Fashionable Friday is brought to you by Kara Taylor, a freelance writer for Vision Bedding, an online store specializing in photo blankets and much more! Kara is sharing with us creative gift giving ideas that will be sure to put a smile on anyones faces.
Are You Ready for the Holidays? Gift Giving Ideas to Get You Ready.
The holiday season is coming up fast and you swore to yourself last year you would not let yourself get swamped in the mad holiday-season rush. As you stood in lines a mile long, sat in traffic jams that took days to get out of, or circled the mall parking lot for hours looking for a spot, you said “Next year I’m taking care of gifts EARLY!”
Well, that time is here!
There are many gifts that you can get started on now before the mad rush of November and December. While everyone else is dashing around, stressed, frazzled, and getting grumpy, you can be relaxing with a cup of hot cocoa and enjoying your time with your family.
Here are some ideas that you can get started on right now so you can be done well ahead of the busy, stressful holiday season.
Items You’ve Knitted Yourself
Friends and family members will always be grateful to receive a gift as highly personal as a hat or scarf knitted just for them. A throw blanket is another great idea that would undoubtedly be – no pun intended – warmly received. If you are ambitious and know the recipient’s style well enough, you could even go for a sweater. Make sure you know what colors they like to wear and what kind of patterns and designs they like, and get knitting! They’ll love it.
Drawings or Paintings by you
Even if you don’t think you’re an amazing artist, your friends and family members would probably still really enjoy something that you have done with your own hand. If you are a good artist, then they definitely will. To make it extra special, you could even frame it for them so it’s ready for display. If you like the idea of painting something but aren’t confident in your abilities, grab some watercolors and look up some tips online before you get started. Watercolor paintings really lend themselves to simplicity and they have a forgiving look to them even if you’re not the next Van Gogh. With some self-instruction from the internet you could really make something unique. Animals and landscape paintings are always pretty doable, even for a novice, and will probably turn out half decent.
CD or MP3 recordings of you
If you sing, play guitar, piano, or any other kind of instrument that is enjoyable to listen to, a wonderful gift is a CD or MP3 with recordings of you doing either cover songs or your own originals. Again, don’t worry too much about you being any “good”. Even if you may never sell a platinum album (or even an aluminum one), your friends and family will probably really enjoy being able to hear your voice or your music on their iPod, during their commute.
Photo Blankets
Photo blankets are an awesome gift to give at the holiday season. Everyone feels that extra bit loving and touchy-feely, affectionate and fond of the friends and family they are surrounded by. What better way to encapsulate that emotion in a gift than by presenting them with a customized photo blanket. You can choose any kind of photo you want – maybe a collage of you and them and your other friends, or a big family portrait, or that awesome picture you snapped of them mid-flight on your snowboarding trip together last year. The possibilities are endless, and all of them would make for an absolutely unique and amazing gift.
what a great idea about original art work! I just might see if the boys can do that for relatives this year. I’m sure the grandparents would love it.
Visiting for the first time through the Lady Blogger Social Tea Party and off to read more posts on your site.