holiday gift giving...

[Jennifer Grant]

So, I'm sure I'm not the only one out there who is asking
themselves the following questions this year:

Question 1: "There has got to be something better than just
grabbing one of the 50 different brand of gift-cards at the grocery
check-out line." {you know you think the same thing!}

Question 2: "Is this gift really going to mean anything to my
friend/family? They could have bought it themselves if they really
wanted it. They probably won't even remember it come New Years
Eve."

Question 3: "Why do I always wait til the last minute to do my
holiday shopping?"

And finally--"How in the heck am I going to afford it all this
year?" If you have had even one of those thoughts in the past week,
you're not alone. Lets get real for a minute--with the economy in
um...well...total shambles, who can afford to blow thousands of
dollars on this holiday season? And if you are one of the lucky
ones who can afford it this year, will you be able to next
year? More power to you if you can, but this chicks flat broke.

Ok...well not totally flat broke yet, but I see it coming right
around the horizon and I've personally made the decision that if
I'm going to spend any of my hard earned dollars this holiday
season, its going to be very well thought out--and I'm setting some
personal boundaries. Boundaries that make sense to me and I'm
actually really excited about them {i swear!}!! I've had these
thoughts for many, many years and have just been too lazy to act
upon them. Well, too lazy and I hate to admit, too full of
"consumerism". {what is the definition of consumerism you ask? see
the Story of Stuff in our featured video section}

Rules that are making this a truly joyous time of
year:
1. All gifts have to be either hand-made (either by myself or an
"indie" type merchant) or "made locally" type of business.

2. If I'm hand-making a gift, I'm allowing myself to buy craft
supplies for the project. {duh. thought I wouldn't add that rule?
please.}

3. When all else fails and I absolutely can't abide by rules
1&2, then the giftee is just out of luck. Just kiddin--when the
hand-made thing doesn't feel right I'm choosing to go 'green' --
giving eco-friendly and sustainable.

I won’t get all into my newly found soap-box, but I’ll just tell
you that I’ve found some pretty cool products and people in a new
company called emagineGreen. Good peeps with
a meaningful mission.

I'm honestly excited by my own personal challenge and am hoping it
might just inspire you to at least consider setting some challenges
of your own! ps...this last picture is what I recently got my good
friend--shhh don't tell--it's the very first official piece of
{art} I've ever
purchased!

[Jennifer Grant]

Hey guys--I'd love to get a conversation started about how each of you are doing your holiday shopping this year--we've gotten a couple of great blog posts like this one from Kris, but what are you doing?

[Kasey]

I am making mostly homemade things for friends and family this year. I have already decorated some mailboxes and made an ornament for a gift card. I am going to work on some more things this afternoon. Might make some fleece blankets too. Money is super tight at our house this year.

[AmandaAnn]

I'm not sure... I made a couple gifts. But one thing I did was buy those cute boxes you can get at Michaels and discount stores and fill them full of small fun goodies. :)

[Maria Moore]

Well, I am a part of a group of woman that basket weave together and we get together for a night out before Christmas. We usually buy something for a yankee swap but then we each make or bake something for each of the other ladies. We are coming up to that time again. I have been putting it off so I really need to get in gear. I am also making all my Christmas cards this year. I am rubber stamping, water coloring and stickling each one. Crazy! One year I really wanted to make them, about 90 of them, but really didn't have the time. So I made a mini scrapbook layout with a picture of my kids, about 5" x 7". I took that layout to Walmart and had them use that a my photograph for the printed cards. I loved them.

[Kate Coveny Hood]

For my neighborhood friends, work, teachers, etc. I always give out bags of these amazing Italian ricotta cookies that I make. They are everyone's favorites - never met anyone that doesn't love them and want the recipe. The teachers also get gift cards - but I throw in the cookies for them too. Of course aside from the fact that people love to get them - I love to make them and usually gain about 10 lbs over the month of December!

[Salima]

My husband loves wool sweaters so I'm knitting one
doing a hat (cool teen hat) and scarf for my daughter
making a stationary set for my mom and mom in law from splitcoast
and thats pretty much all.

[Paige]

Well on Thanksgiving night I went to Garden Ridge and got fleece blankets for $1.99 each. I bought them for all my nieces and nephews and I am going to use my awesome embroidery machine and embroider their names on them. I feel like that is a meaningful gift to give to preteens and teens. The blankets were cheaper than what I could buy the fabric for so that is why I did that. I was able to buy for 15 people and get out of there for $52. Yep, how awesome is that?

I am making tutus for the little girls in my family because what little girl (or big girl) doesn't like tutu's?

My girls get one thing they want, one thing they need, one thing to watch, and lots to read for Christmas. I have done this for 2 years now and it has helped me not go crazy on stuff for them b/c I LOVE to shop.

I am also making reusable sandwich bags and snack bags as gifts for people. That is my green solution for this year and they are going into my girls stockings. I think this is a great way for me to us the scraps of fabric I have sitting around.

Today I spent time embroidering stuff for my customers that have brought their Christmas gifts to me. This is a way for me to make some money to put towards our Christmas and for me to go back to school in the winter.

[Sheri Fink]

Well I have bought some stuff and making some. I sure do feel behind already and I have no idea why!

[Marilynne]

Do you have a pattern for your lunch and snack bags? Or did you just make up one? It sounds like something I might think about for next Christmas for friends.

[Ashley Housing]

There is a website I LOVE called youcanmakethis.com and I just saw a video that they featured that had the CUTEST things you can make that are very affordable! I'm thinking Grace and I need these matching aprons!! So cute!

click here to go to the video