A Homemade Christmas - A Week of Handmade Gifts!

It's sad that Thanksgiving is always overshadowed by the commercialism of Christmas, but this series is at the beginning of November for a good reason. Simply put, you need time to gather supplies for and make handmade gifts. While making gifts can be a little daunting, they can be so much more meaningful to the giver and reciever! They can also be less expensive - which can help you give more!

All this week we're going to be sharing some awesome ideas for handmade gifts. Starting a little later today, we'll have a day devoted to each of the following groups:

1. Monday - Infants
2. Tuesday - Toddlers & Preschoolers
3. Wednesday - Bigger Kids
4. Thursday - Teenagers
5. Friday - Spouse/Significant Others
6. Saturday - Neighbors/Teachers/Coworkers

 Before we leave you for the night, here are some organizational tips for the upcoming gift-giving season.

• Make a list of who you'll be giving gifts to this year. It's important to know who you're giving to before you can figure out what you're giving (handmade or purchased)
• Set a budget. Even if you're going handmade, you'll probably have to buy some supplies. Know what you have to spend (even if it's close to nothing) and stick to it. There's no reason to go into debt to get someone a gift!!
• Come up with gift ideas. What I like to do (and I usually start thinking about this in like, September) is make a list of each person we're giving a gift to and then a list of gift ideas. I don't do anything fancy - just a simple piece of notebook paper. I try to come up with a few different options - some handmade, store bought, something cheaper, etc. As I made the list of ideas, I usually come up with something that I know will be just perfect for that person. Some people are harder to give gifts to so that's when I kind of start looking around for deals and see what fits into the budget. Don't just walk around the store looking for something. You'll probably either overspend or wind up unhappy with the gift.
• If you're going to be giving homemade gifts, you need to know what you have on hand. This might mean examining your ribbon and thread supply, going through your craft supplies, and even taking a look at your pantry. You don't want to go out and spend extra money on thread when you already have the color you need sitting in your craft supplies.
• Know when you need to have gifts purchased or finished. Do you have family out of town that you're sending gifts to? Check with the postal service you'll be using and know what timeline they recommend. Are you celebrating with or seeing others before (or after) Christmas?

Do you have any other tips for making the Christmas season a little less stressful?