Good Gifts: Making a Doll House

We of course what to give good gifts to our children.  What loving parent doesn't?  With Christmas followed by multiple birthdays in my home the subject of gifts was constantly on my mind.  What could I give my children that they would really enjoy, really love, really treasure.  All these thoughts led me to recall the scripture about how our Heavenly Father desires to give us good gifts too.  His greatest gift of course is the Holy Spirit living with in us, leading us, guiding us and helping us as we venture through times of blessings and times of trouble.  Another scripture tells us that EVERY good and perfect gift comes from the father above.  I look around and see my kids and my husband and they are by far the best gifts I have from God. They bring me great joy, even on the days when I want to scream and pull out all my hair, they still bring me joy.


“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!”
Luke 11:11-13

As my littlest turned four I wanted to give her a good gift.  She had a collection of fairies and Dora dolls and ponies and daily played "doll house" but the dolls didn't fit in her little pink doll house, and they couldn't stand up and each day as I watched her play the desire to give her a good gift grew more within.  I looked on line for hours trying to find the perfect house at the perfect price, and as much I as I wanted to give her an amazing doll house they all had 3 digit price tags attached.  Lets be practical, we spend tons of money every month on our special allergy diets, and there is no way we could afford or even justify spending over 100 dollars on a doll house.  So like any determined Momma, I decided we'd make it!

We took an old cube shelf from Target that usually costs about 30.00 and turned it into a fairy, pony and Dora dream land. It delighted our little girl when she unveiled it on the morning of her birthday.

We then purchased two pieces of wood from Home Depot.  One was for the roof, it was a sheet of thin, untreated pressed wood.  It cost 9.89 and they cut it (for free) to the sizes we needed. We used two 24x12 pieces to make the roof.  The extra pieces from that wood we used to make two yards on the sides of the house. One for the playground and one for the horses.  We then bought a piece of backing board, usually used as the back of an entertainment center.  The cube shelves usually have some cardboard backs but not enough for the entire thing.  That piece of wood cost 5.95 and again they cut it to size, 36x24.  We nailed that to the back using tiny finishing nails. Before nailing the roof together we painted it white to match the house.  We also bought some little cubes from Hobby Lobby to nail the thin roof pieces into.  If you look at the roof you can see a little cube.  We used 2 for support. Flooring was free samples from Menards that we then cut and glued in place.  We used felt flooring for two rooms.  The yard has green turf samples from Menards and a lovely white picket fence that cost a little over 2.00 from Hobby Lobby. Then we had to make furniture for the lovely little house.  I'll show you that later.  

What kind of gifts have you made for your little ones?

As you make good gifts for your kids remember that the Heavenly Father wishes to give you good gifts too.