Birthday / Easter Gifts

Last weekend, we went to the Husband's parent's house for Easter dinner. It was fun, we got to see everyone and we left with full bellies and smiling faces.



We missed our two nephew's and niece's birthday parties because Hubby works on Saturdays and we can't afford to have him miss a day. So when we got together for Easter, I wanted to make a birthday / Easter gift for the kids. I'm tired of all the crappy Easter toys they sell at the stores, you know the kind, the ones that break within minutes and little plastic pieces end up all over the floor. I wanted to make something that was more useful and would last much longer than 5 minutes.



I see these great pencil rolls all over blogland and I knew that they would be in my sewing future. I used what fabric I had on hand and I already had several sets of colored pencils bought cheap. I made 2 orange ones like this for the boys and I made flowers and butterflies for the girls. Oldest liked it so much I made another one for her and I am in the process of sewing up some more for the other children.

I also made these bags to put the pencil rolls in and added a blank coloring pad, pencil sharpener, and some of those melted crayon flowers and soap flowers my girls made. If I had planned my time better, I would have added a few more items, but as it was, the kids loved them. I thought they would be great for those doctor appointments and the kids need something to do while in the waiting room.

These would be great party favors, too, if you made a smaller bag and put together a mini notebook of papers. The bags I made were large (about 12 x 16 ) and the kids could pack in a toy or two if they wanted. I whipped up all 3 bags in a little more than an hour (unlined) and once I got the pencil roll figured out, I rolled (ha!) them on out in about 30 minutes each.