My prediction was that the Harry Potter Wands would be their very favorites and the heating packs would be what they were least excited about. In actuality, switch that and reverse it. Shows how much I know!
They liked everything I made but, far and away, their favorite has been the heating packs! The 6 year old even put it in his top 3 gifts of Christmas. They've used them every single day. They heat them up each night before bed to cuddle with as they fall asleep and have used them when they come in from playing outside to warm up.
Their second favorite (or maybe tied for first but since I didn't make them, I'm going to go ahead and say they're second) is the swords their dad made them. I didn't blog about these, as it wasn't my project, but I did find the tutorial and pin it. After making the initial template, each sword took about an hour to make using a dowel, foam, glue, and duct tape. You can find the instructions here but the guy writing them isn't in the US so we had to switch some things around a bit. These get played with every day too. My dad even said he wants one of his own so we'll be making more in another month or so for his birthday.
They all say they can't pick which they like better, the Harry Potter wands or the peg dolls. When they first opened the wands, the 20 year old was the most excited about them and she thought they were awesome. The boys tried to figure out who's wands they were (I'm one of the few people alive who has not read any of the books or seen any of the movies so I was not aware that they should look a certain way) but the 20 year old saved me and told them that they were personalized just for them and now they had their own wands like Harry. They pretty much sat unused for a few days but lately they've been playing with them more often and having spell battles.
The 3 year old plays with his peg dolls almost every day. The 9 year old wanted his set up on a shelf in our family room so that he could see them each day and the 6 year old wanted his by his bed so he could see them when he went to sleep. They all liked the characters I chose for them and they want to make more with my leftover peg people.
All in all, each gift was successful and well worth the effort to make. It was actually quite nice to spend time crafting these things for them and both the kids and parents agree that we should do more homemade gifts every year.
Great ideas! I'm glad they liked them. Haha, I haven't read or watched them either, lol! I've walked through the family room when Harry Potter was on and had absolutely no interest in it based on what I saw, lol!
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