Posts
Thanks so much to Jen, Wendy, Joanne, Lindsay T, Christine, Vicki, Becky, Miss Linda, Sarah, Summerset and Amanda for talking back to my confession last Friday! I brought up the topic of making Christmas gifts for friends and family, and asked how people handled this...
Responses were pretty evenly divided.
Two people haven't started giving handmade gifts yet, but hope to in the future as they feel more comfortable with their skills.
One of those people was Jen, who would like to learn how to knit scarves for Christmas gifts - coincidentally, I recently ran across this blog post with advice for people who want to learn how to knit - I hope it helps, Jen! Two people reported only giving a few handmade Christmas gifts each year, due at least in part to a lack of appreciation from past recipients.
Three people reported enjoying making Christmas presents, but being sensitive to who particularly likes receiving handmade gifts and who doesn't.
And two people reported trying to make many, if not most, of their Christmas gifts. Vicki, in particular, sews Christmas-themed gifts every year for her TEN co-workers! Yikes! I thought sewing for 6 co-workers was a lot!
Finally, people made these three really interesting points:
Both Becky and Sarah pointed out that, while it can be more stressful to make handmade gifts, it is also a lot more rewarding when someone loves your gift. :)
Amanda said that she doesn't expect people to appreciate a gift just because it is handmade, but puts a lot of thought into coming up with an idea that really suits the recipient.
And Christine pointed out that people don't always appreciate store bought gifts either...
A lot of good things to think about! Thanks again, everyone, for taking the time and trouble to let me know a little bit more about your sewing (and gifting) lives! :)
1 comments:
It's a little late, but actual hand sewn stuff I reserve for my parents, my teen aged sister (oh the woes of monster fur), and my son. My son doesn't think it's a big deal, all he says is "oh. It's my Hawaiian shirt." And sets it aside. (He does this for his b-day too, but he does wear it, but it's so not a big deal.)
I don't do much for the rest of my siblings, because most of them are so name brand oriented that nothing is appreciated. I do give co-workers, and when I was waitressing, several of my regular customers, a large box of Christmas cookies/breads/candy I make. I always make WAY too much and I can stock on the large boxes from Dollar General/Big Lots to put them in and get my cellophane in Xmas colors on sale the week after.
Since it's not just sugar cookies, but odd things like sweedish cookies, baklava and truffles, to buy they're expensive and give the box a nice "classy" feel as well, and many look forward to it because they don't have to bake themselves for the holidays, and I production line it so it's not much more labor intense on me.
Sorry for the long-windedness here.
Post a Comment