Design Crafters

Every year around the holidays, I take my family up to my cabin in Pennsylvania to go skiing and play in the snow.  Year after year, we hold an annual Snowman Building contest, where my family splits into two teams, and each team builds the ultimate snowman.  The rules are simple, have fun, play nice (no sabotaging the other team’s snowman), and each team has 2 hours to complete their masterpiece.

For families who live where there is no snow, here is a fun variation of my snowman building contest - on a slightly smaller scale…

What you will need to make your own personalized Snowman:

• Styrofoam balls - 2 for each snowman/team - a smaller one foe the head and a larger one for the body
• Snowman candy decorations (mini carrots, jelly beans, gum drops)
• Tacky craft clue
• White glitter
• Toothpicks
• Ribbon, felt or fabric scraps
• Buttons, scrapbook brads, jewels and mini eyes
• anything else you want to decorate with

Once you have your teams broken out, let the fun begin.  Tell each team that they have 2 hours to build their snowman.  They can be as creative as they like, as long as the snowman stands up without help at the end.  Once you try this fun activity, leave me a comment and tell me how it went for you!

Hopefully the last few postings have gotten your creative
juices flowing with some creative ways to come up with some real unique and
custom ideas for this Christmas. Here a few more then I will go on to a new
topic.

Why not compose and print out an inspirational piece or poetry in an antique
type of font. Then paint it with a solution of tea to "age" it a little
and frame it for an unusual gift. You can even burn the edges and shellac it to
a piece of wood for an even different effect.

For adult family members or friends, print out some gift vouchers offering your
time for babysitting, housework, gardening, decorating, car washing - whatever
you can manage and think would be well received. This may not seem like much to
you, but you may be surprised at how well received something this thoughtful
will be perceived and accepted with thankfulness. Remember no one would feel
good about you sacrificing financially just to give them a gift. It is easy to
lose sight of this as we get caught up in all the advertising hype surrounding
the holidays.

Just one last thing - when it comes to your children’s stockings, fill them
with some of the following: make a video tape of their favorite movies or
television programs, ice some cookies with their initials, put together a
little craft box with colored paper, glue, their own special scissors, glue,
stickers, etc. whatever your child likes. Put a Christmas card in an envelope
with some handmade coupons for some special outings with mom that they would
like, such as a picnic at the favorite park with a friend and a lunch date at
McDonalds with Dad, etc.

As mentioned in my previous two posts, there are endless
ways you can put together gift baskets to make them each unique and at the same
time, save money on what you would spend on a similar on from a department
store. Think about people on your list and consider some of these ideas:

• Scented candles and bubble
  bath and/or bath salts.
• A recipe book inside a mixing
  bowl along with some utensils.
• Joke book(s) & whoopee
  cushion
• Video, cola, candy and
  popcorn
• Pack of cards, poker chip,
  and six pack of beer
• Paperback book(s) and box of
  chocolates
• Houseplant and plant care
  guide.
• Calendar and diary/journal
• Hair scrunchies, hairbrush
  and shampoo
• Small soaps, liquid soap,
  loofa, body lotions, cologne
• Disposable camera or film and
  photo album
• Bottle of wine, cheese,
  crackers, wine guide

These ideas may spark some of your own. Just add a Christmas
card to any of these and you have a great, inexpensive, custom gift.

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.

Yesterday we talked about the fact that especially in the
winter after Christmas and New Years, there is President’s day in which we get
a three day weekend, but after that, there really isn’t much going on until
Memorial Day weekend and that’s quite a long time to wait for a holiday, so why
not create your own?

How about an "Un-holiday" maybe that would be a good one to take
right after Christmas when you are tired from all the activities, Christmas cards,
parties, etc. A break would be nice wouldn’t it? The weather would still be
cold so your could fix a big pot of homemade soup and hot bread, build a fire
and curl up with a good book.

You could celebrate when it looks like there will be no more cold, nasty
weather. Or how about a "Springtime" day to celebrate the return of
life after winter. How about a "First Tomato of the Season" day to
celebrate the harvesting of your first tomato?

How about a "No TV" day, in which the family interacts and does some
fun things together. Something your kids would like is to have breakfast for
dinner. That’s different and kind of special and inexpensive to boot!

If you have a clear night, have a "Count the Stars" day and camp out
in your backyard. When the spring sun is warm, go spend a day out on the deck
for a "Suntan" day.

If you have some energy, find a place to pick apples or strawberries and come
home and can them. Make some applesauce and jelly or jam.

One last idea would be to have a "Renewal Day" in which you sit down
and focus on your life and what you want to accomplish and decide what kind of
legacy you want to leave behind. Set some goals to make the most out of your
life. Decide how to set aside some time to serve others.

What are holidays? They are basically a date that people
have decided to set aside to celebrate something. Who says they have to be
"official" in order to be valid? If you don’t want to wait for Thanksgiving
or Christmas, why not pick something to celebrate and make that your special
day. You don’t have to try to make it special for others by sending them
something like you would Christmas cards at Christmas or a bouquet of
flowers for Mother’s Day.

There’s a pretty big gap between President’s day in February and Memorial Day
at the end of May. That’s a long time to wait for a three day weekend in
anybody’s book! Why not come up with a reason to be thankful and take a three
day weekend to celebrate it! Invite special friends to celebrate with you. Think about what you could do for a "Personal Holiday" and tomorrow I’ll talk about some ideas and you can see if any of them resonate with you.