This will be my third year of a #handmadeholiday promise. And this year, I may actually succeed!
We give storebought gifts at other times of the year, especially birthdays. A Handmade Holiday is a way for us to combat the commercialism of the Christmas season and keep the influx of clutter and overstimulation at a minimum. Our family accepts, graciously, any gift given, but within our own celebration of Christmas, we try to keep things simple, heartfelt, and inexpensive (in money, but not always in time).
This is a commitment that was largely my idea, and as such, mostly falls to me to keep.
Here are the rules of engagement I’ve tried to follow over the years:
- Every holiday gift we give should be hand-made. For 90% of the gifts each year, this means hand-made by me, but handmade gifts made by another crafter are fair game.
- We try to be strict about the “made by” and make sure that the actual crafter is a known entity (no handmade resellers or small businesses unless it’s clear which employee produced the item).
- There’s an exception for DIY kits and craft supplies–if someone is also a crafter, I might gift them supplies instead of a hand-made gift.
- This was introduced early on for my husband, who wanted to give me handmade gifts but was seriously stressed out by the prospect of making them himself because his craft skills are not so diverse.
- Because we work full-time and have time-consuming hobbies, stocking stuffers are not subject to the rules (though often 50% or more of our girls’ stocking stuffers are hand-made by me or another crafter because I participate in handmade toy exchanges throughout the year). We do institute a dollar limit on stockings, though, and try to keep the contents simple, necessary (this is the time of year I get new socks!), and/or edible.
- Storebought companion gifts are okay. Examples: a meaningful book to go with a handmade bookmark, or a card game or Matchbox cars to drive on an appliqued playmat.
- Despite not having a great deal of time, I am dedicated to the idea that every gift should be personal in some way. So, even for gifts I make in bulk, like jam, we are careful to choose friends who will appreciate it and use it. When crafting for the kids in our lives, I’m always careful to check in with their parents for an updated favorites list. This year, I’m making a lot of superhero capes, bags, etc., but each one will be unique to the child, with colors they like, or some other personalization. Even if we “cheat” and give a craft supply or handmade-by-someone-else present, we follow a strict no-giftcards or cash rule.
Next year, I’m hoping to incorporate a stashbusting element into my challenge, and only use upcycled items and my existing fabric and notions stash to produce gifts, in order to declutter my craft space and save a bit more money on the holidays.
This year, I’m trying harder to involve our kids, who are 3 and 6, in the making of gifts. Here are a few ways I’ve managed this so far:
- I incorporated the lavender our girls picked at a u-pick lavender farm on a vacation into the jam that has been a staple of our holiday gifting for some time. We harvest (the girls help) and freeze gallons of berries from our backyard patches every summer, but this year I decided to take a little risk and add a “zing” with Black Raspberry Lavender preserves instead of boring red raspberry jam.
- The kids can’t yet knit, but they are very good at measuring and stirring. They unwrapped and helped me grate soap bars to make this dish soap to accompany this year’s handknit dishcloths.
