A Handmade Christmas - Certificates and Recipes

In a craft camp I did before Christmas last year, I was blown away when nearly every 8 and 9 year old wanted pretty much the same things for Christmas that my 17 year old wanted - new cell phone, new Ipod, and new Uggs. The other item on my daughter's list last year was a new digital camera. This year, now that she's in college, she wants a 22" flat screen TV for her dorm room instead. Note that all those items (except this year's desired TV) have the word New in front of it. That's because my daughter has also had those items on her Christmas list for a number of years.

Poor Kinsey had to wait though until 8th grade graduation to receive a cell phone. (not 8 years old!) I will forever love the fact that she wanted either a cell phone or a goat for graduation that year. Knowing how close we came to getting her that goat makes me realize how much I dislike the latest electronic gadget or fashion must-have.

I digress..

Anyway, instead of spending lots of money on gifts that will become obsolete and need replacing within a year or two, let's try to think of ways that we can come up with more personal, handcrafted gifts.

Certificates are a great, and free, gift to give friends and family members. There are many templates available on the internet that you can use.

Two years ago, I gave Jamie seven "get out of doing the dinner dishes" passes. They were the biggest hit! Each pass had a different quote printed on it that had something to do about doing the dishes. (I had lots of fun finding good ones). He also had to tell us that he was using a pass prior to dinner (so that it couldn't be a last minute, see how dirty the kitchen is, decision). He carefully saved them for many months and we had many lively dinner table discussions debating why we had that "stupid" rule about having to plan ahead. Not only were those passes a hit when he got them, they are definitely a gift that Jamie will always remember.

My kids have made me certificates for both Christmas and my birthdays. They have included things like: hugs, foot rubs(a personal favorite), back rubs, 30 minutes of cleaning, car washing, show shoveling, etc. You get the idea.

Another one of my ideas that has been treasured by a big group of family and friends has been, "This Year's Favorite Recipes." I type up some favorite new recipes that I've made over the years and send them to my list of recipe recipients. I haven't done this in a few years now, but I did for more than 10 years. I still get people calling me, emailing me, or now facebooking me, saying that they just made one of my recipes for this or that event.

My third idea is great for grandparents or extended family members. In the days when we all had to go to the video store to rent movies, my brothers and I would each year jointly make up a list of movies that we thought my lovely "but clueless about movies" parents would like. We would also give them a gift certificate for 10 free rentals, but that is optional (and not free). My parents now subscribe to Netflix and I actually added some suggested movies to their queue last time I was home. Bummer! I missed my chance to give them a list this Christmas. For them, this is a great gift as they not only don't know what movies they want to see, but they get overwhelmed on the Netflix site and navigating the internet.

I will have some generic certificates that you and the kids can use at the Holiday Craft Workshops taking place on December 12th and 13th. Think about what activity people either really love or really hate and think about how you can do it for them.Package these up nicely and they will be a much appreciated gift.