Personalized Gifts Make Life Fun

What does your family do for gifts? Do you draw numbers? Get something for everyone? For just the kids? Here’s one family who chose to do something different this year. They decided to exchange dollar item gifts. But here is a Mom who can not give a bland or generic gift.

I have known Mandy B for 10 years and never seen her do something halfway. Mandy is one of those people who have the definite gift of hospitality and can turn a simple loaf of bread or snacks for a recital into something gourmet and special. She is definite proof that personalized gifts make life fun!

This Christmas, my husband’s aunt suggest we stray away from our traditional ornament game and bring a dollar item to exchange instead. While this idea was a good one, I didn’t want to just hand over a Dollar Tree item anybody could pick up for themselves. I wanted to doodle them up a little bit with stuff I had around the house to give our exchange gifts a more personal touch. A quick trip to the Dollar Tree and for $4 I had a large black mug, a large red mug, an 8 X 10 picture frame and a clip board.

Using ceramic paint pens, the mugs were personalized with favorite sports team logos.

Acrylic paints from my stash were used to decorate the clip board with polka dots and a hand lettered message.

A countdown freebie from the internet like this one from Life Sweet Blog was placed in the frame and became a cute countdown board. A dry erase marker makes this gift complete.

This is just an inexpensive way to make life more fun. I love personalized gifts. And I enjoy the release and satisfaction that comes from creating stuff.

I like to give people gifts that really represent who they are. I am NOT an IU fan but I loved the way that cup turned out. The aunt that chose it was ecstatic that she received something so dear to her.

Doodle up something is fun and creative. I enjoy the stress relief that comes from the process of crafting. As I make gifts, I pray for the person who will be receiving it. And that is a bonus for everybody!

Any tips for beginners? Special Tools?

Find something you like. I am a huge believer in Pinterest and constantly scour that site and favorite blogs for ideas.
Do a little research and see if there are any tutorials out there that can guide you through until you gain your confidence.
Don’t be afraid. It’s a $1 cup….if you mess up you’ve just lost a dollar but gained some new knowledge on how to do it better the next time.
Consider the recipient. You may LOVE angels covered in lace but Uncle Carl may prefer camo. Your gift may not be very well received if you don’t put any THOUGHT into who the gift is for.

About Mandy

I am a middle school family and consumer science teacher. I love being the mom of two awesome daughters and the wife of one incredible man who patiently listens to my ideas and then helps me with the big stuff. I enjoy making stuff with junk other people want to throw out. If it’s free…call me! And I get really excited when I turn messes into masterpieces, especially in the kitchen and my classroom.