One part of parenting that I did not anticipate was the insane number of birthday parties we would have to attend. Three kids plus three sets of friends (and six cousins!) means there are times we have two or more birthday parties in just one weekend. It’s madness. And, of course, buying the presents has always fallen to me. But this year, I’ve vowed to change that. Instead of taking the kids to a toy store to pick something out for a friend (or, let’s be honest, doing it myself), I’m encouraging them to make presents for their friends—and each other. With Odette and Tom’s birthdays coming up next week, Shep and I decided to get our DIY on and made these leather bracelets. (These feathered masks are another fun option!)
They are super easy to personalize, plus it’s a fun activity to do with your whole family. My kids love arts and crafts and are always so proud to show off something they made. Make a few bracelets for their friends to stack on their wrists, and I guarantee they will be the coolest kid at the party.
Keep scrolling for all the details on how to make these DIY leather bracelets. And let me know in the comments: What kind of personalized gifts do you like to make?
What You’ll Need
- leather bracelets (I used this kit from Tandy Leather)
- Poly craft mallet
- stamping kit
- Leather or acrylic paint (I used this Cova leather paint, which you can buy via Tandy Leather or Amazon)
- Paint brushes
- recycled Kraft paper
- Water mister
STEP 1
Cover table craft paper and set out all supplies. Mist bracelet with water, so it will be more malleable for stamping. Show kids how to use the mallet to stamp letters and shapes into bracelets. (It’s easy, they may just take a bit to learn how to avoid hitting their fingers!)
STEP 2
Once bracelets are stamped with letters and fun shapes like stars and moons, use the paint to add color to your creations. (Kids can also skip the stamping and just paint the bracelets, or glue on felt, feathers or sequins. Get creative!)
STEP 3
Let decorated bracelets dry overnight.
STEP 4
Watch as your kids snap on the bracelets and wear them proudly or wrap them up for friends. (If you’re feeling really ambitious, you could make DIY wrapping paper!)
8 Comments
Michele Ziliox
Beautiful
Jodi
Wow! Those look great and like a lot of fun, too. Perfect activity for the next rainy day!
Tracey
Genevieve these are really cool!! (There’s even a Tandy leather here in Winnipeg, Canada 🇨🇦!!) I’ve eyed some of their projects over the years, but always thought they looked too hard for my kids (ok, too hard for ME! 😂). But I think I could handle trying these bracelets.
Some of the arts & crafts we’ve done are:
-Making Christmas tree 🎄 ornaments for family members like grandparents, aunts & uncles. Either simpler ones that just need decorative painting, or ones made with popsicle sticks, feathers, sequins & googly eyes.
-We’ve done handprint tshirts and big cards for Father’s Day.
– Flower 🌺 pens in a hand painted clay pot filled with popcorn kernels to stand up, for teachers gifts.
-Hand painted flower 🌸 pots for grandma and painted golf balls and tees for grandpa.
-Decorated photo 📸 frames with a picture of them with their friends; and lots of homemade birthday cards.
-I used to make a lot of homemade chocolates before I had kids (including 600 chocolate roses and hearts to give out as wedding favours at our wedding). So one year the kids and I made some chocolates on lollipop sticks for Christmas gifts. -And one year I made each of my kids (I have 3 like you, 2 boys and 1 girl) their own colouring book. I spent hours scouring the Internet looking for images of their favourite cartoon characters, superhero’s and other kid friendly images like nature scenes etc…printed them out and put into a soft 3 ring binder. Granted, it wasn’t so ‘environmentally friendly’… (it was a few years back!) but they loved 💕 them and we spent many hours colouring together!!
These are just some of the things we’ve done.
I love your blog so much, as it always has great ideas, and a wide variety of topics.
Take care!!
Tracey
Robin Tomblin
You always come
Robin Tomblin
You always come up with the best ideas!! You are an inspiration
Francini
Oi, eu sou sua fã, admiro muito o seu trabalho 😍
Cheri
These are super cute! Think my kiddos in my classroom can make these for family members or friends!
Chelsea
I definitely can’t wait to do this! Currently my favorite type of personalized gifts is just making a card for someone. I also really like making video edits with pictures and quotes that make me think of that person set to a song or two in the background.