CMYK
Section C Sunday, December 13, 2009
Showcase
u Celebrate, 2-4C u Books & Leisure, 5C u Light Side, 6-7C u A to Z Kids, 8C
AP Photos/ANDY MANIS
(At left) Jenny Bosben is shown starting a wreath by wrapping the evergreen branches with green-colored wire onto a ring at her Madison, Wis. home. The completed wreath hangs (above) in Bosben’s home.
Do-it-yourself holiday gifts cost less, but they mean so much more By Anne Wallace Allen For The Associated Press
If ever there has been a year to give a homemade holiday gift, this is it. The economy’s in the dumps and budgets are tight. Gift-givers have to be more creative than ever if they want to delight their friends and family with something unusual. Meanwhile, business is booming in the world of homemade crafts. Not only has scrapbooking launched an industry of its own, but the notion of do-it-yourself has produced thousands of new products, services, classes, and ideas that now jostle for space on the Web and in stores. With all these choices, the question remains: What to give? Here are some ideas: • Aprons are big this
year, according to Kathy Rogers of Oak Park, Calif. These kitchen cover-ups are useful and they’re easy to sew, even for novices. “People are having fun with it; I’ve seen a lot of aprons with retro patterns,” said Rogers, a fiber artist and teacher who is president of the California Art Education Association. “That seriously seems to be a very hot item.” Can’t sew at all? Order a white cotton twill apron from the Dharma Trading Company, http:// www.dharmatrading.com/. They start at around $7 and can be dressed up with tie-dye, buttons, decals, fabric paint and just about anything else. • Try a wreath. Jenny Bosben, a Madison, Wis., art teacher, estimates she spends about $3 per wreath for a metal frame and some
craft wire. Then she heads into her backyard to chop off a few pieces of an evergreen shrub. If you don’t have access to evergreens, boughs are available to buy at Christmas time. Just wrap the boughs securely onto the frame with the wire, overlapping so the stems don’t show. “You can add whatever you want: holly berries, dried flowers from the backyard,” said Bosben. “It’s something people really enjoy because it’s real and it smells good.” • If you’re making gifts with children, try baked goods, said Laurie Nagus, who runs playgroups at the Madison Waldorf School in Madison, Wis. Nagus likes to give homemade fudge as a gift. She also makes shortbread every year for neighbors and friends. “We give it with a candle and a
tiny bottle of wine,” she said. • Bosben also makes ornaments from a salt clay recipe that her mother used. Baked hard, the ornaments can be painted and decorated. Salt clay renders the ornaments both rock-hard and unappetizing to the family dog. “The ones my mom made, they lasted forever,” Bosben said. Bosben’s holiday ornament recipe: 1 cup flour 3/4 cup salt 1/2 cup water 1/4 cup cooking oil Mix flour, salt and oil with wooden spoon. Add water gradually. Shape, add hook for hanging from tree, and then bake pieces at 300 degrees for 1 to 2 hours, until hard. Paint and decorate.
Some of the materials and tools used by Jenny Bosben to make her holiday wreath.
