I like to make home made gifts for people on my gift list.  I enjoy working with my hands, crafting or cooking things, so making the gifts is therapeutic for me.  And the entire time that I’m making the gift I am thinking about the person I’m making it for, so I like to think that the gift is being infused with loving thoughts.  I like to think that the recipient will appreciate the time, effort, and loving thoughts put into the gifts that I make.  I take into consideration what the person’s interests are, and try to make a gift that they will love and use.

The vast majority of my home made gifts have been well received, and I often get special requests from the people who are on my gift list.  I have been surprised, and sometimes dismayed, when I discover that my gift ends up being turned into a cat toy (by a child too young to appreciate the money, time, and effort put into making the gift) or tucked away in a closet because it is appreciated so much that the recipient thinks it is “too good to use” and is afraid to use it!  Or even more dismayed when the recipient turns up their nose at the gift because they think that the homemade gift represents the thought that I was “too cheap” to “buy” them something from the store.  Those people don’t realize that the raw materials used to make the gift often will cost more than buying a gift from the store.

So, giving home made gifts can be tricky sometimes.  I need to research the individual and make sure that they will actually appreciate the home made gift before I go through the time and effort to make it.   Sometimes the best gift to give someone can simply be a gift card, to let them buy what they REALLY want.

Categories: Around the House, Cooking, Crafts, Family and friends, Fun, Life, Shopping | Comments Off