I haven’t set a hard-and-fast rule about “no buying factory-made presents,” but I have been making more gifts this year. (I think this is a slippery slope that will end with everyone getting a Little House On the Prairie extra-special Christmas gift of a peppermint stick and a tin cup, but we’ll see.)

For Skyler’s seventh birthday I wanted to make him something I saw when he was just a baby: A DIY fort kit, i.e. some sheets with tabs sewn on to them, rope and clips, a flashlight, and some “mystery” books to read in the fort, all in a storage bag. 


I found some single sheets on Amazon and used some batik fabric from my stash for the bag. (Tag is from here.) I broke out the rainbow thread again because what goes better with tie-dye? The bag drawstring is just a length of the clothesline rope included in the kit.

I knew this could either be incredibly cool or incredibly lame for him (I probably should have done it for his sixth birthday). On the day of the party he was understandably more excited by Legos, but I hear that he broke this out the next day and is “150% thrilled.”

Wait til he gets his tin cup for Christmas.