Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Christmas ideas

Learn fun and easy gift-giving ideas you can make!


My family decided to scale back Christmas this year. It seems to be getting out of hand and we really don't need more *stuff*. Most importantly, we wanted to make sure the true meaning of Christmas was vividly apparent during our celebration, not the commercialism that is so abundant. So in our quest to change things up a bit, we decided that we're going to try to include more handmade gifts under our tree.

At first we got a few wrinkled noses from the kids, but within minutes they were all very excited and making lists of what they could make each family member. Personally I wish my children were getting more handmade items from us, but when we decided this it was already mid November and being the planner I am, I already had several things purchased. What is really excited (at least to me), is my in-laws are participating too and we're only exchanging handmade things with each other.

Thankfully my husband has great mechanical and woodworking skills, so it won't be just me in my little sweatshop cranking out gifts - yep he's helping too, yeah! We'll also be making some things in the kitchen and the kids are excited about that (best to start them in the kitchen early, I hope their spouses thank me for that someday! LOL).

With all that, I wanted to share with you a blog that has lots of great, simple ideas for handmade gifts. If you're venturing down this road, you'll want to check it out ~ You Can Make This Blog. There are even short video clips too! Another blog with lots of ideas is Sew Mama Sew Blog in the handmade holidays section.

So what am I making you might wonder. I have pajamas all cut out for the kids for their Christmas Eve gift plus everyone is getting a few new sets under the tree. I also will be making them pillows, which I'll share with when I'm done. I made one for a baby gift and it turned out so cute. I have other ideas churning in my head and will share things as they are completed.

So are you making any Christmas gifts? Do you limit the number of gifts you give your children or do you have a set dollar amount? Share with me. The whole theory of scaling back is harder when the kids are bigger. They have expectations, but quite frankly I'm tired of this nonsense and so is my husband. We keep reminding them so hopefully there won't be any long faces on Christmas morning. I would like to think this is the beginning of a new season at our home, hopefully one we will continue to carry on for years to come (sounds like the ending of a Hallmark movie, huh?).