more holiday ideas

If you read my post Monday you'll know I used to publish a zine and this list was part of the 2nd. I am going to share 10 ideas a day...

Holiday Ideas (continued) by Megan Noel, 2002, and 2011.

31. Give the gift of time, whatever you are good at: Bike repair, car repair, cooking, baking, leaning, weeding, painting, cutting hair, etc. I mean, who doesn't want a few more hours in the day and that is basically what you'd be giving and it would not cost an arm and a leg either.

32. If you want to have some sort of holiday gathering, try something non-traditional like cooking making, card marking, ornament making, etc. If, on the other hand, you never want to see anyone ever again it is also okay to tell everyone you are going to Hawaii and then just stay home and ready trashy novels.

33. Personally it would be fine with me if one of my friends swapped trashy novels with me - you know i have about a years worth of books worth reading once and NOT worth reading twice and it would be fine with me to swap for a friend's stack.

[Ed. note: i think my taste in reading material has improved!]

34. I assume if you are reading this zine [where this was originally published] then you are a tiny bit creative. Get together with your other creative friends either in person or through the internet and swap hand-made stuff to give as gifts. In case your family does not ever want another pair of hand beaded earrings, maybe they would like some handmade soap or something else, and vice versa.

35. If you want to, decorate with all your favorite stuff, whether it is "appropriate" or not. Last year I had my Harry Potter legos under the Christmas tree and the year before that it was stuffed animals.

36. I particularly enjoy rereading my favorite classics around the holidays. You can do this as a family or with friends, too. Some suggestions: The Narnia books, The Little House on the Prairie books, Edgar Eager, E. Nesbit, etc. The same goes for old movies.

37. My favorite very easy and cheap gift wrap technique: Wrap gift in brown kraft paper. Write the recipients address and your return address as though you were going to mail it. Wrap with string (tea-dyed if desired) an stick on either some real holiday postage stamps, or cool old stamps, or a postoid rubber stamp. Or make your own holiday faux postage.

38. My mother used to get stocking stuffers at the grocery store. I appreciated getting stuff I always run out of like moisturizer, rolls of quarters for laundry, etc. This is especially good for students and starving artists.

39. If you ARE a starving artist, make a deal with all your other starving artist friends to skip the gift exchange and just go out to dinner together, or coffee together, or a movie, depending on how starving you are.

40. If you are not broke and starving feel free to wonder what I am talking about!
[Ed. Note: I was a bit flippant about this when I wrote it almost 10 years ago. I guess if nothing else I am at least a little wiser than I was then.]

tune in tomorrow for 10 more holiday ideas and some art show and tell!