Handmade Holidays With Sew, Mama, Sew!

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Our friends at Sew, Mama, Sew! are striking up their 4th annual Handmade Holidays, a 30-day series full of great tutorials, recipes and gift ideas for the holidays.

We firmly believe there’s something special about the time and energy you dedicate to handmade that helps gift-giving transcend obligation. Handmade gifts are imbued with love, time, thought and meaning!

Check out the ongoing Handmade Holidays archives that are organized by gift recipient and keep up with all the new posts over on their blog.

28 thoughts on “Handmade Holidays With Sew, Mama, Sew!

  1. ivoryh1632 says:

    I love giving handmade gifts, I have more fun making them than I would have had shopping and I can make sure that the person gets something that fits their taste and needs. But I’ve been so discouraged about doing a handmade Christmas ever since I did one a couple years ago. All of my family members called me cheap! Needless to say I was so hurt that none of them got anything more than a phonecall for Christmas the next year.
    Has anyone else had this problem with giving handmade gifts? If so how did you handle it?
    I’m thining that maybe if I take that little statement up there about hademade gifts being special and imbued with love and putting that on a card attached to all my gifts maybe they’ll get the point.
    Any thoughts?

  2. KarenJG says:

    I love giving handmade gifts. I enjoy receiving handmade gifts too. Means that someone took the time to actually make me something. Most people I give too really appreciate them but there are always a few that I am unsure of. I think that leaving a card attached to each one would be a great idea! In fact, I am going to use that. I may even attach a poem or a joke to it on the card. Thanks so much for the great idea! I’m going to run with it!!!!

  3. Rachel Hobson says:

    Oh no! I’m so sorry you got that reaction from family members! That’s so sad. I like the idea of including the gift tag, explaining the benefits of handmade gifts. Perhaps, too, you can focus on making gifts for family members/friends whom you know will truly appreciate them and then just do something like gift cards for the rest. Put your hard work and thoughtfulness where you know it will count! ;)
    Very interesting thoughts/questions …

  4. Rachel Hobson says:

    Indeed, when I make a gift for someone, it’s usually someone whom I know will (likely) appreciate it or at least understand the effort that went in to it. This gift tag/card idea is a great one … if you come up with one you end up using, be sure to share it with us if you can! :)

  5. rlynnbaker says:

    I love making gifts for people. Its a fun challenge trying to figure out what someone would love. BUT there are certain people I do not make gifts for. These are people I know wont appreciate or wont use the item. These people get a card and gift card or some other generic but still useful gift (candles, food, etc) from me.

  6. lcmosier says:

    The tags might help, but if they said you were cheap, you might remind them that you would rather be cheap than materialistic.
    I have given handmade gifts for years and everyone I give them to, looks forward to them each year. Even my co-workers look forward to getting a basket that contains a box (I even make the boxes) of handmade candy and a few jars of my homemade jam.
    If people did not appreciate my handmade gifts, they probably would not get anything from me. Sorry to hear about your experience.

  7. srwilfong says:

    I bought some tags (will make the next batch) that say, “I made this just so you know. So don’t say anything mean about it.”
    Handle it with humor!

  8. Rachel Hobson says:

    Ah yes! I remember seeing some like this from Amy of Angry Chicken! Here’s a link to her Flickr page with some you can download. :)
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/angrychicken/2114454809/

  9. BridgetShepherd says:

    Oh how sad!! I can imagine that you were hurt!
    I SO agree with Icmosier… rather be cheap than materialistic.
    Personally I like homemade gifts. I feel special when people put THAT much time and effort into a gift for me!
    I’m teaching my kids to put effort into the gifts they give also.
    So I believe that means there are more of us who appreciate homemade stuff than those who don’t.
    I’m just mean enough that no one would say anything to my face :D But I still wonder…
    I like your idea of the “gift imbued with love” tag. Maybe I’ll try that too.
    I think a phone call is WAY more than the fam deserves..

  10. BridgetShepherd says:

    Oh how sad!! I can imagine that you were hurt!
    I SO agree with Icmosier… rather be cheap than materialistic.
    Personally I like homemade gifts. I feel special when people put THAT much time and effort into a gift for me!
    I’m teaching my kids to put effort into the gifts they give also.
    So I believe that means there are more of us who appreciate homemade stuff than those who don’t.
    I’m just mean enough that no one would say anything to my face :D But I still wonder…
    I like your idea of the “gift imbued with love” tag. Maybe I’ll try that too.
    I think a phone call is WAY more than the fam deserves..

  11. sundae1888 says:

    You must have been very disappointed! I was disappointed when my hand knitted hat was initially ill-received by my toddler son, even though I knew he didn’t understand the whole “labour of love” thing. And DH, instead of comforting me, said coldly, “I’m not surprised; he didn’t seem to like knitted items.”
    How about letting your family and friends know how much TIME you put in their seemingly-cheap gifts? In this society of ours, time is more valuable than money!

  12. ivoryh1632 says:

    Thank you all for your ideas and help and support. I’m still not sure what I’m going to do about those certain family members this year. But its nice to know that there are people out there that still appriciate handmade gifts. Thanks guys!

  13. ivoryh1632 says:

    Those tags are great, I already have a few friends in mind for some of them.

  14. ivoryh1632 says:

    I actually did let them know how much time I spent on everything, I went into GREAT detail letting them know how hard I worked on their gifts and my aunt’s response was “its ok honey, we’re all tight on money this year.” But the whole thing just reminded me why I never talk to that side of my family, lol.
    I actually find the whole thing kind of funny because they’re all really religious and yet only care about the material aspect of Christmas, whereas I’m not even Chrstian and I still celebrate Christmas for the spirit of the whole thing.
    At least with toddlers a reaction like that is understandable even though it still hurts. An adult should at least have the sense to lie to you even if they don’t like something. A few months ago I made my friend’s daughter a bunch of dress up clothes for her 3rd birthday, including a hot pink yarn wig. She loved everything but refused to wear the wig (I think she was scared of it lol), but when I told her that I made it for her she gave me a hug and told me “i like the pink hair, i just wear it at home with mommy, i don’t wanna wear it now” you could tell she was completely lying and hated it but I remember thinking to myself “jeez she’s only 3 and she even understands that its the thought that counts”
    This year I’m thinking that if my family wants store bought gifts so bad that’s what they’ll get, they’ll just happen to have been bought at the dollar store lol.

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