Month Club- Make up a pretty certificate. Then you can bake a different batch of cookies each month for him, or give him a cookbook and let him choose the cookies. You can do the same for bread, jam, pies, pizza, hot pockets- whatever home-made treat he especially enjoys. The Dagwood Sandwich club might be fun, too.=)

6. What chores present strains on his time? Give coupons for things like: yardwork; taking out the trash; washing the car, cleaning out the inside of the car, organizing the work bench and tool area, shining shoes...

8. Make a set of coupons for something like coffee brought to him in bed in the morning. One year one of our girls gave the HM just such a set of coupons for coffee. He does not like breakfast in bed, but he does like a cup of coffee first thing. Her coupons had limits- no coffee before 5:00 AM, and he had to present the coupon the night before no later than 8:30 PM. He really enjoyed those.

9. Car air-fresheners: Cut the shape you want out of felt- you can do a traditional tree shape, or use something that means something to your guy- a sports logo, a sillhouette of his favorite dog breed, a musical instrument, a volleyball or football, a gingerbread man decorated in the uniform your guy wears, whatever. Decorate it if you like.

There are two ways to make this scented- one is to buy some spray stuff and spray your felt shape silly.

The other, more natural method, is to soak this felt in a mixture of cornstarch and water.
You can first boil 2-3 cups of water with a mixture of rosemary leaves and cloves, or perhaps some tea you like, then let it cool, and stir in four tablespoons of cornstarch, boil this mixture and stir until the cornstarch is dissolved. Let it cool again. Add some essential oils to the water if you want more scent, stirring well.
Once the starch mixture has cooled, dip your fabric cut-out in it, shake the excess moisture off, and lay it on a bit of waxed paper (or a bit of styrofoam from an egg carton or meat tray), and let it dry.
Once dry, sew a loop of ribbon or string to it for hanging over the mirror of the car.

You can freshen these up by spraying them again or dabbing essential oils on them as needed.

10. Weekly verse or quote: On index cards or business cards, print or copy out 52 favorite Bible verses or quotes from favorite books, one for each week of the year. Punch a hole in the corners and put a ring through them. Or be really ambitious and make one for every day of the year. With a large family you could just pass out cards, assign each family member a book to pull quotes from, and work on it together.

Updated:

The list of home-made gifts for boys is up here.

See our round-up of other Christmas crafts, gifts, and decorations here.

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