Gift Giving

[helwen]

Sharon Astyk (Causabon's Book) posted about gift giving today. Definitely something to think about, with various holidays on the way, birthdays and anniversaries year-round, and an economy full of uncertainty.

Simple useful gifts like fleece blankets, scarves and hats are nice and easy to make. A nice tin of cookies or a pretty loaf of bread are great too. Or your friends or family members may have particular interests where a book for instance is more appropriate -- but does it have to be a new book? Used but in good condition is something to consider (and some books, being out-of-print, will of course not be new).

If you have the money to spare, your gift receiver may be someone who's having a tough time economically for one reason or another -- job, new baby, etc. A gift card to a grocery store might be a good idea. I've given them as a wedding gift (good because they had no money left and no food after they went on their honeymoon), and as part of a baby shower gift.

If you want to give something more special but aren't sure what, many small businesses have gift certificates as well. I'm pretty sure Reconstructing History has something of the sort, and doubtless many artisans either have them or would be willing to create something like that.

My feeling about gifts is that they should be something the receiver will enjoy. My personal preference is that the gift is also useful, but that can be open to a pretty wide interpretation ;) When it comes to jewelry for instance, it isn't terribly "useful", but I do like to wear some once in a while -- I like it even better if it's a piece I can wear with more than one outfit, and better even is if it's good in more than one venue (medieval, modern, work, casual, ceremonial, etc.)

***
For the craft-oriented folks, here's a gift I made a few years back.

I'm pretty handy, so I've made complex things at times, and this is one of them. Once I scanned a medieval illuminated border I'd painted, then made it small on the computer. I got a copy of prayer of St. Francis (a SIL who's Roman Catholic), did it up in a gothic font and fit it into the border. I'd made it small and the prayer took a few pages that way, because I wanted to use an Altoids box for the container/bookcover. I used some polymer clay to cover/decorate the outside of the box, but you could paint it or do decoupage easily enough. I printed the pages as one long strip and folded it like an accordion (fanfold), with extra paper at either end. The extra paper gets glued to the inside of the front and back of the tin. I used the clay because I wanted to create a medieval-looking cover. After all that I was afraid she wouldn't like it, but she loved it.

Also, if you don't draw or paint, you may be able to find borders or elements that can be used on the pages online.

Obviously, most folks don't have time to do that all the time, but it was a lot of fun, and you could make one with a story or poem(s), or photos, or whatever comes to mind.

And if you don't have a scanner or PC, nothing wrong with cut and paste, maybe using pretty papers to create borders. Or maybe just cover a box and make it pretty and useful. Fabric scraps can also sometimes be used for decoupage as well. And if you don't have scraps, maybe a friend does.

***
Naturally, the best and most important part of celebrations is spending time with folks you care about. Bearing that in mind will hopefully put the importance of gifts in perspective. If the best, real, gift is yourself (and it is), then spending $300 on a gift isn't going to make everything that much "better". Because what can top the present of presence?

Comments

[oakmouse]

The only people we're gifting this year (besides each other) are a couple of friends in England. We're broke due to the move and house purchase, and most of our friends and family are trying to rein back on expenses for various reasons of their own. So yeah, even simpler than the last few years. But it's good; we don't need "stuff"!

[helwen.livejournal.com]

*nods* I hear you :) Besides, for you, the house _is_ the gift this year!

[oakmouse]

Hee! Yep. Also our 25th anniversary gift, since that anniversary fell in the middle of the move and we didn't really manage to celebrate.

[harpnfiddle.livejournal.com]

I do prefer giving handmade gifts over store-bought. Sometimes, like this year, when I am incapacitated, the gifts will naturally have to be less handmade than usual. I'm trying to think of ways that I can purchase part and then embellish a handmade part on something. It's still in the thinking phase. I can do a lot of things, but not yet. So darned if I know what the season will bring - gift-wise this year.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Hm..... do you write poetry? Maybe do something up on your PC in nice fonts and then frame it.

On the handcrafting side, it still might take two hands, but stenciling might be fun and relatively quick to do.

btw, we're using the bookmark you made for me in whatever book I'm reading aloud to L in the car :)

[kellan_the_tabby]

I'll do nearly everything handmade this year -- though I've traded my stuff for some of it. I just can't give away my bath and body stuff as a gift, though, unless I've made something that's not a regular product -- just feels, I dunno, not right.

Only person I'll have to buy something new for is Ray, cos he's pretty much 'computer games or nothing'. Though maybe I can find something used even there...

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Yup, you might be able to find some good used games. One of our local gaming stores carries new and used. Even so, sounds like you're doing pretty well :)

I really like being able to find a new home for a book -- and saving some money doesn't hurt either, esp. when it's a limited edition printing, like the bookbinding book I got for L one year, which still cost a pretty penny. But he'd had the library copy out for a couple of years (properly renewed of course), so I figured it was a good investment :D

[hyperbard.livejournal.com]

My presents this year are largely going to be drawings, I think, because that's easiest for me to make. However, I'm also thinking of doing a couple decoupaged-containers. And for good friends of mine with kids, I already have one request for a multi-lingual picture book:) (which will be partly decoupage as well, or else a regular picture book with the other-language translation written inside...)

...though, a lot of it will be handmade cards.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

All sounds good!

[bronx-baroness.livejournal.com]

Last year I took the Handmade Pledge and I am thinking about doing it again for this year. Personally, I prefer home made/hand made holiday gifts.

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Good pledge :) I'm not sure what we're up for this year; still working on things like what we're doing for the local family exchange. But I'm hoping to make some more stuff!

[dreda.livejournal.com]

Still working on reshaping the familial trend toward little stocking-stuffers and then putting the rest toward charitable donations. I think it may be working - everyone feels like they've got enough stuff!

[helwen.livejournal.com]

Excellent! Yes, sometimes we can do that, but it's a work in progress. At least we only have a lottery (each adult gets another adult, same for kids), for the Gray families. And there's a price limit. My brothers and I just talk to each other when they're at our mom's for Christmas. There are the parent/child gifts of course, but these are relatively modest as well.

I used to work for a guy who would spend a few hundred on stocking stuffers, before he even got to the main gifts. Beyond my imagining....

Gifts

[simchabucks.livejournal.com]

This does look great.
You can use SImchaBucks (http://simchabucks.com) to calculate how much money to spend on a baby shower gift.