A Budget Friendly Gift for Your Favorite Big Brother or Sister
1. The Fanciful Princess Sister Basket
A wicker laundry basket is the perfect base for your gift. Start out by spray-painting your basket hot pink. Make sure to do this in a well-ventilated area away from little noses. You will also need some precut wooden stars, fabric paint and acrylic paint. Both are available at any craft store and are usually inexpensive. Paint the stars, allow to dry and glue them around the rim of your basket. You can also opt to go over each star with a glossy sealant such as Mod Podge. Use your fabric paint to spell out the siblings name putting one letter on each star. This adds a sweet personal touch and gives them something that is all their own.
Fill the basket with princess themed items, a crown, a wand, a princess themed picture book and anything else you wish. Creating a “fairy godmother book” to slip inside is especially sweet. It is a coupon book in sorts themed around granting wishes. Write out things such as – The fairy godmother grants “infinite hugs from mommy” or “one scoop of ice-cream with extra sprinkles.” Putting “wish glitter” on each page makes it extra special.
2. The Super Brother Hero Basket
Again, start out with your wicker laundry basket as your base and spray paint the basket a kid-friendly shade of blue. Let dry. As we have discussed in the sister project, you will need acrylic paint, fabric paint and precut wooden stars. Using your acrylic paint, color half of your stars bright red and the other half white. After painting the stars, go over each with a glossy sealant such as Mod Podge. Using your hot glue gun, attach the stars around the rim of the basket. You can also personalize your gift basket by spelling out his name across the stars. Fill the basket with a super hero cape, a superhero themed coloring book, crayons and perhaps, a cartoon DVD of his favorite super hero in action. The cape serves a wonderful purpose. When you need something for the baby and don’t have any free hands, you can call for “Super Brother”! Explain to him when you give him the basket that you will need a helpful hero to come to your rescue when you are in a “baby bind”. It will make him feel extra special and it will combat those feelings of competing for mommy’s attention.
The most important ingredient in creating the perfect sibling spin on the baby gift basket, hands down – is imagination. Some time and work is required but the end result is well worth the effort. A good option for moms and dads with little time to devote to projects is buying from an online provider. No work. No hassle and you never have to lift a finger. Now, if only changing diapers was that easy.
