Preceding my post about surviving wedding season, I wanted to
include an extension. When it comes to buying gifts for people that I care
about, I have the most stressful experience. I never know what to buy and the
thought of buying something with the mistake of thinking they will like it,
sends me into an anxiety attack. So, what I have been doing for a few years now
and something I want to share with my twenty something followers is - homemade
gifts!!
Please do not mistake these gifts for cheap gifts. A lot of my
homemade gifts cost more to make than actually buying the same thing at a
store when you consider labor time. For example, I make homemade lotions and scrubs for my lady friends for
Christmas. I include essential oils, some basic moisturizing ingredients and of
course, love; pause for chirping crickets. Then I spend a few hours making the
magic potion, placing it into containers and tying bows. What makes it worth
it? Knowing that the recipient will know I put some thought, time and effort
into them.
So, when it came time for me to think of a gift for one of my
best friends who is getting married, I stuck with the idea that homemade gifts
are the best way to go. This time, I made vintage photos on wood. The idea is
spinning around Pinterest right now so I thought to jump on the bandwagon. Here are the results...
Of course I trimmed the sides of the picture and gave it a gloss layer to rid the paper residue. But for the most part, this is how it turned out.
Watching my friend admire my work and almost shed a tear at the
beauty of her family in this portrait really made me feel good about what I had
done.
Our world is pressured to consume; to purchase the next best
thing and to be the one at the party who brought the best and most expensive
gift. I think we as twenty-somethings should change this perception not only
because we are poor and cannot afford a set of wine glasses at Crate and
Barrel, but because we need to bring back the true meaning of gift giving.
I cannot replace the look on my friend's face as she admired her
gifts just like she cannot replace the gift itself; it is truly one of a kind.
There is something to be said about that individuality, that uniqueness and
difference that always trumps the ordinary. I wonder if this is because these
virtues seem to be few and far between anymore.
Our world is so repetitive that we have lost the essence of how
wonderful and powerful it is for a child to draw a picture and give it away.
