Christmas. What do you think? Cool, or will it elicit scowls? (If I do
make them, they'll be cuter than this prototype, and not stuffed with
cotton balls.)
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Buy-nothing Xmas
Christmas. What do you think? Cool, or will it elicit scowls? (If I do
make them, they'll be cuter than this prototype, and not stuffed with
cotton balls.)
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8 comments:
I say cute! I one similar to yours that I got as a kid (loved it)!
cuuuuuuuuuuuute!
cute
another idea that my friend is making is puppet theaters that can use any door way. She's going to make little curtains that hang on a tension rod, you don't need the whole giant space hogging thing - unless you already have it.
Love it. Handmade gifts have more heart. AND, if you can re-use fabrics, it's totally green!
cute!! but it sounds like a lot of work. (reference magazine article here reminding everyone that less is more when it comes to the holidays)
I love that idea. I always prefer something with thought. And, kids love any kind of stuffed animal.
Adorable. I thought once about making stuffed animals from their monster drawings. But I lack both the skill and the determination to do that. I think it's an awesome idea, very cute, and something that will be treasured for forever.
Don't forget the White Elephant Christmas for adults - which is a "no money spent" Christmas. This is an old Southern poor person's answer to a gift laden Christmas. I like White Elephant Christmases better than the "shop until you drop" Christmases. The starter party is a lot of fun but the best White Elephant Christmas parties are the ones that have been a tradition for years and have famous or infamous regifts, complete with cunning misleading wrapping. Some White Elephant Christmas house rules are if you put in 30 presents you take out 30 presents and other White Elephant house rules are everyone takes turns pulling presents off the pile until the pile is exhausted so you might have brought 30 pressies but you are going home with 10.
Each participant wraps all their white elephants so they can recognize them. The easiest way is to wrap all your gifts identically - such as wrapped in grocery bag paper with blue magic marker bows or wrapped in lengths of an old sheet and tied at the top with a length of twine strung with five beads. (No money spent on wrapping materials)
When it is time to choose presents, haul out the drinks, decide the order of participant distribution and get started.
The first present chosen by the first participant who holds it up still wrapped and the gift giver is identified.
Now the participant has to decide if they want to trade the pressie away wrapped, keep it and keep it wrapped or unwrap. Once they decide and the deed is done, the present distribution passes to the next person who chooses a pressie off the pile. That's gift giver is identified and the next recipient decides. Once the pressie is opened, the gift giver tells its story.
Trades are interesting because various "reputations" build up. For instance, Arnie might be a musician who routinely dumps 4 or 5 musical doo-dahs in his white elephant contributions. So the trade might be, "I'll trade you two wrapped pressies, one from George and one from Evelyn plus the opened pressie which is the camera Ed got free when he got his subscription to Newsweek for Arnie's still wrapped package." (Meanwhile, everyone notices that Arnie wraps his packages by stuffing them in socks.)
I've seen presents such as "wisdom teeth - valued at over $3000" make their slow way through the entire entourage of gift givers. Some are memorable such as "the painter's smock dad wore when he did the kitchen after which he swore never again"; "Aunt Fannie's 'lamb fat' Jade Bracelet (real jade but sort of gross to wear because of the name;)" the "Hook 'em Horns" umbrella Paul's friend left three years ago; Aunt Carol's high school prom dress, Uncle John's metric tool kit, Cousin Elmo's tie that glows "Kiss me" in the dark, etc. A white Elephant Christmas is the perfect time to regift three of the four teapots you got as wedding presents, or to find a new home for the air mattress were using when you discovered you don't like camping or to clear out the bedtime reading bookshelf. A White Elephant Christmas is great for getting rid of 4 of the 8 padlocks you have, the rotesserie that is too big for your kitchen and the shoe rack that only holds 1/2 your shoes,
Some stories are thrilling "This vase used to belong to my great aunt, the one that was a flapper and outlived 5 rich husbands before she died at 84 from an immoderate mix of alcohol and barbituates she imbibed while celebrating a big win at the horse races and her engagement to her 32 year old lover." to the prosaic, "I actually bought this woodburning kit 3 years ago."
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