A few years ago I stood in line at a crowded retail store, the day before Christmas, rushing to pick up some last minute gifts. No thought went into picking them out; they were simply being purchased so I could quickly check that person off my list and move on to the next one. Check, check, check. Wrap, wrap, wrap. Go, go, go. That holiday season was filled with procrastination, stress and anxiety. The gift giving didn’t bring joy, it only brought relief that the madness was over.
After that year, I vowed to make a change!
Each year we got a little better. There was less procrastinating and we did our best to buy gifts that we knew people wanted or needed.
This year, after reading this Gift Guide article by Glennon Doyle Melton (Momastery.com), I decided to make some more changes to our gift giving practices. I wanted to:
- Spend time intentionally thinking/brainstorming gift ideas for recipients. (This is hard and frustrating to try and do when I’m scrambling around last minute.)
- Include some handmade gifts
- Have a gift giving plan in place by mid-November to know who we were giving gifts to and what we planned to give them.
- Have all (or most) of our gifts purchased/made by mid-December.
I’m happy to report that #3 is complete! My husband has a thing for making spreadsheets so he happily assisted me.
With our list completed, I had some time to actually sit and brainstorm ideas. There are a handful of people on our list who we’ll be buying gift cards for (teachers specifically), so I wanted to include something handmade to go along with their gift cards.
After some brainstorming and Pinteresting, I decided to make decorated planters filled with a succulent.
And guess who always has a great selection of little planters? Goodwill of course!
In one trip to Goodwill Twinsburg I was able to find these 9 little mugs, dishes and bowls:
(Pier One mini mugs – 33 cents each)
(Wooden bowl and Pottery Barn planters – 33 cents each)
(Target Threshold mini bowls – $1.99 each)
I had originally planned to paint or draw on the planters until I came across this $0.99 egg decorating kit in one of the bins of new goods.
These are foil sheets that get applied using the clear sticky shapes. They were a little difficult to work with so I don’t recommend them for young kids, but if you wanted to get your kids involved, consider using paint pens or stickers.
I applied different shapes and colors to each mini mug, then filled them with a Donkey Tail Burrito succulent (I did not make that name up!)
Aren’t they adorable! It feels so good to be preparing for the holidays early this year, and to be creating and giving gifts that were well thought out and made with love.
Happy Thrifting (and Gift Giving)!
Katie
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