Pioneer Gifts and Stenciled Box from Kirsten’s World: American Girl Crafts
Oh, it is a magical time right now, Dear Reader! The winter holiday season is upon us, and for many of us we are busy working to bring a little bit of magic into the lives of those we love the most. Mom and I have been at work preparing all of the trimmings and trappings for wrapping up the gifts we have made and purchased for the children. While receiving presents is always nice, I do so enjoy giving gifts instead. I find a lot of joy in figuring out what someone else would like best and showing them that I have been listening to their desires and watching for what they might enjoy.
As a continuation of our little American Girl Series, we thought that we would put together a little pioneer style gift box. While this may not be exactly what a child of today would want on their Christmas list, I think that it is still a fun gift (I would enjoy receiving it - ha!), and it’s a really nice craft to put together. In all, I would probably have deeply enjoyed putting this gift together as a child as a learning activity. I was not homeschooled, but this is definitely something my mom and I would have made on an afternoon or weekend together to feel like we stepped back into the world of Kirsten. Now we get to make this project for a living!
giving gifts on the prairie:
Do you remember the episode of Little House on the Prairie or perhaps the book A Little House Christmas? In one of the stories, Christmas on the Prairie, during the Ingalls’ first Christmas after their journey to move west, they have Christmas in their little log cabin. The snow is falling and the creek outside of their home was rising. It felt not much at all like a festive Christmas time, and the girls worry that Santa Claus won’t be able to find them in the storm. By the end of the story, Laura and Mary each receive gifts from Ma, a new tin cup, peppermint candy sticks, a heart shaped cake dusted with white sugar, and a penny.
I wanted to create a little Christmas box reminiscent of what one might be able to make during such a rough and transitional period of time, when you only had what you could find, perhaps what a small general store could supply, and what you had brought with you on your journey.
An antique painted Swedish box, which goes for around $200 to $300.
In Kirsten’s story, Kirsten’s Surprise: A Christmas Story, the story focuses on retrieving the Larson family’s trunks which they had to leave behind to make it to their home in Minnesota. Inside of Kirsten’s trunk is her beloved doll, Sari. There are many obstacles to get through to finally bring the trunks home, including a blizzard, but she and Papa make it home in time with the trunks in hand just in time for St. Lucia Day.
In the story it does not showcase what the gifts they gave each other were, but we can take a guess at what they might have been. Remember, Kirsten and her family were not starting from the ground up on their journey to the Midwest. They moved in with their relative, Uncle Olav, who already had an established farm.
What might pioneer children have received as gifts on the prairie? Some things might include gifts made from materials they could find like a corn husk doll or yarn doll, sachets filled with dried flowers, carved wooden toys, clay whistles, and embroidered hankies. If you were very lucky, you might have the materials to make hand knit scarves, hats, socks, or mittens. And if you had the pleasure of being a late enough settler to pass through a small township, you could purchase things like candies, cookies, or fresh fruit.
This box looks eerily similar to Kirsten’s Pioneer School Lunch!
recreating kirsten’s stenciled box:
In Kirsten’s Craft Book, there is a project shared for making a painted box decorated with a stencil. This craft was inspired after Swedish stencil art, which is airy, uncomplicated, and often inspired by nature. At the time, stencils were used to easily decorate many items for the home including furniture like bed frames, tables, chairs, trunks, and dressers. It is very similar to Dutch design, which is beautifully displayed on walls, around door frames, on doors, one mantels, and really anywhere in the home. To me, this type of design work makes me think of a fairytale cottage!
Historically, these types of wooden painted boxes are called tine boxes, and you can traditionally find them from Norway and Sweden. For Scandinavian travelers, tine boxes were the primary choice for storage when traveling. They were commonly used as a lunch pail, just like Kirsten’s Pioneer School Lunch accessory set, and were also used as church boxes.
To create our own version of the box, we actually had a few vintage tine boxes of our own to paint over. Though I do not think they are that old... I believe that the ones I have come across at the thrift store, with very basic stenciling on them, are from the 1960s to 1990s.
We decided to recreate the design from Kirsten’s Craft Book and painted the wooden box a beautiful Swedish blue. The craft book is designed for young children to follow, so the design work is very basic. Many true antique tine boxes are covered in beautiful design work, generally featuring hearts, flowers, leaves, and sometimes even people and animals.
making beeswax candles:
Another craft featured in Kirsten’s Craft Book is making beeswax candles. In the book’s introduction, it states that Kirsten and Mama would make candles together in the fall so that they had a decent supply to last them through the long winter nights. Kirsten must dip the candle 25 times to make it thick enough to last one evening.
We decided to follow her advice and dipped our candles 25 times. This is what they look like! We have made dipped beeswax candles here on the blog before, so this is not a new-to-us craft. Making candles this way is very easy and uncomplicated. It’s actually a rather relaxing activity to do, if you like crafts that don’t require much thought, and my children have a lot of fun making them, too!
If you would like a more thorough tutorial for dipping candles, click here to read the post.
ideas to put in your pioneer gift box:
Are you thinking of putting together your own pioneer gift box? It really is a cute way to share your own handmade goodies in your own little hand painted tine box. You can find these often at the thrift store, or there are versions for sale online. Here is one that I think is pretty cute!
Candies. Everyone likes a little something sweet as a holiday treat! Pioneer children did not have a lot of opportunities to eat candy, so it would have been a very special gift to receive. Some old-fashioned candy ideas include peanut brittle, peppermint sticks, flavored hard candies, hard taffy, rock candy, and mashed potato candy.
Fresh Fruit. Can you imagine seeing delicious fresh fruit like an orange in your stocking after many months of traveling across the western United States? This would have been extraordinary, especially in the winter!
Handmade Dolls. A corn husk doll or doll made from a pile of yarn would have been a simple and easy to make craft for many mothers or older siblings on the prairie.
Carved Wooden Toys or Ornaments. Handmade gifts are still the best kinds, in my opinion! Hand carved wooden toys like tops, horses or other animals, or soldiers would all make cute gift ideas.
Embroidered Hankies or other hand stitched items would be lovely!
final thoughts:
We had a lot of fun recreating some of these crafts at home. As a child, I would have just died to have put this little collection together. I actually did not have the American Girl cook and craft books growing up, which is surprising to both my mom and myself. But I know that if we had known about their existence, that we would have snatched them up in a heartbeat.
This American Girl Series is bringing such warmth and joy to my inner child. I hope that it does the same for you and inspires you to play and create with your children and loved ones this holiday season!
xoxo Kayla
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