GIVE A GIFT OF LOVE (Homemade Christmas Presents)

Name: katestuartuk

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Product:	Homemade Christmas Presents
Date:	05/12/06 (422 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: YOU CAN MAKE A PRESENT TO SUIT THE PERSON AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO BUY IN TO COMMERCIALISM!

Disadvantages: TAKES TIME AND EFFORT

Homemade Christmas Presents

When I was younger, I was always very concerned around Christmas time that everyone had something to unwrap. When I began earning my own money, I would spend huge amounts on gifts for my siblings, parents and friends, and really relished the sight of them opening their gifts and being thrilled. Now I know that Christmas isn’t about gifts at all. It isn’t the commercial hiatus that we’ve managed to turn it into. It’s about having the people you love around you, and seeing them smile. That’s all.

It took me a long time to really understand for myself this idea of giving love and smiles and having times of togetherness, but once I got there, it was hard to imagine I’d ever thought anything different! So last year, in the midst of a financial low-point (i.e. I was very, very poor!), armed with this new realisation, and with the skills inherent in me to perform the task, I made all my Christmas presents. Yes, that’s ALL my Christmas presents. And I loved every minute of it, the planning, the making, the wrapping, and the faces of my family members as they opened their gifts and realised what they’d been given.
I think it’s always really hard to make gifts for certain people – as hard, maybe even harder than actually walking into a shop and picking something. But I think it makes the gift so much more special if you have to really think about it, and work hard to make it.

My mum was the easiest to make for. She is planning to move house soon, from the home we all grew up in to something smaller, and so I bought an A4 canvas and painted a picture of Our Home, so that when she moved, she’ll still be able to look at it. I went round to the house and took some photos on my brother’s digital camera, and used the images for reference, though to be honest, I could have drawn that house in my sleep! I framed it in an old frame of mine, and wrapped it up in brown paper. She was very moved when she opened it, and she keeps it on show in the front room till it’s time to pack it up for moving.

My sisters both got the same – a little handmade hamper full of mini treats and pampering goodies. I made bath salts by filling clean jam jars with sea salt, adding some drops of lavender essential oil, and screwing the lid back on. Face packs, soap, bath bombs, all these things can be either made or bought, and it makes such a lovely gift. I won’t tell you what I’m planning for them for this year, as they might read this and then my cover is blown!

For my brother, I made a canvas bag for his chimney sweep brushes and poles, which he was over the moon about. He still has it, and the brushes and poles still live in it, as it was made of good quality calico, so it should last him years!

My brother in law is a massive film fan, so I made a big papier mache bowl, painted it with brown and gold acrylics, and then painted film quotes inside it. Then I filled it with packets of microwave popcorn and other film bits and bobs. The bowl is still going strong, and now serves as the family fruit bowl!

My almost brother in law is a singer songwriter, and likes a glass of wine from time to time, so I got 6 plain wine glasses (£1.00 each in Poundstretcher), and using some glass paint I had in the cupboard I painted bits of his song lyrics on the them. The words swirled and curved around the glasses and each glass was painted in a different colour. I packed them carefully in a cardboard box and he was very surprised and happy when he saw them!

I probably spent the most time on my niece’s present, which was a handmade, hand stitched, single quilt, a soft handmade bunny and a little book about shells. My niece likes shells, and has names for all the shells that live in a bowl in my front room! I learnt to book bind at college and have made lots of little story books as well as my own sketch books for drawing. Books make great gifts, and even if you can’t draw, if you can cut out images from photo scans, you can personalise stories straight away with very little effort!

Making gifts for people at Christmas doesn’t have to involve anywhere near the amount of work described here – a box of homemade sweets will always taste better that shop bought ones, and the same goes for home baked biscuits, cakes, jams and preserves. Easy to make, wholesome and real without artificial cr*p and in recycled jam jars, a pot of chutney or jam is a great way to give something a little special. It’s a bit late on now, but what about a bottle of homemade wine? I have made my own wine off and on for a few years now, and though it never lasts long enough to get turned into Christmas presents, I often think it would make a lovely gift.

I think what is important is that we slow down on the whole commercial idea that you can buy affection and love – we don’t NEED to spend hundreds of pounds on the latest brands to have a truly wonderful Christmas. People say that Christmas is the season of giving, but at what cost? You can give yourself, give your love, give your time and your affections in many other ways than simply swiping the plastic. One day, hopefully one day very soon, I would like to think that people realise that status and happiness and peace cannot be bought. They can be worked at, but not bought.

We have grown up in a time when the way we show our affection is by presenting people with items of wealth, brand names, jewels. I’d like to think that my mum values the painting I made for her more than any of the other presents I’ve every bought for her from a shop. Because it’s a tiny piece of me – I made it, I created it, and I gave it with all the love and care in the world. That is the true meaning of giving gifts at Christmas, and even though the economy would probably collapse immediately if people started doing a Blue Peter job on their Christmas gifts, wouldn’t it be nice if everyone got to January without being faced with a huge credit card bill?

My conclusion? Think about what you give at Christmas. If you can make gifts that the people you love will love, then do it! If you’re trying to buy something for the person who has everything, get down to Oxfam and buy a goat for a person who has nothing. And whatever you do in this season of shopping and excess, take time to watch the smiles in the eyes of the ones that you love, because it is there, and only there, that you will see the truth of Christmas.

Thank you for reading, happy DIYing!!! Kate x

Summary: GIVING SOMETHING YOU HAVE MADE & PUT YOUR HEART & SOUL INTO THIS CHRISTMAS WILL MEAN MUCH MORE!