The Gift of Warm Fuzzies

The Environmental Center

There’s something about a gift that is hand-made by a friend or a family member that just gives you warm fuzzies. It’s probably a combination of the time spent, the thought expended, and the love that goes into it that makes hand-made gifts so appealing.

Hand-made gifts are usually much more ecological than store-bought, as the ingredients and materials are not as processed, can be grown, bought in bulk, or often even found at home. You are not paying for a factory worker in a far-away country to do the assembly, ships to transport it across the oceans and trucks across the continents just to end up on the store shelf until you even take a look at it.

But unless you’re an extremely organized and forward-thinking person and have been quilting, knitting, crafting, sawing, and sanding for weeks or canned all your presents months ago, you are probably thinking right now that there is simply not enough time left to make hand-made gifts. If there’s a will, there’s a way, right? So if you possess the ‘will’, here are some great ideas to help make the ‘way’ easier:

1)  Homemade Last-Minute Food Mix Gift Ideas

2)  Gifts You Can Make in a Mason Jar

3)  Home-Made Last-Minute Christmas Gifts

4)  Clever and “Punny” Gift Ideas

5)  DIY Gift Ideas

For even more inspiration on hand-made gifts, read last year’s Rethink Waste blog on “Hand-Made Holiday”.

And should you really, truly run out of time and steam to make anything yourself, visit the Craft-O Holiday Bazaar at the Workhouse in Bend. They have invited over 40 artists from Bend, Portland and beyond to participate in this craft extravaganza. It’s a great place anytime to find beautiful locally made hand-crafted jewelry, accessories, and curious crafts.

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