Cacti Gifts

Make these cute Cacti gifts any friend or family member will surely adore!

My youngest has had a fascination with cacti from an early age and our collection had grown considerably over the last few years.

Cacti are easy to look after provided you follow a few simple guidelines. Minimal water, good drainage and sufficient light will make your plants thrive. Cacti do not need repotting often but after a lot of rain recently, our pots were water clogged and repotting in fresh soil seemed like a good idea. Repotting is easier than you think!

To repot your cactus, you will need:

• A pot slightly larger than the current pot
• Succulent mix
• Pebbles
• Chopsticks
• A soft paintbrush

What to do:

Place a few pebbles in the bottom of your new pot and fill the pot halfway to three quarter way with succulent mix. Make a slight indentation in the centre of the soil.

Carefully remove the soil around your cactus using a small spade or spoon. Once the roots are exposed, use the chopsticks and gently lift your cactus, holding the cactus as close to the base as possible. Plants, in general do not like their roots to be exposed so try to work fairly quickly.

Place the plant into the new soil and while still holding it with the chopsticks, fill up with soil around the roots so all the roots are covered. Use the chopsticks or small spoon to press the soil firmly down around the roots.

If the roots were extremely dry, you can give your cactus a small amount of water. Top the soil with a layer of sea sand if preferred and use the paintbrush to brush of any bits of soil in between the thorns.

You can now brighten up your pots with markers, pebbles or make a few cacti friends.

Making the Markers

Paint craft sticks in different colours. Write the name of your plant using a marker pen and spray a layer of clear varnish. If you do not know the name of the plants, Leaf Snap is a great app, simply take a photo of the plant for identification and interesting information.

Making the Cacti Rock Friends

Paint pebbles/rocks light green, use a marker pen to draw thorns in a darker green and a mouth in red. Spray a layer of clear varnish and finish off with googly eyes.

Making the Sign

Our one cactus needed a bit of support so we added the sign. Glue craft sticks together, paint white and draw the sign in pencil. Paint the picture, draw the letters with marker pen, erase the pencil marks and spray with a layer of varnish.

Ideally, place the cacti outdoors where your plants would get plenty of sun. Most plants prefer early morning sun. The cacti can be kept indoors, as long as there is plenty of light and you turn your pots every week or two so all angles of your plant get an equal amount of light.

Lastly, remember, minimal water!

Make these adorable Cacti gifts with the kids and give as gifts all year round! Also check out these Kid-made gifts!