The GirlAlive Blog

Let’s talk about Christmas.

September 9, 2009 on 11:14 am | In Computers and Web Stuff, Craftiness | No Comments

Okay, okay. You’re annoyed with me now. It’s only September and you’re being inundated with back-to-school and Halloween and the last thing you want to think about is Christmas. But I’m bringing it up now for a reason. Because handmade gifts take time, and you should start thinking about it now.

“Wait a minute!” you may be saying, “I never said I was going to make any Christmas gifts!” Why not? Making stuff is good for you and it’s fun. You may still be protesting. “I don’t have any artistic talent or time,” you may be saying. That’s okay too. You can buy handmade gifts.

Do some of your shopping this year at Etsy.com or one of the other online shops that sells hand crafted products from artists and artisans. Handmade gifts have less impact on the environment. They tend to be made with care. And they don’t cost as much as you think they do.

If every person in America just bought 3 handmade gifts this Christmas it could very possibly save small businesses and keep money flowing in the economy. If you buy from a small producer, more of the money goes back into the local economy than if you buy from a large chain store. Think about where the money goes in a chain store. It goes to advertising and high level executives and factories in the third world. Practically none of it ends up back in your own community.

If you don’t have the time or skill to make your own gifts this year, please consider buying handmade stuff. There are galleries and craft fairs in every town. There’s the “shop local” button on Etsy.

If you look over in the sidebar on this blog, there’s a link to the Girlalive Wists. Wists is an online service where you can make a wish list from any shopping site on the internet. There are other services that do the same thing, so you can ask your friends to give you handmade things this Christmas.

Just something to think about.

Alana