Homemade Easter gift ideas are a great way keep your friends hopping happy and to show just how much you care. The best way to make your own unique Easter gifts and have fun doing it? Select homemade crafts that are fun for you-- a celebration of Easter you can share with your family. And here's an extra piece of advice: any Easter gift craft you opt for should be simple enough that spending a little time making it will not add extra stress to your holiday! Believe me, you'll thank yourself when you're not picking hot glue off your skin, covered in scraps of yarn, and waiting for the guests to arrive!

Looking for more ideas for gifts and Easter baskets? Check out:

• Easter Basket Ideas
• How to Dye Easter Eggs
• Homemade Easter Candy Gifts
• Chocolate Easter Eggs Homemade Gifts

1. Sunny Easter Sun Catcher

Setup and Supplies: If you have old crayons, wax paper and an iron you have almost everything you need to make a sun catcher-- a really fun homemade Easter gift idea! The only addition? For each sun catcher you will also need a small inexpensive wooden hoop (the kind used for needlepoint).

To Make Your Suncatcher: To make this classic Easter craft, shave the crayons with a small cheese grater and keep the colors in separate containers (I find little bowls work well). To design your Easter suncatcher, arrange little piles of each color on the wax paper to form flowers, rabbits, Easter egg shapes, a cross, or other Eastertime symbols.

To finish up this homemade Easter gift idea, layer another piece of wax paper on top and carefully iron until the crayons melt. Place the cooled wax paper in the hoop, cut off the excess and tie on a ribbon or flower. This project, which includes recycling old crayons, is a wonderful project to do with your kids.

An Easy Variation: Don't feel like messing about with wax, or can't get your suncatcher to look how you want? This exact method also works wonderfully with dried, pressed flowers! Perfect for spring.

2. Faux Faberge Eggs Easter Craft Gift

These tiny works of art are great homemade Easter gift ideas-- and are a heck of a lot cheaper than the real thing.

Setup and Supplies: All you need as a base is either foam egg shapes or last year's plastic eggs. To decorate your Easter eggs, you will need:

• Small amounts of nice, satiny fabrics
• Ribbon in two (narrow) widths
• Charms
• Self adhering gems
• Sequin pins
• Paints for plastics
• Fabric glue

To Make Your Eggs: Look at your materials and sketch an idea before beginning, since small eggs are an odd shape to decorate-- and can be hard to fix once you mess up. Begin by covering the foam egg forms with fabric using the sequin pins. Paint the plastic eggs with special paint for plastics. Add ribbon, charms and gems to the eggs with glue or using the sequin pins. You have lots of options, so have fun with the design!

3. Press-Lace Easter Eggs

This homemade Easter gift idea has been around for centuries... and is made very similarly to the egg above.

Setup and Supplies: To make a lace egg for a gift, simply use the egg form and glue tiny bits of lace or even lace doilies over the egg in a pattern. You can also use the lace as a stencil. Hold the lace against the egg and use a foam stencil brush to lightly tap paint over the lace so the pattern is revealed when the lace is removed. This technique takes a small bit of practice. Maybe try it using a terra cotta pot first.

4. Spring Seed Packet Garden Gift

This is such an easy and thoughtful homemade Easter gift idea! Spring turns the mind to growing things... so your family gardener might enjoy a tiny bundle of seed packets picked especially for them. Select flowers and vegetables that are family favorites or which grow well in your area.

Making this Gift: There are a lot of variations on this Easter gift idea, but my favorite is this one. Buy vegetable and/or herb seeds and include a special family recipe with your seeds to help them make a favorite dish. A selection of herbs is always a welcome gift for a home chef. To package your seed gifts for gifting, tie a ribbon around them with a bookmark for a tag. Small painted terra cotta pots also make great holders for the seeds.

5. Decoupage Easter Planter or Pot Cover

Setup and Supplies: Decoupage is the simple and fun process of cutting out images and paper to layer together with glue onto a surface-- creating a finished product that looks almost painted on. Some ideas of objects to use for this project are:

• A package of Easter colored tissue paper
• Magazine images
• Easter-themed or floral wrapping paper
• The front part of seed packets
• Pastel fabric pieces
• Vintage stationary

You'll also need decoupage medium (a very simple mixture of half water half glue) and a brush.

Making Your Easter Planter: To make this homemade Easter gift idea, use decoupage medium to attach the papers to a terra cotta pot using a brush (be sure your pot is new-- or very clean). Be sure to avoid any bubbles or wrinkles... so go carefully!

Let your pots thoroughly dry. Go over several times with new coats of decoupage medium, until you can no longer feel the edges of each piece of paper or fabric. Let dry completely. Seal with a spray sealant.

Making it With Your Kiddos: Children will enjoy the cut and paste part, but let the adults do the last step.

Variation: Does this sound a little too ambitious? Plastic Easter eggs make smaller canvases and are easy to make by the dozen. Attach ribbon hangers to the top of each one to make Easter decorations for gifts.

6. Friendship Egg Easter Gift

Making this Gift: This is the gift idea that comes back! One large and reusable, refillable egg can be decorated and filled with thoughtful jewelry, poems, sample coffees and even craft items for the other person. When a friendship needs a touch of renewal or reconnection, fill the Easter egg and pass it on again.

Time and thoughtfulness will make your with homemade Easter gift ideas stand out a lot more than another Easter card or box of candy. Though those are always nice, too!

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