Holiday Crafting with Kiwi Crate: Gifts Made by Me crate #review

When I saw the adorable Kiwi Crates, I knew that my crafty niece would love to try them out! Please welcome my sister who had fun reviewing this holiday Kiwi Crate with her daughter! ~Henrietta

With the yucky weather upon us, cries of “I’m bored” ring throughout my house. It’s not always easy finding things to amuse a seven year old princess, especially since I can’t spend all day playing with her. Add in affordable, creative or educational & “not always easy” becomes “almost impossible.” That’s why I was excited to try Kiwi Crate. They have both a monthly subscription service & individual crates, moderately priced & delivered straight to your door. Yay!

This year, they have three fun holiday crates:

• The Crafty Christmas crate includes all the materials and inspiration to create 3 Paint Swirl Ornaments and a cardboard Gingerbread House.  This crate is $19.95.
• Projects in the Handmade Hanukkah crate include a menorah they make themselves as well as dreidel spin art.  The crate is $19.95and includes 9 LED tea lights
• From the Gifts Made by Me crate, which is $19.95, kids can make 2 decorated journals as gifts, 4 greeting cards, and their own wrapping.  Kids engage in a fun print-making technique to bring the gifts to life.  The recipients of the presents will love the unique kids artwork on a very functional piece.

We tried the Gifts Made by Me crate. The Princess got to make journals, cards & wrapping paper. The kit contained everything she needed to make her gifts, & numbered instruction cards to help her along the way. The instruction cards are wonderful. Even a child who can’t read yet can follow the picture list of supplies & instructions. 

First step was making the prints. She put the paint on a little heavy at first. This is definitely a case of less is more, so if your child is really young you may wish to supervise squeezing out the paint.

And ~YAY! ~ this paint totally washes :) I have had paints that are supposedly *washable* not come out of clothes, or stain furniture, get stuck in hair. But this stuff, it actually totally comes out. This for me is so exciting, because it means I can let her do this project without freaking out about carpets or furniture. The Princess was more exciting about drawing pictures in the paint & then rolling them onto card stock. 

We had to let the prints dry overnight, & the next day Her Royal Majesty made her journals & cards. Neither of us were overly enthused about the glue dots used to stick the prints to the cards & journals. We didn’t find them particularly easy to use, but since this was our first time using glue dots, it may have been us. 

The princess just sort of swished paint around on the DIY wrapping paper, which is cool. We don’t always have to do exactly as the directions say :) She loved decorating the ribbons with the included snowflake stamp. We wrapped it all up, included a card, & now she has two beautiful gifts to give this holiday season. And she can proudly tell the recipient, “I made it myself!”

Where to buy and how to stay in touch!

This holiday themed Kiwi Crate, as well as many other varieties are available from www.kiwicrate.com. To keep up to date with the newest Kiwi Crates available, check out the KiwiCrate Facebook page, follow @kiwicrate on Twitter and Pinterest.