Visiting Teaching Gift Ideas

OK, to all those who didn't make it to our Relief Society Activity last night, you really missed out! We had a great time discovering new ideas for visiting teaching gifts, and came home with several projects we'd made over the course of the evening. (Along with full tummies from Make's delicious stirfry). It was wonderful to have Sister Pei join us too (welcome to our ward by the way). Lots of crafty talent this lady.

There are a lot of ready made resources on the internet in regards to visiting teaching, so I'm going to link you up to the ones we showcased last night. Here goes. Someone let me know if I miss any out:

SURVIVAL KIT. This is an awesome, inexpensive gift for your VT families. The items are generally ones you can find at home, and you can tailor the kit to suit any situation. We did the Scripture Survival Kit for a take home activity, but there are tons of other themes such as:

New Parent Survival Kit
Christmas Survival Kit
Day Care Provider Survival Kit
Getting Old Survival Kit
Hospital Survival Kit
Friendship Survival Kit
Birthday Survival Kit
and a ton more

ADVENT PAPER CHAINS. Oh I love this project. So easy to do too.A great idea for families with children. There is a free download at this link all ready to cut out and put together.
"The links are numbered 1-25 and on each link is a different theme and scripture reference. Hang the chain with 25th link at the top and remove one link each day during December leading up to Christmas, using the scripture for family devotions and the theme as a focus for prayer. It's a handy way to count off the days until Christmas and learn more about the real meaning of the holiday. ~ Jim Elzerman"

Bookmarks. These are so easy to do. Pick a favourite scripture or quote, copy onto tall thin cardboard and decorate. These JESUS CHRIST BOOKMARKS are just beautiful, and can be downloaded from the Visiting Teaching Blog. They look great printed on photo paper so they're all glossy. I print mine at Harvey Normans, as either a 6x4 or 5x7 photo (make sure you select no cropping when printing):


WARM FUZZIES.

This is SUCH a cute project about service. Another way to present it is to fill a baby food jar with pom poms and attach the poem to it. The lady who designed this also put a neat “Nutritional Chart” on the back to help us calculate how many calories we can burn (aka warm fuzzy feelings) from serving others. Super cute.

M&M CHRISTMAS

My favourite visiting teaching gift at Christmas time. Attach the poem to a small bag of M&Ms and voila, one thoughtful, yummy, Christ centered gift all done. Here's the poem:

As you hold these candies in your hand
and turn them, you will see
The ‘M’ becomes a ‘W’,
An ‘E’, and then a ‘3′.

They tell the Christmas Story
I’m sure it’s one you know.
It took place in a stable
A long, long time ago.

The ‘E’ is for the East,
Where the star shone so bright.
The ‘M’ is for the Manger,
where the Baby Jesus slept at night.

The ‘3′ is for the Wise Men,
Bearing gifts, with which they came.
‘W’ is for Worship,
Hallelujah! Praise His Name!

So as you eat these candies
Or share them with a friend,
Remember the meaning of Christmas:
It’s a love that never ends.

Click HERE, to download my ready to print version (A4 sheet with 7 poems).

TIP JUNKIE has a ton of fabulous Christmas Printables - too many to list here, so just go check out her site and see what you can find.

GIFTS IN A JAR

Lots of wonderful ideas here with photos and instructions.

RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES.
I liked this idea. Visit the website for the printable version and attach to a small packet of batteries.


SIMPLE POP-UP CARDS. Now we didn't have these last night, but how awesome would your sisters feel to receive a handmade card like this? You have to check these out. The cards are amazing, and range from simple to advanced, all with step-by-step instructions:



OK, there are more ideas which I'll post later. Check back as I add them to the bottom of this post.