As we prepare for a Christmas in an economy that is still struggling, turning to our own ingenuity, ability, and creativity when giving Christmas gifts is a heartfelt yet economical way to show your affection to friends and loved ones.
Today’s Countdown to Christmas Challenge is to go through your Chr
istmas list to decide who might be most appreciative of a gift made by hand. Start researching what gifts would appropriately match your skills. Make a list* of the materials/supplies. Be sure to have instructions on hand, should you need them. Set goals on your October and November calendars for completing your gifts.
* Please help yourself to this Handmade Gifts Planner from ListPlanIt.com.
This week’s Giveaway is for a brand new book called Stonewall Kitchen Winter Celebrations: Special Recipes for Family and Friends! Once again, you have several ways to enter to win this beautiful full-color cookbook:
1) leave a comment on this post,
2) tell your friends & followers about 100 Days to Christmas on Facebook or Twitter(so easy to do when you use the Share This button at the bottom of this post) and leave a comment here linking to your profile,
3) subscribe to 100 Days to Christmas‘ RSS feed using a reader or by email and leave a comment here,
4) blog about 100 Days to Christmas then leave a comment here linking to your post.
5) become a member of the 100 Days to Christmas community
One of each of these per day please. You have until October 4 at 6 pm EST to enter.
Loving all the ideas/help you are sending my way. Great book also.
Well thought out page for the gift planner. Quite frankly, if I haven’t started making a gift by July, I’m pretty sure it isn’t going to get done by Christmas. Ooooohhhh… unless you count making wrap for all the yummy goodies we bake. I could definitely be doing that ahead of time! Thanks for the inspiration.
@juliebavi
Julie Bavington´s last blog ..Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom
I wish giving gifts that were homemade was easy for me, but it is far from that. I LOVE to sew! But my family members are oh… a tad on the snobbish side and if it doesn’t come from a “store” with a well known “label” then well, it’s not even thought of as a gift. I have come up with some great ideas over the years to sew, like shower wraps with a mammogram, personalized tote bags etc. and was told “don’t bother” and I don’t because I have found my gifts I have given, never used in the “give away pile” and that sure hurts. I envy all of you who have someone to appreciate your talents and accept the love put into each gift.
Most of the gifts I make to give are edible…granola, quick breads, cookies, & candies. I’ve already started buying ingredients as they go on sale and such so I’m not stuck with a big shopping trip last minute.
Every year I make homemade pumpkin bread for friends, neighbors and family. But this year I am thinking about making peppermint bark! The have these cute little tree and gingerbread and snowman molds at AC Moore. I saw the idea there. I’m thinking the kids might enjoy busting up the peppermints.
Amy – wow, I’m so sorry that people are that insensitive to you. Those sound like really great ideas…I personally would have loved the shower wrap!
Thanks for the organizing planner!
Tammy
Thank you for the inspiration!
ap_lemos at yahoo com
I make a lot of homemade gifts for the holidays and my family & friends always appreciate them. I will tweet about your site & contest on twitter.
I’m so excited about making our Christmas more thoughtful and handmade.
i’ve found that the gifts in a jar go over well. google “gifts in a jar” and you’ll come up with all kinds of ideas!
Just catching up with the 100 Days til Christmas challange, and would love to have this cookbook! I love Christmas, and all the smells that go with it. “Harvest” is my favorite, too.
subscribed by email!
jan´s last blog ..a chance to win
i always have big plans for hand made stuff… but unfortunately we live in a very materialistic world, and i feel like sometimes, handmade is not always appreciated! I try to give hand made and stuff that will not clutter up ones household…. so certificates for events, and homemade edibles are usually what i end up giving.
jennP´s last blog ..Halloween is but a month or so away!!
I have a few calendars made and plan to do a couple of food baskets. Hmmmmm I hope I have time to finish it all.
Tamara´s last blog ..P365 week 37 and 38
[...] Christmas countdown had us going through our list and finding people who would really appreciate a handmade Christmas gift. I’ve been saying for a while now that I would love to make some of the gifts that we give [...]
I love handmade and homemade gifts. This year we have decided not to spend money on buying gifts. So i have made some bath frizz, bath salts, cookies and etc. I agree gifts in the jar are well-received.:)
spagiftbaskets´s last blog ..Over the Hill 40th Bouquet of Cookies