When Christmas time comes, the hardest thing for me is to come up with gifts for boys and men. I never know what to get them, especially men. Boys are easier because I can always give them toys for their age, but men... why is that so hard? I usually like to think my gifts deep, I like them to be appropriate for the individual person, something that I'll know they will love or that they really need.
For the last few years, I made edible gifts, liquors, cookies, chocolates, etc. This year though, I couldn't dedicate too much time to handmade gifts and so I bought all the men's presents. For our (hubby's & mine) fathers, and a brother-in-law who's a fishermen I bought very warm underpants. For the other two brothers-in-law, I got gloves for one (yeah... I really didn't know what to get him and besides, none of us gets along that well with him, this was just a gesture, so we wouldn't get there with our hands empty for him when bringing gifts for everyone else), and for the other one, who's like a real brother for me, I got a cheese book with a few cutting tools and a wood board. Hubby got a new camera.
These are all the adult males I usually make or buy presents for. When it comes to boys, we only have a nephew, all the rest are girls. So, other than my cutest nephew, I only have two more boys, from friends that I like to make/buy gifts for. For my nephew and the older friend's boy I bought toys, but I wanted to make something handmade for the little one (he's 2), and I had the idea in my mind for quite a while.
I made him a pocoyo memory game in fabric. I started by printing 8 pocoyo pictures in transfer paper, well, twice of each. Then all I had to do was ironing it to a white fabric and cut into squares, cut the same number of squares in a blue fabric and sew it all together. I actually made two of these games. The first wasn't this one, it was made for a secret friend game I played with some moms from a forum we're all in since I got pregnant with G.
This is the first game I made:
I didn't like that the squares weren't perfect, so when I did the second, instead of sewing pocoyo front and blue fabric right sides together, then turning around and sewing the edges, I tried just putting both squares wrong sides together and sew them with a zig zag stitch. I personally liked this one better and it was made easier too.
Another thing I made different from the first to the second was the acessory where to keep the game when it's not being used. For the first one, I made a drawstring bag, but for the second I made a zipper pouch, I think it will last longer than the first, and it will also keep the pieces safer inside.
Now I might have to make a girly version of these for my own daughter. I think she'd love a memory game all for herself. I just have to decide, maybe ask for her help, and choose a character for her memory game.
