Design Crafters

While it’s true that Santa Claus started as a real person, Saint Nicholas, a minor saint from the fourth century, the popular view of  Santa thing that we celebrate today, along with all the crazy things surrounding Santa like the sleigh, the flying reindeer and the chimney, all cam largely from two publishing events that occurred in the 1800’s and one advertising campaign in this century.

Clement Moore wrote "The Night Before Christmas" in 1822 for his family. It was picked up by a newspaper, then reprinted in magazines and it spread like wildfire. He finally admitted authorship in 1838. If you read the poem, you will fine that he names the reindeer, invents the sleigh, comes up with the chimney and the bay of toys, etc. Nearly everyone in America has been able to recognize or recite this poem since the 1830s.

Between 1863 and 1886, Harper’s Weekly (a popular magazine of the time)
ran a series of engravings by Thomas Nast. From these images come the
concepts of Santa’s workshop, Santa reading letters, Santa checking his
list and so on. Coca-Cola also played a role in the Santa image by
running a set of paintings by Haddon Sundblom in its ads between 1931
to 1964.

The red and white suit came, actually, from the original Saint
Nicholas. Those colors were the colors of the traditional bishop’s
robes. Of course you can see Santa dressed in what became the traditional red and white furry Santa Claus suite in many Christmas cards offered today.

If your budget is tight, there are many things you can do to
give more from yourself this Christmas that may even be more appeciated than an expensive item
that is just a trinket and not a necessity anyway. There is something to the
old saying, "It’s what’s in the heart that counts." If you give of
your time to make something from your heart, it often has more impact that
something that took no time to purchase.

Use the skills you have to make homemade Christmas presents. We already talked about a lot of
different gift basket ideas. If you can cook, make cookies or fudge or even
candy. If you can sew, make some cushion covers to coordinate with your
friend’s room scheme. If you are good at arranging flowers, make a cute
Christmas arrangement using florist’s foam and put it in an inexpensive shallow
bowl. Use berries, cones and foliage that you can get for free or very
inexpensively at a craft shop.

Grand parents usually don’t need anything new and are usually happiest to receive
framed photographs of their precious grandchildren. The collage types are
particularly welcome. Just include a nice hand signed; personalized Christmas
card with any of these items and any of them would be much appreciated. Next
time I will discuss a few more inexpensive Christmas gift ideas.

There are so many different combinations of gift baskets or “gift
basket” type of ideas that can be assembled for Christmas gifts, that you can
really customize almost anything and the recipient will feel very special that
you have gone to the trouble to put something together that is so perfect with
their taste and interest.

Do you need to buy a Christmas gift for someone who is into gardening? What you
can do for them is to buy a nice flower pot (look for a sale); half fill it
with crumples tissue paper or straw. Then arrange some packets of seeds, an
inexpensive hand trowel and fork, plant labels/ties, a notebook, green string
and a budget gardening book or magazine. Stick a Christmas card in
there and wrap it all up with cellophane and tie with a crinkly ribbon and you
are all set.

There are so many different ways you can make up gift
baskets that would be so much less expensive than if you were to purchase them
already assembled. You especially can do well if you can find some baskets
either at yard sales or discount department store sales.

I will give you an idea today and in a couple more days, I’ll give you some
more. Know your friend and what he/she is interested it and build on that. If
they are into coffee or tea in a big way, why not purchase a couple of cute
mugs. Again, what are they into? The selection of mugs is endless.

You can use any or some of the following depending if you want to fill several
preferences or just one. Fill them with different herbal flavored tea bags and
a honey pot, small gourmet flavored sample packs, hot chocolate packs. Include
sticks of cinnamon, biscotti, and/or individual cookie packs. Homemade cookies
or brownies or coffee cake would even be better and more appreciated (probably
cheaper too).  Always stuff the bottom of the basket with some tissue or
fake grass like is used in Easter baskets. Add a personalized Christmas card and you are all set.

In my last post, I mentioned picking up baskets at yard
sales that could be used as gift baskets for Christmas presents. As long as they are in good shape,
you can put new or even used items that are in good shape in them as a gift.

