The holidays are approaching! As of this posting there are only 46 days left until Christmas.
Did that freak you out, even a little bit? Are you now panicking, thinking of the gifts you need to buy and – possibly worse – the ones you had planned to MAKE?
Over the past few years, I have significantly pared down my list of handmade gifts. This has been prompted by several factors, including:
- my need to get enough sleep every night
- my desire to spend quality time with my kids during the holidays, doing fun things with them
- the reactions I have gotten from some people in the past after giving handmade gifts
- the time and expense it takes to make someone a gift
So now, instead of making things for EVERY person on my list, I’ve narrowed it down – a lot. I really only do handmade gifts for a few people, including some very awesome friends and my dad and his wife. I don’t even really do handmade gifts for my kids as much, but rather I plan to work with them to make things throughout the month of December.
So here are a few questions to ask yourself if you’re thinking of making a gift for someone this holiday season:
- How well do I know this person? Can I pinpoint a handmade gift that they would really LOVE?
- Is making them a gift going to save me money or cost me more of it? Am I okay with that?
- Is the money I might save going to be canceled out by the time I spend making this gift? Am I okay with THAT?
- How has this person reacted in the past to handmade gifts? Do they seriously love them, or do they give me a half-hearted response?
- Does this person appreciate the time and effort that goes into a handmade gift? For them, does that make the gift extra special, or a cheap cop-out?
- Do I realistically have the time to make a gift for this person without adding too much stress to my own life during the holidays?
- Will making this gift take away from the time I have to spend doing other things I truly want to do?
If you think about the answers to those questions, you may decide that YES, someone is worthy of a handmade gift! But if they’re not? That’s okay, too! That’s what gift cards are for.
Here’s to a low-stress holiday season!
