The Good News: Miraculously, it seems as if the damage was limited to me, and not any of the melon vines that I squished -- whew!
The Bad News: My cute little watermelon has not grown anymore and appears to be rotting on one end.
The Good News: Watermelon #2 quickly appeared, passed up it's predecessor, and is getting pretty big!
The Good News: A new school year starts in just a few days!!! I'm down to 1 kid again during my weekdays!
The Bad News: A new school year starts in just a few days! Back to early mornings, policing homework, and suddenly my children are looking HUGE. Sniff, sniff.
The Good News: New sewing projects are in the works!
The Bad News: Eh, nothing bad about that.
The Good News: I've got 12 (no joke, TWELVE) family birthdays coming up in the next 2 months.... not including an imminent new birth! So I guess that makes 13.
The Bad News: My birthday gift budget is looking a little scary. Or scrimpy. Maybe I should go "homemade or bust" from now until Christmas.
That gives me an idea....wouldn't that be an interesting challenge? ALL homemade gifts for Christmas! However, this can often be more enjoyable for the giver than the receiver.
What do you think?
- Are most crafty projects too cheesy? Would it depend on finding really good ideas?
- Is a homemade gift for the holidays awww, so sweet, but in truth a little disappointing?
- Especially for men, good ideas are harder to find. Any suggestions for the guys?
- Have you ever received an awesome homemade gift? What was it?
- If you COULD receive one, what would you want?
6 comments:
I personally love the idea of all (or ALMOST all handmade gifts for Christmas). But I know it's not the same for everyone--some people feel a little disappointed. But I think that depends on finding something they really love, which can be hard.
My SIL made a handmade gift for each kid, one per month for an entire year! They really loved it.
Also, some homemade gifts are not cheaper, so it's better to just buy it! :p
Excuse me for my honesty:
Yes, most crafty projects are cheesy, but that doesn't mean they all are. You just have to be creative (unlike me).
If it's the right homemade gift, not disapointing. I was actually thinking of making all the little girls on my Christmas list the skirt you taught me how to make. But I think I've already chickened out.
My MIL wanted to do all homemade Christmas gifts for the family gift exhcange last year and I refused b/c it's way too hard to make something for a guy. Seriously.
I thought about canning stuff as gifts, but I think that ends up being too much and I don't think most of my family would appreciate that like I would. He he.
My favorite homemade gifts are blankets (nice ones), but those are expensive and way too time consuming. So on my wish list: a real quilted quilt. Yes, you can adopt me. ;)
Homemade all the way baby! ALL THE WAY! We did this one year for a "Christmas in July" here in PA. It was wonderful. If you want inspiration - read up on the Little House on the Prairie books - if you don't want to read the whole thing, just read the Christmas chapters (I have the books if you want to borrow them).
Personally, I LOVE homemade gifts. I love food gifts, sewed gifts, knit gifts - but I think homemade stuff works best when it's something useful - like a blanket or a pillow or some canned food or a homemade freezer meal.
For kids - that's hard because we live in such a society where they and we expect a certain something. But reading the Little House books - they were so happy to have their own little tin cup and a candy stick or a little sewn doll or some new knitted mittens. How disappointed would our kids be if we did just that? And what a shame that they would be disappointed (ok, if I got mittens in AZ, I would be disappointed too). Just it's hard with kids. Maybe do one homemade gift for them (a new blanket and pillow set or something) and then supplement with bought gifts.
Stick with the useful and stay away from the "crafty-what-do-I-do-with-this-thing" gift.
A few years ago my s-i-l made some cranberry honey and it was delicious. She gave us each a little jar and that was her gift to us. AND I LOVED IT. I loved that it was delicious. I loved that it wasn't just another "thing" to clutter up my house. I loved that it meant I could put off buying honey for at least a month. I loved that it was useful.
Last year I gave out those personalized liquid soap dispensers. For once I wanted to give a gift that 1. didn't make any one fat, 2. was useful and 3. didn't clutter up the place.
My 2 cents.
Look on craft blogs. You can find way cute stuff. Like car cozies for little boys, homemade doll houses, etc. Look on http://servingpinklemonade.blogspot.com/
and
http://kimboscrafts.blogspot.com/
Just a couple of ideas.
My budget and I would LOVE to do a homemade gift exchange this year, but EVERYONE would have to do it. The cheesiness comes largely in comparison to store bought gifts, but if everyone's gift is on equal homemade footing, then it would work out great!
I'm making aprons for the girls and guys this year...the girl ones will be very cute and the guys will be just utility type but cool. All homemade is a little difficult but with the store bought gifts, I am attempting to just get ONE big thing each and the rest small items like books, dvds, etc.
I made cook books last year for each couple and put my favorite recipes in them. They were a hit and something guys like too.
I think it's good to lower expectations anyway with the economy and everyone having a harder time...make Christmas about giving again instead of kids being sad they didn't get everything they wanted. Also, store bought gifts could start being about what they need again instead of about what they want.
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