Sometimes you can find items that are new or like new, some still in original
packaging at yard sales that could be added. Even if you end up buying new
items to put in the baskets, you can watch for Christmas sales for individual items to
put together, and if you can get the baskets at least at a yard sale, you can
save a lot on those. Gift baskets can be rather expensive and everyone know that, so
to give a nice basket filled with practical or even non-practical but fun
items, add a nice Christmas card, and that would be considered a great gift.

Next time we will discuss a lot of different variables/items that could be
included in a real nice expensive looking gift basket.

If you are concerned about having enough money for your
Christmas cards and other gift items and the necessary items to throw a party
this holiday season, it’s best to try and start working early to save up and
look for good deals. I will spend this week offering some tips that hopefully
will help in this process.

First of all, now, in the springtime, is a popular time for moving. A lot of
folks who need to move, put their house on the market in the spring, hoping to
get moved before school starts in the fall. Because of this there are always a
lot of yard sales or garage sales in which you might be able to pick up.

Sometimes you can find books that look as good as new, or toys also that look
new. Often you can find nice baskets that you could use to put other new items
in to make up inexpensive but elegant gift baskets. In a couple of days I will offer a few more tips or suggestions in how to prepare for Christmas with as little stress as necessary on the wallet.

During the holiday season many
companies and businesses are faced with picking a generic looking holiday
greeting card which can be sent to the variety of employees or clients they may
have.

In my opinion, it’s a shame that many in business feel like they have to be politcally correct by not mentioning Christmas or even sending a card that has anything associated with Christmas like a tree, wreath or holly. We even had someone the other day say that they didn’t want to send out one of our patriotic holiday cards becasue it said "God Bless America" and that was too religious. Sometimes I wonder what has happened to our country and where we are headed. Enough said for now on that. I’m too busy to get on my soapbox right now.

When attempting to pick a generic
holiday greeting card, which has no references to the specifics of the season,
cards picturing wintry images of snow or snowflakes can be a fitting
choice. Images of snowflakes capture the
natural beauty of snow while also embodying the spirit and wonder of the
holiday season. By picking a card
glittered with snowflakes any company can be sure that their card will be received
warmly and appreciatively by both employees and clients alike. Here’s an example of one you could use which is very tasteful and even has a place to display your company name:

We have a whole category devoted to snowflake Christmas Cards on our site. That ’s about as generic as you can get. Check them out!

In this article we want to
discuss the difficulties that many companies and businesses face as they try to
choose a holiday card to send to employees and clients that will both show the
company’s appreciation and be respectful of the person receiving the card. After
discussing the problems, we will then highlight the choices which companies and
businesses do have in order to side
step these possible difficulties.

During the holiday season many
companies and businesses are faced with picking a generic looking holiday
greeting card which will be sent to a variety of their employees and/or
clients. These employees and clients most likely represent a wide variety of cultures
and beliefs. If you are a company which deals internationally, you want to
remember that many countries outside of the United
States often celebrate the holiday season
differently. Because of these differences, selecting a card with images
associated solely with an ‘Americanized’ idea of Christmas would not be very
tactful. So, when you are attempting to pick a holiday greeting card which has
no references to the specifics of the season, cards picturing wintry images of snow
scenes or snowflakes can be a fitting choice. Images of snowflakes capture the
natural beauty of snow while also embodying the spirit and wonder of the
holiday season.

If you would like en even more
generic type of card, which won’t discriminate against those who may live in a
warmer climate, check out our international card collection. Design crafters
offers a variety of holiday cards specially created to please people on all
continents. Holiday Cards which feature international images of the globe, human unity,
and the universal desire for peace and love offer a great solution to companies
needing to be tolerant of all kinds of people and places. 

For any company
or business who deals internationally, the holiday season may present a challenge
when attempting to send out a holiday greeting card. Many countries outside of the United
States choose to celebrate the holiday
season differently. These changes are
usually due to religious and cultural differences. Because of these differences, selecting a
card with images associated solely with an ‘Americanized’ ideal of Christmas
would not be very tactful. Designcrafters offers a variety of
International Holiday Cards specially created to please people on all
continents. Cards which feature images
of the globe, human unity, and the universal desire for peace and love offer a
great solution to companies needing to send cards internationally. We have 60 such Christmas cards from which to choose. If this type of International
Holiday card will work for you, check them out now.