Link to Hope
The theme for March on the Link to Hope calendar is craft gifts. They suggest handmade headbands, pencil and glass cases, lavender bags, craft kits, puppets and sewing kits.
I’ve mentioned knitted headbands in previous blog posts, but they really are easy to make. Just knit a thin rectangle – either using basic knit stitch or purl stitch, but avoid using stocking stitch as the edges may curl under. For children aged 3-12 they suggest a length of 43-49cm, for teens 46-53cm and for adults 52-56cm. You can either stitch match the ends together for a plain headband, or offset the two ends and fold them over when stitching which when turned the right way out will create an interesting knot effect.
Last year I made some simple pencil cases with fabric that was being given away on Freecycle, and the zips I’d bought a few years ago off Amazon or Ebay and were only about 5p each. People regularly seem to give away fabric and sewing equipment on sites like Freegle and Freecycle, so it’s worth registering with your local group. The fabric and sewing items seem to be less popular than yarn, so you should be able get some free fabric. People also often give away curtains, and the large pieces of fabric are ideal to make basic shopping bags, as well as using for pencil cases, and if not too thick, scrunchies.
There are lots of free patterns on Pinterest for hairbands, scrunchies, puppets, shopping bags etc. I knitted a couple of hand puppets last year using patterns on Pinterest and adapting them slightly.
If sewing and knitting aren’t your thing, there are also patterns for paper finger puppets – just print on thin card and the children then also have something to colour in.
Another option if you don’t enjoy sewing is to buy some small organza bags to fill with Lavender. These tend to be cheaper online, but it does depend on how many you need. Just fill with a few spoonfuls of lavender and pull the drawstring together and tie so that they don’t come undone in the shoebox.
Another easy option is to either make beaded bracelets or create kits for children to make their own. You can buy specialist beading plastic which has a slight stretch or use shearing elastic. You can buy beads fairly cheaply or perhaps you have some broken jewellery you can save some beads from. Be generous with the amount of elastic to allow for tying a knot and add some extra beads so they can choose their own design.
My final suggestion if you are adding dolls into your shoebox is to try and make some additional clothes for the doll. I’ve knitted a few but I have found the patterns seem to come up quite large. I’m planning to make a few simple skirts and dresses for the dolls I bought in the Christmas/January sales from the Works, and second-hand ones purchased off eBay.
Bargain Buys
I haven’t found many bargains this month. I managed to get a couple more packets of 12 long colouring pencils in Poundland for 50p. In one B&M store I went into they had some trolleys near the checkouts with various items reduced. Some items weren’t priced, but I purchased an A5 Notebook for 10p, a Grinch Christmas pen for 10p, a pen with a pompom for 25p and furry dog pencil case for 75p.
Tesco have reduced their basic toothpaste to 45p, but the double toothbrush packs have gone up to 30p (still really good value) and soap has gone up to 35p. I managed to get 100 individually wrapped bamboo toothbrushes from Temu for £9.29. Prices do vary considerably so it’s worth checking occasionally and comparing different sellers – but do double check how many you’re getting as sometimes the advert states a certain number for a price and when you click the price is for far fewer. I do quite a few shoeboxes and I always add at least 4 toothbrushes to family boxes and 2 in the elderly boxes so I’ll easily get through 100. If you’re doing one or two boxes, the Tesco toothbrushes are still great value.
Till next month.