Your friends and family will love unique gifts.
You're making your list and you're checking it twice, and you want it to be exactly right. No more "a tie for Dad and bubble bath for Grandma" for you--this year your Christmas gifts are going to be unique! To give original Christmas presents that are ideal for the recipient and perfectly express your feelings, think hard about each person on your gift list. Remember their interests, their hobbies, their hopes and their dreams, and you can give gifts they'll remember and cherish for years.
Give Homemade
Turn your skills into original Christmas presents. If you are a scrapbooker, make an album that's geared toward the recipient, such as a day in the life of a two-year-old for her proud parents; pictures of a gardener's fruits, flowers and veggies from the previous summer; an assortment of childhood photos for a newlywed couple. Homemade wood blocks are a fabulous gift for small children, as are wooden dollhouses and rocking horses; adults love to receive a chessboard or a jewelry box made by their favorite woodworker. Make a quilt or a Christmas tablecloth with matching napkins if you're handy with a needle. If you're a whiz with an MP3 player, put together an original Christmas playlist geared toward someone's particular musical taste, and burn it onto a CD.
Give Custom-Made
If you have something made to your exact specifications, you can make sure it's exactly right for the intended recipient. For real luxury, have men's shirts custom-made to their measurements, and have the pocket monogrammed with matching thread. Have jewelry engraved with initials or with a quotation that has meaning to you both. You can even have the jewelry itself custom-made to your own original design. For ultimate comfort, it's hard to beat custom-made shoes, but custom-made bras might do it. Seek out artisans at your local farmers' market, crafts fair or bazaar, and you can commission anything from paintings, sculptures and carvings to fabric woven to match the recipient's living-room colors.
Support a Dream
If a child you know longs for a white Christmas, give him one--you can buy Instant Snow, a canned powder that you mix with water to make non-toxic "snow." Sneak out a copy of that wannabe-author's book or collected poetry and have a local bookbinder make a hardbound copy for you to give. Has your 70-year-old mother dreamed of Paris all her life? Book the hotel room and trade in your frequent flier miles for plane tickets to France. Does your teenager have a garage band that's never been out of the garage? Book them a gig at open mic night at the local indie club. Some dreams should come true, and Christmas is a great time to make it happen.
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