A Gift a Day: An Introduction

Christmas gifts...well and gifts in general really, to me, mean more when they are hand made.  Whether it be a jar of home made jam or a loaf of bread or a hand knitted scarf, the idea that someone put thought and effort into making a gift makes it much more special to me.  I don't think I'm in the minority either.

Since my kids have been born I've been huge on making Christmas gifts and I think in part because of this my daughter has developed a major love of home made gifts.  My son seems to be getting more and more of a thrill out of the gifts I make for him too.  I honestly believe this is one of the best lessons/traits I've managed to instill in them as a parent.

Aside from the sentimental aspects of home made gifts there is more to it.  When you are on a really tight budget home made gifts can make your money stretch further than you thought possible.  Yes, definitely, there is time involved and there are materials to any project.  BUT, if you're careful in how you plan your gifts and shop frugally for materials to make your projects, trust me you can make some really cool gifts while also saving yourself some money.

And so we come to the point of this series. I end up making a lot of gifts every year (last count I had 13 nieces and nephews and they all live nearby on top of my husband and kids) so I decided to share some of the gifts I made and am making to maybe help some people find some inspiration in gift giving this year.  I did it last year on another blog I ran and people seemed to enjoy it, so I figured "why not" and decided to do it on this blog too.  I know how frustrating it can be being broke and not knowing how to afford gifts, so I'll be sharing some tips with the projects too on how I kept costs down.

A gift in a day means a gift made within 24 hours time.  I don't really have a ton of time to spare to make elaborate gifts that are too time consuming (maybe one day, but not right now), so hopefully this might inspire some to tinker around too as gifts don't have to take you a month to do :).

So, sit back and enjoy!  Um, and to family members who might read this...if you don't want to know what your child is getting for Christmas, not reading might be a good idea.  You've been warned!

Want to check out a series with WAY better sewing skills than I currently possess and wonderful photography?  Check out The Prudent Homemaker "Gift a Day" series.