I know you want to make all handmade gifts this year. Every crafty person does, for uniqueness, sustainability, customization… the reasons are as many as the holiday themed fat quarters in your stash. But, as my business school professor once told the entire class, just because you can make something, doesn’t mean you should. My justifications are many, but the main ones are:
- Time – You are totally running out of it. Unless you literally started in January, you are never going to get it all done. Trust me, I have tried many times. In September, everyone is busy at work making up for slacking all July and August. In October you have to make little Janie’s Halloween costume and tree props for the school play. In November, there’s Thanksgiving which means shopping and cleaning the entire house for two weeks, cooking for a week and another week of putting the house back in order. Now it’s December, you are decorating, making holiday treats, going to neighborhood and office parties and trying to get work done ahead of time so you can take a few days off during the kids’ school vacation. There simply isn’t enough time. Now, you are angry.
- Mismatched sensibilities – I was never so heartbroken for someone else’s gift giving experience gone wrong as I was when I witnessed a mismatched gift making attempt by a member of my rug hooking club. She spent months on a beautiful hooked rug of a primitive style house surrounded by trees and birds, dripping with New England charm. It was just lovely – we fellow hookers sighed at its beauty. She made it as a gift for the family who had hosted her daughter as an exchange student. The family wasn’t from New England, so they didn’t find this style of craft charming, nor did they even understand it. They honestly didn’t even know if it was supposed to function as an actual rug, as a piece of wall art or mat for a guinea pig cage – they literally had no idea what it even was. She later described the bewildered looks on the recipients’ faces and we were all absolutely heartbroken for her. Sometimes a storebought gift is just more appropriate, even if it is less heart felt.
- Weird reciprocity – Unless the recipient is also a maker of handmade gifts, giving someone a handmade gift creates an unfortunate circle of weird reciprocity. They know you spent tons of time on your gift, so now they feel obligated to either give you a handmade gift (made by someone else because they can’t… that’s how I once received a woven poncho) or, and this has happened to me more than a few times, they give you craft supplies. They thoughtfully, albeit mistakenly, think you craft so therefore ANY craft supplies must be good! This is why I now own an entire shopping bag full of “vintage” pink and orange scratchy acrylic yarn.
If you really want to make stuff this holiday season, simply make yourself a scarf or a quilt or decorations for your own house. This way, you can be assured that the recipient is absolutely going to love your gift!
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