Okay, since yesterday was all about 1% frivolity, today I’m going to balance it with Christmas, 99% style. That’s right, 99% of us are on budgets, which means that Christmas is not about expensive jewelry and fancy cars. But really, Christmas isn’t about that stuff anyway. I’d much prefer that someone give me a book that they know I’ll be interested in or something handknit. (Although, I wouldn’t say no to a great pair of shoes, either.)
I know it’s still only October, but Christmas will be here before you know it (two months from today, yo), so why not start thinking now?
First off, here are a few things I found on Etsy.
Remember my adoration of woolen gnomes? Sue has more in her shop! Get ‘em while you can. I’ve already shopped once this season and have a new clan of gnomes waiting to be placed around Jenworld, and I could very well get in there again and clean out her inventory.
My friend Cassi and her daughter (same age as one of my girls) have their own Etsy shop where they sell jewelry, including gorgeous earrings created with beads they made themselves. So not only is this a woman-owned endeavor, it’s kid-owned too, so I guess that really makes it a womanette-owned business.
I mentioned yesterday that I love giving scarves for Christmas and this year my faves are fringies! J’adore mine and expect that I’ll be getting more before too long, because how can anyone possibly resist these babies? I am seriously loving the red one shown on the right.
Turning away from Etsy and thinking about other gifts…
I’ve mentioned here before that I’m a huge fan of SmartWool socks. I got some for running and I have not had a single blister since I started wearing them. I’ve since bought other styles, including these amazing footies to go under my loafers and ballet flats. SmartWool wicks away sweat when it’s warm and keeps my tootsies toasty when it’s cold. Before we went to Australia and New Zealand, I made sure that the girls and I packed SmartWool socks for our hikes, wet days, and winter camping. After we got home, I bought Pete a couple of pairs too. I’m a BIG fan, so this Christmas some people on my list are going to be seeing some socks under the tree. Yes, the socks are a bit pricey ($14-22/pair), but they last forever and the quality makes them worth the money.
I’m also definitely giving books this year. Actually, every year — books are always on my list. Bonus points if the author is someone local or someone I know.
Or, you could make gifts. I already have and I have more planned. I found two particularly fun projects that need sharing:
Make a scarf out of t-shirts. (Thanks to my gal pal Lisa for sending me that link.) There’s absolutely no sewing involved and it looks like this could be put together in under an hour. I need to see if there’s a spare t-shirt around Jenworld that I can attack with scissors, because I think I need a flouncy cardinal red scarf.
And check out these adorable matchbox monsters. I have a few nephews who might just want one or two or ten.
A number of you told me in the comments yesterday that you make Christmas gifts. I love it. I’d love to hear more about what gifts you buy from local/small businesses and the ones that you have made or will make. Let’s put our heads together and think about the meaningful gifts that we want to give this year.
Disclaimer: I am not employed by any companies mentioned, nor did anyone ask me to review their products. I am totally an independent blogger.
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My older son makes his famous chocolate chip cookies. I want the younger son to learn to make nuts & bolts (chex mix). My husband’s grandma made that for everyone when she was alive and I think the family would be delighted if someone else brought it back.
We made tons of gifts last year. With a new baby (soon SOON SOOOOOON I hope!), though, I don’t know how much time or energy we’ll have for homemade gifts. Last year, we made all of the following:
– a metric crapton of candied citrus peel (orange, grapefruit and lemon – and we juiced the leftover fruit to make a yummy boozy citrus punch that we shared with ourselves and sometimes guests)
– fudge, in the usual cut-up squares for grown-ups and poured into Christmas-shaped cookie cutters and decorated for kids
– peanut butter toffee pretzel cookies
– spiced hot cocoa mix
– bags of local popcorn (with instructions on how to pop regular popcorn in the microwave or on the stovetop, since that seems to be a lost skill) along with two popcorn seasonings, one sweet-and-salty and the other a sort of taco/Mexican flavoring
– lavender liqueur (with a little tag listing some drink recipes that could be made with the liqueur as an ingredient)
– cheap white boards, made of inexpensive 8×10 frames (with the glass cleaned really, really well) with pretty scrapbook paper behind them and dry-erase markers attached with pretty ribbon
– Christmas music compilation CDs mixed from my personal (extensive and sometimes oddball) collection of Christmas music
– family Scrabble boards for hanging, using hot glue to affix tiles spelling out all family members’ names in an interlocking pattern, with a support glued to the back to help the board stay open and something to hang them up with
It saved us several hundred dollars over what we usually spend on Christmas (we both have big families and very generous gift-giving circles of friends), but it took a lot of time and planning and energy. Not sure I’ll have it in me this year…
LOVE the family Scrabble tiles idea, and can you please share that lavender liqueur recipe?
Sure! We used the recipe here: http://tipnut.com/making-liqueur/ It’s the recipe after the cranberry liqueur on that page.
Oh, and we used recipe #1 for the lavender liqueur on that page (there are 3 recipes), and we learned that it works best if you keep the vodka in the freezer during the steeping process. We only did that with one bottle, and that bottle turned out the loveliest lavender color. The bottles that we left in the pantry to steep tasted pretty much the same, but were an ugly brownish green color.
I used to make lots of chocolate candies; I started because I needed nut-free holiday chocolates for Emma. I had a lot of fun, creating some whiskey and rum infused chocolates for adults, milk-chocolate covered white truffles, chocolate covered toffee, chocolate covered pretzels, etc. I haven’t done much over the last two years because I’m having trouble standing, but I’m hoping to get back to that after my hip is better.
I would love to have more friends give me home cooked food! Considering how much effort goes into that, it’s a gift of yummy-ness and time, both of which I covet.
Thanks for the shop mention!
I love the MollyMoo Monsters – I might want one, two…perhaps even 10!
Thanks for the shout out Jen!
I have 4 elves waiting to be bearded as we speak
I could spend money every week at Cassi’s shop!♥
Last year I gifted cloth napkins to a number of folks (not the cheapest gift when using nice fabric, but it was fun). This year, I am making a quilted table runner for my MIL, homemade photo cards, and I will soon be filling jars with homemade sugar scrubs. Lavender sugar has already been packaged. And I “created” a hard-cover book on Shutterfly for my dad just yesterday so he can enjoy the best of the photos from his oldest grandson’s wedding.
We probably shouldn’t discuss how I haven’t yet finished my SIL’s necklace that was supposed to be for her birthday in June, or how I bought supplies to make beaded eyeglass leashes (necklaces?) for my book club. (Yes, we all use reading glasses!)
PS: I became a SmartWool fan when I “inherited” a bunch of socks from my mom. I lived in those wonderbabies last winter. Ahhhh…
I am going to borrow my friends daughter and do the scarves. Adorable!