Little Gardner Gift Idea

This time of year is full of birthday parties for us. My adorable little nephew turned three last week and I struggled with what to get him. Between him and his two brothers, they have almost every toy a child could ever want; plus I really like to make gifts for them. So I thought I would make him one of those amazing poufs you see at Pottery Barn so he can sit in his room and look at books. I had a day and a half set aside to make one for him (and probably one for his older brother too) and then a wrench was thrown into my plan. Two back-to-back days spent at the hospital; one with my mom and the other my husband.  Everything turned out fine with both, but I no longer had my day and half to sew. What to do?

Well this is what we (my daughter and I) came up with. Since Brendan loves to play in the garden, especially when his parents are working in it, we thought we would make him his own gardening kit. Even though he is a little young for gardening per say, he still loves to get in there and dig stuff.

We started at the dollar store and got him a watering can, a knee pad and two pairs kids gardening gloves. All three were in his favorite color green. We then headed to our local hardware store and bought a gardening bag that had kid sized tools in it, a small plastic rake (they only had purple), some seeds (pumpkin, tiny tomatoes, snap dragons, etc) and a large pot.

 I created a design on my Sure Cut Alot 2 program to put on his container that said 'Brendan's garden' with a few walking bugs. He hates almost all bugs so I tried to make them as cute as possible. I cut the design with my Cricut out of vinyl (didn't use contact paper this time) so it would stand up outside.

We put all the items into the container, wrapped it all in cellophane with a happy birthday balloon.
 I had really wanted to make a little sign to put in the garden with chalkboard paint, but time was limited so this was all I could do.

 The total price was around $30 ($10 for the tool kit, $6 for the rake, $5 at the dollar store, $6 seeds and $4 for the container) but if I had more time and planned ahead, I could have done it for less. But that is what happens when I wait until the last minute.

Either way I was happy with how it turned out and he seemed thrilled to have the rake and the tools.

I have for many years planted vegetable gardens with each of our kids. They pick the vegetables, plant them, water them and harvest them. Even though we live in a pretty big city with smaller yards, we still feel it is important to grow our own vegetables and teach our kids how to do this. We personally love Tiny Tom tomatoes, larger tomatoes, red and green leaf lettuce, slicing cucumbers and all types of peppers. Do any of you do the same thing?

Perhaps I will share in May how we do our kids gardens. We can't plant outside until May 26th weekend this year, so I will have to wait a couple of months.

Happy gardening,
Stephanie