Handmade Pledge

[oobiecoo]

I was wondering if anyone has done this and what kind of gifts they''ve made or purchased. I just came across the idea and hubby and I are talking about doing this next year. It seems like a fun challenge!

Here''s the website:
www.buyhandmade.org

 

[Elmorton]

DH and I are doing our best to keep shopping at a minimum this year. Mostly, we''re doing volunteer work and giving donations to charities (inspired by the recipient of the gift - for instance, his dad gets really into big Xmases, so this saturday we''re wrapping gifts for Toys for Tots and we bought presents for children as well).

But, I''m also doing some handmade gifts. DH''s stepmom does this for every Christmas, and those gifts are ALWAYS my favorite. Two years in a row, she gave me beaded necklaces with matching bracelets that I love (jewelry making is SO not what I remember it being at camp!!), and she knits, so I''ve received two scarves (lost one in college...really bummed) and we are obsessed with the blankets she''s knitted us. One is in our living room and the other is in the guest room. They''re fantastic. She''s also made bath salts and given me herbs and seasonings that she and my FIL grew/dried/made.

I''m also doing some handmade jewelery for female family members - I learned how a few months ago and surprised myself by how pretty my stuff was! So I''m sharing my new-found talent, haha.

The biggest thing that I''m doing is baking bread and dipping pretzels - one of my girlfriends told me she was going to do this for gifts last year and I said "Hey! That sounds brilliant!" so last year we started a tradition that she comes over, guides me through the process, and we bake a ton of loaves together. I teach and she''s a grad student, so it gives us something to look forward to at the end of finals, and I found that people LOVE receiving little mini-loaves of bread as a gift because it''s yummy, but NOT a cookie. A bunch of people told me that they used it for breakfast on Xmas morning. We make the Barefoot Contessa''s almond poppy seed bread.

 

[neatfreak]

We did handmade gifts for each other last year. It was really sweet and my DH made some adorable magnets with our initials and other sweet sentiments on them, pictures of us, etc.