As holiday gift lists shrink, who will make the cut? By LISA A. FLAM Associated Press Writer
NEW YORK — Gift givers are getting ready to cut. Against the backdrop of record high unemployment and other financial struggles, people are taking out their holiday gifts lists and finding themselves having to cross off friends, relatives and coworkers this year. “Like the rest of the world, this economy has me cutting almost everyone off the gift list,” said Trish Bonsall, who lost her job as a sales manager for a new home builder in June. For Bonsall, 51, of Charlotte, that means losing all but about six people — her four sons and their significant others — from her list of 35. “Christmas is my favorite season. I like to buy presents,” she said. “It hurts.” While it may be a relief not to have to buy for a family friend or your book club, breaking up with a gift giver can be hard to do. To avoid hurt feelings and awkward situations, experts advise, be kind and tell the truth. “Be honest, and say, ‘Times are tight this year and I’m having to cut back. Do you mind if we don’t do gifts?’ ” said Peggy Post, director of the Emily Post Institute. And don’t wait too long. “Do it early” so your friend doesn’t buy you a present before you break the news, Post said. But in place of the latest best-seller or pair of gloves,
come up with an alternative, like a holiday lunch. “Don’t forget there’s a lot of gifts that are free — your attention, your time, maybe your talent,” says gift expert and author Robyn Spizman. That’s just what Bonsall is doing. In September, she emailed two sets of friends and asked that they skip the gifts. One group of five women she has known since childhood in Philadelphia is saving up to attend her son’s wedding this summer, while another five, who like her live in Charlotte, will meet for dinner. “Buying gifts for five gal pals would run me $100 (or more) ... but going dutch treat for dinner, I can enjoy a night with the girls and only spend
$20,” said Bonsall, who’s got a coupon for the restaurant. “Everybody was relieved that I took the initiative and said it’s OK not to buy gifts this year,” said Bonsall. And it’s a financial fix for her as well. Of the $200 savings, she said, “It’s huge. It’s an electric bill and a gas bill.” She and her husband, who does not work, also have decided not to buy gifts for each other, but to go on a date instead. “He is thrilled not to have to go shopping,” she said.
Whom to cut When it comes to friends, Spizman suggests cutting people you don’t see any more. Instead, send a card with an
offer to get together. If you live nearby, invite the person over for dinner. “If you’re broke, say, ‘Let’s have a drink together or a cup of coffee,’ ” Post said. When it comes to family gifts, you can skip grown-up gifts and buy only for children, or draw names for the adults, so each person buys and receives one gift. The same can be done for children, by drawing names for, say, all the cousins. When it comes to thanking people, a gift isn’t always necessary. “If you give your business to someone, you can shake their hand and thank them,” Spizman said. “You give them your business — that’s a gift.”
AP Photo/Thomas Kienzle
Against the backdrop of record high unemployment and other financial struggles, people are taking out their holiday gifts lists and finding themselves having to cross off friends, relatives and co-workers this year.
Gift alternatives There are still many ways of marking the holiday without a trinket wrapped up with a bow. “You can cut back without cutting the holiday spirit,” Spizman says. • Part with a possession: “Maybe this is the year you pass something down that was meaningful to you — a baseball, a comic book,” Spizman says. Or she suggests giving four or five books to help someone start a library or a piece of jewelry. • Lend a hand: “Long after the fruit cakes are forgotten, people remember true help,” Spizman said. “They remember when you repotted the plants at their front door when they no longer have the energy, or the soup you brought, because you made that by hand.” Another way of helping, especially considering the unemployment rate, is to refer somebody for a job. “You might not have the money, but you might have a connection,” Spizman said. Or you can offer to babysit or run errands. • Share a tip: If you’re getting together with a group, everybody can bring a dish along with a copy of the recipe for each person. Or if you’re gathering for a girlfriends’ dinner like Bonsall, add a theme by asking guests to bring their favorite beauty tip, says Spizman. • Pick up the phone: “Call someone and say, ‘I’m
thinking of you’ and ‘You mean the world to me.’ That is beautiful,” Spizman says. Or stop by to spread some good cheer. • Give by giving back: Tell your circle that you’re donating money (it doesn’t have to be a lot) to a charity or working in a soup kitchen in their honor, Post says. Or do a combination. In Beth Cleveland’s family, her aunt asked that instead of buying all 25 people a gift, each person bring one $25 gift with an animal theme. They will play a White Elephant exchange game. “I think everyone had a tough year and it’s just going to be about spending time with family,” said Cleveland, of Charleston, S.C. “We will still have the experience of opening gifts, but it will be more of a group activity rather than a free-for-all.” Her aunt also let the family know they would draw the name of a charity out of a hat and donate any voluntary contributions. “This year it doesn’t have to be all about the gifts,” said Cleveland, 27, the founder of a public relations firm. And though Bonsall will miss picking out presents, she too said she feels this celebration will be more meaningful. “I’m actually looking forward to putting the real meaning of Christmas back and taking away the gift part and getting back to spending time with family friends and enjoying each other,” she said.